Paisanos

Paisanos revisits the forgotten role of the Irish in the fight for South American independence, reanimating the ideals that built the New World and sowed the seeds of Ireland's revolutions to follow.

In the early nineteenth century, thousands of volunteers left Ireland behind to join the fight for South American independence. Lured by the promise of adventure, fortune, and the opportunity to take a stand against colonialism, they braved the treacherous Atlantic crossing to join the ranks of the Liberator, Simón Bolívar, and became instrumental in helping oust the Spanish from Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Today, the names of streets, towns, schools, and football teams on the continent bear witness to their influence.

But it was not just during wars of independence that the Irish helped transform Spanish America. Irish soldiers, engineers, and politicians, who had fled Ireland to escape religious and political persecution in their homeland, were responsible for changing the face of the Spanish colonies in the Americas during the eighteenth century. They included a chief minister of Spain, Richard Wall; a chief inspector of the Spanish Army, Alexander O'Reilly; and the viceroy of Peru, Ambrose O'Higgins.

Whether telling the stories of armed revolutionaries like Bernardo O'Higgins and James Rooke or retracing the steps of trailblazing women like Eliza Lynch and Camila O'Gorman, Paisanos revisits a forgotten chapter of Irish history and, in so doing, reanimates the hopes, ambitions, ideals, and romanticism that helped fashion the New World and sowed the seeds of Ireland's revolutions to follow.

Acknowledgements

Note

Maps

Foreword by President Michael D. Higgins

Introduction

Part 1. Exile

1. Wild Geese

2. Remaking the New World

3. A New Model Army

4. The King of Peru

5. Spain Under Siege

6. The Propagandist Priest

7. Merchants, Sailors, Soldiers, Spies

Part 2. Revolution

8. The Battle for the River Plate

9. General O’Higgins

10. Bolívar’s Irish Volunteers

11. The Hibernian Regiment and the Irish Legion

12. Death in the Andes

13. The San Patricios

14. The Kingdom of God

Part 3. Home

15. After the Revolution

16. The ‘New Erin’

17. Making History

18. The ‘Spiritual Empire’

Bibliographical note

Abbreviations

Sources

Notes

Index