page_title: Monarch
section_title: Monarchs in the Americas
hierarchical_section_title: Monarch / History / Monarchs in the Americas
caption_attribution_description: English: Jean Jacques Dessalines, president and then emperor of Haiti
context_page_description: A monarch is the head of state in a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power in the state, or others may wield that power on behalf of the monarch. Usually a monarch either personally inherits the lawful right to exercise the state's sovereign rights or is selected by an established process from a family or cohort eligible to provide the nation's monarch. Alternatively, an individual may become monarch by right of conquest, acclamation or a combination of means. A monarch usually reigns for life or until abdication.
  If a young child is crowned the monarch, a regent is often appointed to govern until the monarch reaches the requisite adult age to rule. Monarchs' actual powers vary from one monarchy to another and in different eras; on one extreme, they may be autocrats wielding genuine sovereignty; on the other they may be ceremonial heads of state who exercise little or no direct power or only reserve powers, with actual authority vested in a parliament or other body.
  A monarch can reign in multiple monarchies simultaneously.
context_section_description: The concept of monarchy existed in the Americas long before the arrival of European colonialists. When the Europeans arrived they referred to these tracts of land within territories of different aboriginal groups to be kingdoms, and the leaders of these groups were often referred to by the Europeans as Kings, particularly hereditary leaders.
  Pre-colonial titles that were used included:
  Cacique – Aboriginal Hispaniola and Borinquen
  Tlatoani – Nahuas
  Ajaw – Maya
  Qhapaq Inka – Tawuantin Suyu (Inca Empire)
  Morubixaba – Tupi tribes
  Sha-quan – King of the world used in some Native American tribes
  The first local monarch to emerge in North America after colonization was Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who declared himself Emperor of Haiti on September 22, 1804. Haiti again had an emperor,  Faustin I from 1849 to 1859. In South America, Brazil had a royal house ruling as emperor between 1822 and 1889, under Emperors Pedro I and Pedro II.
  Between 1931 and 1983 nine other previous British colonies attained independence as kingdoms. All, including Canada, are in a personal union relationship under a shared monarch. Therefore, though today there are legally ten American monarchs, one person occupies each distinct position.
  In addition to these sovereign states, there are also a number of sub-national ones. In Bolivia, for example, the Afro-Bolivian king claims descent from an African dynasty that was taken from its homeland and sold into slavery. Though largely a ceremonial title today, the position of king of the Afro-Bolivians is officially recognized by the government of Bolivia.
caption: Jacques I, Emperor of Haiti, 1804
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