History of Haiti
Following the arrival of Europeans, La Hispaniola's indigenous population suffered greatly to near extinction, in possibly the worst case of depopulation in the Americas. A commonly accepted hypothesis attributes the high mortality of this colony in part to European diseases to which the natives had no immunity. A small number of Taínos were able to survive and set up villages elsewhere. Spanish interest in Hispaniola began to wane in the 1520s, as more lucrative gold and silver deposits were found in Mexico and South America. Thereafter, the population of Spanish Hispaniola grew at a slow pace.
Bolivian War of Independence
The Bolivian people were divided into three main categories, Criollos, Mestizos, and the indigenous population. In authority over all of these people were the Peninsulares, who were influential people who had come from Spain to assume a leadership position in the church or government, in one of the Spanish colonies. All the rest of Bolivian people had a social status beneath this elite class. The Criollos were people of pure Spanish descent that had been born in Latin America. The Criollos were envious of the power the Peninsulares held and this attitude formed part of the basis for the reason for war of independence. Under the Criollos on the social strata were the Mestizos, who were a mix of Spanish and Indigenous descent. The main reason these two people mixed was because of the lack of Spanish women in the region. Finally, at the bottom of the hierarchy was the biggest social class, the indigenous people, who primarily spoke Aymara and Quechua. These people often did not know what was going on politically in the country, however they offered a large force of fighting men for both the patriots and the royalists in the war. Nevertheless, in the War of Independence they proved to be very unpredictable and would, at times, turn on the army at any provocation. These people would generally fight for whoever controlled that area, whether loyalists, patriots, or royalists. The majority of the time it was the "Republiquetas" that controlled the rural areas were the Natives lived. Although they would fight for whomever, these people favored the patriots because they were part native, where as the other armies were of pure Spanish descent. The real intention of the Indigenous people was to reestablish the Incan empire and so wanted a form of government different from all three of the other groups. These groups all contented for the Natives' assistance in order to win the war, however not one army ever thought of liberating these people.