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With Partial Tracks of a Sea Voyage Extending from the Galapagos to Brazil

This 1820 school atlas map of South America vividly captures the continent during a period of intense political upheaval and revolutionary transformation. The 1810s and 1820s were marked by a series of wars for independence that dismantled the long-standing Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires, giving rise to new republics. The map reflects these changes in real-time, as borders shifted, colonial territories fractured, and new nations began to assert their sovereignty.

In the northern part of South America, the Venezuelan independence movement led by Simón Bolívar had gained significant momentum by 1820. Bolívar, known as "El Libertador," initiated the independence campaign in 1810 with Venezuela's declaration of independence from Spain. However, the struggle for control was long and bloody, culminating in Bolívar’s decisive victory at the Battle of Boyacá in 1819, which secured independence for the territories that would soon form Gran Colombia. This new state, which encompassed modern-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama, is depicted on the map, though its borders were still in flux as Bolívar continued his campaigns to consolidate control over the region.

Further south, the revolutionary efforts of José de San Martín were reshaping the political landscape of the southern cone. San Martín, often referred to as the "Protector of Peru," played a key role in the independence of Argentina, Chile, and Peru. In Argentina, the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata had declared independence from Spain in 1816, following a decade of internal conflict and civil war.   To the west, San Martín’s famed crossing of the Andes in 1817 led to the liberation of Chile after his army's victory at the Battle of Chacabuco (1817) and the decisive Battle of Maipú (1818). Chile, by 1820, is firmly depicted as an independent republic, following its break from Spanish control.

Meanwhile, in Peru, the heart of the former Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru, the struggle for independence was still ongoing in 1820. San Martín had landed on the coast of Peru in 1820, and his campaign would lead to the eventual proclamation of Peruvian independence in 1821. However, the Spanish forces were still entrenched in the highlands, and full independence would not be achieved until 1824, after Bolívar’s final victory at the Battle of Ayacucho.

Brazil, still a Portuguese colony in 1820, presents a contrasting situation. The map shows the boundaries of Brazil as a unified territory under the Portuguese crown, yet tensions were rising. In 1808, the Portuguese royal family had fled to Brazil to escape Napoleon’s invasion of Portugal, turning Rio de Janeiro into the de facto capital of the Portuguese Empire. By 1820, liberal movements in Portugal and demands for independence in Brazil were escalating, setting the stage for the declaration of Brazilian independence in 1822 under Emperor Dom Pedro I.

The Andean region, including modern-day Bolivia, was another hotbed of revolutionary activity. In the early 1820s, the region known as Upper Peru was the site of a prolonged struggle between royalist and revolutionary forces. The independence movements led by figures such as Antonio José de Sucre, Bolívar's trusted general, would eventually secure the independence of Bolivia in 1825. At the time of this map’s creation, the region was still a contested territory, with both royalist and insurgent forces vying for control.

Further east, the struggle for independence in Paraguay had already borne fruit. Paraguay had declared its independence from Spanish rule in 1811, under the leadership of José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia. The map would show Paraguay as an independent, isolated state, as Rodríguez de Francia established a dictatorial government that cut off the country from external influence, making it one of the earliest to achieve independence in South America.