Why did Spanish speaking areas of the New World fragment into so many countries while English and Portuguese speaking areas formed large countries?

Question

I realize that there are large Spanish speaking countries, namely Mexico and Argentina. But, for instance, why are the smaller Central American countries not part of Mexico?

In: Other

Answer 1

Don’t forget that the US almost failed and broke apart into smaller constituent countries. We barely came together as a whole country and still had to fight a civil war to keep it that way. Various Latin American states tried to do the same thing, for example: the Federal Republic of Central America. But whereas the US was able to form a strong central government and deal with local desires for independence (via diplomacy or warfare), those various conglomerations were not.

For example, those Central American states *were* part of Mexico during the First Mexican Empire, but they seceded from it much like the Southern US States tried to do in the US.