Simonbolivar it was a Venezuelan revolutionary who belonged to an aristocratic family Creole. He swore to defend the independence of South America when he was in Italy and dedicated his life to fighting the Spaniards. Assisted in the independence processes of Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.
He tried to fight the poverty of the South American population and envisioned the union of South American nations in Gran Colombia. He saw his unifying project fail and died victim ofand tuberculosis and poor, because he used all his fortune in the fight for independence.
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Youth
Simón José Antonio de la Santissima Trinidad Bolivar Palacios Ponte y Blanco born in Caracas, current capital of Venezuela, on the day July 24, 1783. He was part of a family that was part of the local aristocracy, with his parents owning many properties and slaves.
![Simón Bolívar belonged to a family of the Creole aristocracy in Venezuela.[1]](/f/0625810846354a4a21d15e9e105a0898.jpg)
You Simón Bolívar's parents belonged
à aristocracy Creole, that is, they were part of an elite in Venezuela who were direct descendants of Spaniards who moved to America. Simón Bolívar's parents were named Juan Vicente Bolívar and María de la Concepción Palacios y Blanco—both died when Bolívar was still a child.His father died in 1786, when Simon was just two years old, and his mother died in 1792, when he was almost nine years old. Therefore, the custody of Simón Bolívar was in the hands of relatives when he was a child, and one of the most important for his upbringing was Carlos Palacios y Blanco, his uncle on the part of his mother.
Bolivar's education relied on the teachings of SimonRodríguez and Andrésbello, both important Venezuelan intellectuals at the beginning of the 19th century. During his training, he still took his first military lessons at age 14 and, when he was 16, was sent to Spain so that he could continue his studies.
In Spain, Simón Bolívar met Maria Teresa del Toro Alayza, a Spanish woman who was the daughter of criollos Venezuelans. They were engaged from 1800 to 1802 and then married in May 1802 in Madrid, Spain. In June, both went to Caracas to reside on Bolivar's properties. Unfortunately, María Teresa became ill and died in January 1803 of yellow fever.
With the death of his wife, Bolivar decided to travel to Europe and the United States. This trip was fundamental for the revolutionary streak in Bolivar to emerge. He passed through Spain, witnessed the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte as French Emperor in 1804 and went to Italy and the United States.
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revolutionary trajectory
One of the most important points in the formation of Simón Bolívar as a revolutionary were some of the things he saw and did during this trip. The historical context and the influence of ideals illuminists in Bolívar's intellectual formation they were also fundamental for him to become a revolutionary icon.
In Italy, for example, he provided a oath in which he would devote his life to fighting for the liberation of America from the domination of the Spaniards and said he would not rest while that happened. This was the Oath of the Sacred Mount.
In that oath, Bolivar was with Simón Rodríguez on the Monte Sacro, located in Rome. This location was chosen because it received a civil revolt of the poor in 494 BC Ç. The trip through the United States, a country that had recently gained its independence, also strongly influenced Bolivar.
In 1807, he returned to Venezuela and when he arrived in Caracas, he found the city in large agitationpolitics. The Spanish colonies in America were in an uproar over the removal of the Spanish king Fernando VII by the troops of France. The weakening of Spanish power, added to the revolutionary ideals that popped up, influenced by the enlightenment and by the example of american revolution, generated this scene of agitation in the colonies.
The result was that Caracas began the struggle for independence of Venezuela, which was part of the Captaincy General of Venezuela, on April 19, 1810, when a revolutionary board graduated from the city. This board was responsible for inaugurating the First Republic Venezuela in July 1811 with the declaration of independence, but Venezuela would still face a long process to secure itself as an independent nation.
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fight for independence
In these events that took place in Venezuela between 1807 and 1810, Bolivar played no part. That started to change when he was cast in a diplomatic mission In London. He was sent along with Andrés Bello and Luis López Méndez to get British support for Venezuelan independence.
Also in 1811, Simón Bolívar participated in his first military battle against the Spaniards (called the realists). Despite having participated in some successful campaigns, the Venezuelans were defeated in 1812, and Simon Bolivar neededto run away of Venezuela. He went to Curaçao and then to Cartagena, New Granada.
In Cartagena he formed a new army and led a small troop, which marched through Venezuelan territory in 1813. Bolivar's march through Venezuela started from Cúcuta, a Colombian city on the border with Venezuelan territory. He conquered Merida, earning there the title of “liberator”.
In August 1813, Bolivar's troops arrived in Caracas and, with the new Spanish defeat, the Second Republic Venezuelan. However, the war against the royalist forces ensued, and the forces of Bolivar's troops weakened. He then left for New Granada in search of support, where he became involved in the local independence struggle.
In 1815 he fled to Jamaica, where he wrote the Jamaica letter, a document in which he reaffirmed his commitment to the cause of South American independence from Spanish rule. Finally, he went to Haiti in search of safety, since in Jamaica he had been the target of assassination attempts promoted by Spain.
In Haiti he got the support of Alexandre Pétion, the Haitian president. In 1816, he arrived in Venezuela and formed a government in Angostura, in western Venezuela. In 1817 the ThirdRepublic, and Bolivar was the head of that republic and the military leader of the Venezuelan troops still fighting the Spaniards.
In 1819, he took his troops to New Granada and fought the Spaniards, consolidating the Colombian independence and the formation of a republic there in 1819. The Spaniards still resisted in a part of Venezuelan territory, but in 1821 Bolivar led an army that fought at the Battle of Carabobo, defeating the royalist forces.
Only in 1823 were the Spaniards definitively defeated, and Venezuela was able to guarantee its de facto independence. Bolivar was also involved in the revolutionary processes that ensured the independence of Peru and Bolivia, making him one of the great revolutionaries in South American history.
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Death
In his last years, Simón Bolívar was one of the creators of Great Colombia, a nation that brought together the territories of Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. Bolivar was in charge of this project, as president, from 1819 to 1830. During this period, it carried out a series of popular actions, such as an agrarian reform law.
However, the differences in interests between the elites of each country caused Gran Colombia to fail. He resigned from the presidency in 1830, and in the following year, Gran Colombia dissolved. Bolivar withdrew from politics and spent the last months of his life poor and ill. In December 17, 1830, he died a victim of tuberculosis.
Image credits
[1] Neveshkin Nikolay and Shutterstock
By Daniel Neves Silva
History teacher
