Final answer:
The change in South America's maps between 1790 and 1828 is largely due to Enlightenment and revolutionary ideas that promoted independence from European colonial powers, spearheaded by creole elites and revolutionary leaders like Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín.
A is correct
Step-by-step explanation:
Between 1790 and 1828, the situation that helped cause the change in South America's maps is best attributed to Enlightenment and revolutionary ideas spreading from Europe to South America. This intellectual movement questioned traditional authority and sparked revolutionary thinking, leading to a widespread desire for independence and reform throughout the continent. The impact of the Enlightenment, combined with the revolutionary examples of the United States and France, encouraged the creole elites in the Spanish American colonies to dream of independence.
These educated people of European ancestry, born in the Americas, resented both the political power wielded by the peninsulares and Spain's economic restrictions. Significant events such as Napoleon's takeover in Spain, which saw the installation of his brother Joseph Bonaparte as king, further destabilized colonial loyalty. The creole elites seized the chance to form local self-governing bodies called juntas and advocate for independence, with eventual successful bids for freedom that saw the birth of new nations in South America, thus reflecting the transformation observed in historical maps of the period.
Leaders like Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín were instrumental in these independence movements, serving as military and political catalysts in a chain of liberation efforts that stretched from Mexico to the southern tips of the continent. Influenced by Enlightenment ideologies that emphasized citizen participation in governance, they rallied their fellow creoles and nationalist forces against Spanish rule, resulting in the independence of various South American countries.