The Englishmen likewise extended their colonial conquests. The unsettled Bushland of South Australia was colonized by Captain Hindmarsh and his followers. They founded the city of Adelaide, named after the consort of William IV. A wrecked British ship having been plundered by Arabs, the Sultan of Aden, under a threat of British retaliation, was made to cede Aden to Great Britain. New claims for territory were preferred by Great Britain against the Republic of Honduras, in Central America.
[Sidenote: Mexican independence acknowledged]
The neighboring republic of Mexico, under the dictatorship of Santa Anna, at last succeeded in having its independence formally acknowledged by Spain. On March 6, Santa Anna, having raised a new force of 8,000 men, marched on Fort Alamo, which had been left in charge of a small garrison of Americans under Colonel Jim Bowie. All night they fought. Every man fell at his post but seven, and these were killed while asking quarter. Here died David Crockett, the famous American frontiersman, whose exploits had made him so popular in Tennessee, that, though unable to read, he was thrice elected to Congress. Joaquin Miller, the American poet, based on this encounter his stirring ballad on "The Defence of the Alamo":
Santa Anna came storming, as a storm might come; There was rumble of cannon; there was rattle of blade; There was cavalry, infantry, bugle and drum,-- Full seven thousand, in pomp and parade, The chivalry, flower of Mexico; And a gaunt two hundred in the Alamo!
On April 21 was fought the decisive battle of San Jacinto, in which Santa Anna with 1500 men was defeated by 800 Texans under Sam Houston. On the next day General Santa Anna was captured. He was compelled to acknowledge the independence of Texas, but the people of Mexico refused to ratify his act. Nonetheless serious hostilities against the Texans were abandoned.
The abolition of slavery in Bolivia gave a new impetus to the government of that republic. President Santa Cruz of Bolivia felt encouraged by this to attempt to carry out his pet project of the amalgamation of Peru with Bolivia. A prolonged guerilla war was the result.
[Sidenote: Spanish rule in Cuba and Philippines]
[Sidenote: Portuguese slave trade abolished]