Latin America, despite its widespread miscegenation, used to have a staunch racial caste system. In the early 1800s, the collapse in Spanish administrative authority (being puppeted by Napoleon didn’t help) was only one of the reasons for the Latin American revolutions. See, the crown had begun to allow nonwhites to buy their way into whiteness. That is to say, if you were rich enough, you could simply pay the crown to be legally considered a higher caste.
The criollos in Latin America didn’t like that one fucking bit. Many peninsulares also hated it, even if they still looked down on criollos. And so… they seized their opportunity to seek independence to protect themselves.
Latin America, despite its widespread miscegenation, used to have a staunch racial caste system. In the early 1800s, the collapse in Spanish administrative authority (being puppeted by Napoleon didn’t help) was only one of the reasons for the Latin American revolutions. See, the crown had begun to allow nonwhites to buy their way into whiteness. That is to say, if you were rich enough, you could simply pay the crown to be legally considered a higher caste.
The criollos in Latin America didn’t like that one fucking bit. Many peninsulares also hated it, even if they still looked down on criollos. And so… they seized their opportunity to seek independence to protect themselves.
Things just went to shit, unfortunately.