The Seven Years War, sometimes known as the French and Indian War, was a massive conflict between nearly all the major powers in Europe for supremacy. In North America, however, the conflict pitted the British and their colonists against the French and their colonists over the St. Lawrence and Ohio River Valleys. The scale of this conflict as well as the length of time it went on for severely depleted the British reserves causing them to raise taxes.

The long and costly war meant the British treasury was severely depleted by wars end. This meant that the British needed to raise taxes, and, since most of the expense of the war was spent sending troops and supplies to defend their various colonies, the British felt that the colonies should bear the brunt of the taxes. The colonists disagreed and felt that the taxes should be shared by all British citizens.

The British made quite a large gain in terms of territory in the wake of the Seven Years War. They gained all of New France, which was the entirety of the St. Lawrence River Valley, as well as all the land east of the Mississippi and north of Florida that they did not already possess.

San Martin was an Argentine Revolutionary. After he successfully led Argentina to independence in 1818 he went across the Andes to help push the Chilean independence movement along. The Chilean movement had stalled after the declaration of independence in 1810 and had turned into a bloody sectarian conflict. The Chilean independence movement would finally succeed in 1826 when the last of the royalist strongholds fell.

Bolivar was the influential leader who served as symbol of resistance to the Spanish throughout the Northern half of South America. His conquests of Venezuela and Colombia inspired the efforts of military leaders throughout Ecuador. He also lent a helping hand to the revolutionaries in the nation as they struggled for independence.

Morelos was a Catholic Priest before the revolution. Once the revolution started he joined as a soldier and rose through the ranks. He became leader of the revolution in 1811 when the former leader was executed by the Spanish.

In 1821 a revolutionary leader named Iturbide managed to do what no one had before, he pulled all the rival factions of the Mexican revolution together in order to fight the Spanish as one. Prior to this there were many small factions fighting against the Spanish as separate entities. Iturbide pulled them together making a force the Spanish could not contend with. Therefore they resigned the campaign and Mexico gained its independence.

Following the end of his military campaigns San Martin settled into the business of ruling in peacetime. As Chile and Argentina were already established nations given the length of time that had passed since their independence he felt they did not need his leadership. Therefore, he stayed in newly conquered Peru to rule the nation as its Protector and its new President.

In advance of the invasion of Portugal by France, the royal family fled to its primary colony of Brazil. The Royal family under King Joao VI stayed in their new home of Rio de Janeiro until  when Joao VI left to return to the throne in Portugal.

Bolivar decided the best way to maintain order following the independence of these three nations was to fuse them into one Gran Colombia. This was with the intention of keeping the government under his watchful eye so as to avoid the region from falling into chaos due to the power vacuum left by the Spanish.