1. The son of Irish Jacobite exiles to France, the soldier and diplomat Richard Wall rose to become prime minister of Spain and helped the careers of many Irishmen in Latin America. (Portrait of Richard Wall, Spanish Ambassador to Britain (1694–1778), 1753. Artist: Louis Michel van Loo, 1707–1771. Oil on canvas. Photo © National Gallery of Ireland, NGI.4660)
2. Charles III in Hunting Dress, by Francisco Goya. The Bourbon king implemented far-reaching reforms in Spanish America. (GraphicaArtis / Getty Images)
3. Born in County Meath, Alexander O’Reilly modernised Spain’s armed forces and rebuilt the Spanish Empire’s military defences. (Alejandro O’Reilly (1722–94) (oil on canvas), Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828) / Museo de San Telmo, San Sebastian, Spain / Bridgeman Images)
4. The County Sligo-born Ambrose O’Higgins rose through Spain’s colonial administration to become the viceroy of Peru, the most powerful and distinguished office in South America. (© Topfoto / Topham Picturepoint)
5. Map of Chile, 1768. Ambrose O’Higgins drew this sketch of Chile, which contained valuable topographical information, in a bid to curry favour at the Spanish court. (Mapoteca Archivo Nacional de Chile, N° 858)
6. The Second of May, 1808. Francisco Goya’s portrayal of the popular uprising against the Napoleonic occupation of Spain. (The Art Archive / Alamy Stock Photos)
7. The Third of May 1808, Francisco Goya’s haunting depiction of the reprisals that followed the popular rising against the French occupation of Spain. (Execution of the Defenders of Madrid, 3rd May, 1808, 1814 (oil on canvas), Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828) / Prado, Madrid, Spain / Bridgeman Images)
8. Born in Puerto Rico into an Irish family, Ramón Power y Giralt was one of the most outspoken critics of Spanish policy in the Americas at the Cádiz Cortes and helped transform the relationship between Spain and her colonies. (Museo de la Cortes de Cádiz. Agradecimiento al Excmo. Ayuntamiento de la ciudad de Cádiz.)
9. The Proclamation of the 1812 Constitution, by Salvador Viniegra. Spain’s liberal constitution was drafted by the Cádiz Cortes and influenced political thought throughout Latin America. (Lucas Vallecillos / Iberfoto / Mary Evans)
10. Born into an Irish family in Seville, José María Blanco White renounced the Roman Catholic priesthood and went into exile in England, from where he championed Latin American independence in his newspaper, El Español. (Edward Gooch / Hulton Archive / Getty Images)
11. The Inquisition Tribunal, by Francisco Goya. Blanco White was an ardent critic of the Spanish Inquisition. (© The Art Archive / Alamy Stock Photo)
12. William Brown was the County Mayo-born founder of the Argentinian navy and hero of the Argentinian wars of independence. He lived to see the advent of photography in his retirement in Buenos Aires.
13. Bernardo O’Higgins was the illegitimate son of Ambrose O’Higgins. He led the fight for Chilean independence, becoming the country’s supreme director. (© Topfoto / Topham Picturepoint)
14. The County Monaghan-born John Mackenna was a protégé of Ambrose O’Higgins and fought alongside his son, Bernardo O’Higgins, in Chile. Mackenna was killed in a duel in Buenos Aires. (Colección fotográfica Museo Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna, N° Sur 9-332)
15. O’Higgins and the patriot forces made their famous last stand against Spanish forces at the Battle of Rancagua in 1814. They finally defeated the Spanish in 1817 to seal Chilean independence. (Biblióteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile / BCN)
16. Bernardo O’Higgins’s mother, Isabel Riquelme, was a constant source of consolation to the Chilean leader. (Biblioteca Nacional de Chile)
17. The Venezuelan-born leader of the patriot armies in the north of South America Simón Bolívar became known as the Liberator. His call for foreign volunteers led to thousands of Irishmen crossing the Atlantic to fight for Latin American independence. (DeAgostini / Getty Images)
18. Daniel Florence O’Leary was the son of a Cork butter merchant who fought with Bolívar in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, rising to the rank of general. He later served as a diplomat in Europe and South America. (Museo Nacional de Colombia)
19. Another Corkman, Francis Burdett O’Connor, fought with the Irish Legion in Colombia before joining campaigns in the Andes. He retired to Tarija in Bolivia, where he wrote his memoirs.
20. Bolívar’s Irish troops braved blizzards and hazardous mountain passes during their march across the Andes from present-day Venezuela into Colombia in a successful bid to surprise the Spanish forces. (© Look and Learn)
21. Irish troops were present at the Battle of Boyacá, 1819, the decisive engagement in the fight for Colombian independence. (El Palacio Federal Legislativo de Venezuela)
22. John Devereux was a colourful veteran of the 1798 Rebellion from County Wexford and the leader of the Irish Legion, which fought a brief, inglorious campaign in northern Colombia. (National Library of Ireland)
23. General Devereux’s Patriots of 1817, a sketch of the officers who served in the Irish Legion by William Sadler, which was later used to advertise confectionery. (National Library of Ireland)
24. Born in County Wicklow, John Thomond O’Brien emigrated from Ireland to Buenos Aires, serving with the patriots in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Peru. (National Library of Ireland)
25. Thomas Charles Wright was born in County Louth. He fought with the patriots before settling in Ecuador, where he founded the country’s naval academy. (Instituto Nacional De Patrimonio Cultural / Colección Estrada Ycaza)
26. The Irish soldiers of the Mexican army’s Battalón de San Patricio (Saint Patrick’s Battalion), known as the San Patricios, fought bravely at the Battle of Churubusco in 1847, one of the key battles in the Mexican-American War. (© World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo)
27. The United States army executed members of the San Patricios for desertion after the Battle of Churubusco. (Herbert Orth / The LIFE Images Collection / Getty Images)
28. The County Cork-born Eliza Lynch is a national heroine in Paraguay for her brave stand at Cerro Corá during the War of the Triple Alliance in 1870.
29. Born into an Irish family in Argentina, Camila O’Gorman is a tragic figure in the nation’s history. She was executed for eloping with a Roman Catholic priest.
30. The Argentinian leader Juan Manuel Rosas ordered the execution of Camila O’Gorman and Fr Uladislao Gutiérrez after the Catholic Church denounced the couple. (Sacrificio de Camila O’Gorman y del Sacerdorte Gutiérrez, impresa por Gosselin. Complejo Museográfico Provincial Enrique Udaondo, Luján, Buenos Aires)