In the year eighteen hundred, the United States was the only independent country in the Americas. Yet the desire for independence was felt in the colonies throughout the world. The American and French Revolutions caused others in the Americas to think about gaining their own rights. Many Spanish colonists said, I am not Spanish, I am American". These feelings spread throughout Latin America. Latin America is a cultural region south of the United States that was strongly influenced by Spain, Portugal, and France.
Europe's costly wars with Napoleon made it possible for colonies to take control of their own governments. A period of three hundred years of European rule in the Americas was ending. By eighteen thirty, North and South America were made up almost entirely of independent nations. Eventually, Australia would also begin the journey toward independence.