Simon Bolivar was one of the most important figures in the history of South America due to his involvement in the independence of a number of countries, notably Colombia and Venezuela. he engaged in fight against the spanish and formulated the unification ideal of South American peoples in a great nation, but that ideal failed. He became known as “liberator” and today is considered a great hero in Venezuela.
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birth and private life
Simón José Antonio de la Santissima Trinidad Bolivar Palacios Ponte y Blanco, but commonly known only as SimonBolivar, was born on July 24, 1783, in the city of Caracas, current capital of Venezuela. Bolivar was a member of a family that was part of the aristocracy Creole (of descendants of Spaniards born in America) of Captaincy General of Venezuela.
THE Bolivar's family was from the region of ParentsBasque, in Spain, and had settled in America around the 16th century. in addition to occupying importantpositionspublic in Venezuela, the Bolívar family “owned silver and copper mines, farms and properties dedicated to the production of sugar and cocoa”|1|. Historians Leandro Gavião and Hugo Suppo also claim that only in San Mateo (Venezuelan city), Bolivar's family had more than 1200 slaves|2|.
His parents were called María de la Concepción Palacios y Blanco and Juan Vicente Bolivar y Ponte. When Bolivar was three years old his fatherdied and when he was nine his momdied. After that, he moved to the tutoring youruncle brother of his mother and was under the care of a slave named Hippolyta.
As the son of a very rich family, Bolivar had a excellent education and was tutored renowned intellectuals of the time, among which stand out SimonRodríguez, an intellectual heavily influenced by Rousseau and the ideas of the enlightenment, and by Andrés Bello, an outstanding Venezuelan poet.
Illustration by Simón Bolívar during his youth.[1]
At the age of 16, he was sent to the Europe to complement his education and there he had more contact with Enlightenment ideals, that shaped his political thinking. In Spain, he met María Teresa Rodríguez del Toro y Alaysa, daughter of a noble family. He married her in 1802, and then returned to Venezuela with her. In January 1803, however, his wife died of yellow fever.
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Independence of Venezuela
bolivar engaged in the struggle for independence of Venezuela, around 1807, but before we focus on his role in this historical process, it is necessary to understand the beginning of the struggle for independence in Spanish America.
THE Venezuela, like other regions of South America, it was colonized by Spain. In 1808, during an expedition to punish Portugal, the french troops entered Spanish territory, deposed King Fernando VII and placed JosephBonaparte, brother of Napoleon, on the Spanish throne. These events demonstrated the Spanish weakening and boosted independence movements throughout the American continent.
You independence movements in Spanish America they were also inspired by Enlightenment ideals and were the result not only of the invasion of Spain, but also of the growth of the colonists' sense of identity with America and with the sensitive weakening of spanish power. When the Spanish throne fell into the hands of France, independence movements began to appear across the continent.
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Bolivar as liberator
Simón Bolívar's alignment with the cause of independence has as its starting point the Oath of the Sacred Mount, in 1805. On that occasion, Bolivar was with Simón Rodríguez, his tutor, in Rome, when he took the oath to dedicate his life to fight for the end of spanish rule. He returned to Venezuela in 1807 after traveling through Europe and the USA for a while.
O independence movement in Venezuela it was started shortly thereafter, when the Spanish king was overthrown by Napoleon. Involved with the independence movements in the following years, Bolivar participated in the formation of the JoinsGovernment, institution that established in Caracas, in the year of 1810, and that started to fight for the independence of Venezuela.
By decision of the Board, Bolivar was sent to London in a missiondiplomatic. The objective of this mission was to conquer support from england for the cause of Venezuela's independence. During this trip, Bolivar managed to convince FranciscoMiranda, leader of an independence movement that had failed in 1806, to return to Venezuela.
In July 5, 1811, the Board of Caracas decided declare independence. The independence movement generated a reaction, and troops loyal to Spain fought the independence movement. In July 1812, these troops managed to overthrow the First Venezuelan Republic and regained control of Spain over Venezuela.
Bolivar fled to the exile and settled in the city of Cartagena, in NewGrenade (present-day Colombia) to form an independence movement there. In that place, Bolivar restoredyourforces and marched again to Venezuela, managing to conquer Merida in May 1813 and Caracas in August 1813. He proclaimed the Second Venezuelan Republic and his role in that episode earned him the nickname liberator.
In 1814 he was defeated in the Battle of La Puerta by forces loyal to Spain and was forced to flee, settling first in Spain. Jamaica and then in the Haiti. During your exile in Jamaica, wrote the Jamaica letter, document in which he expressed his desire to unify the territories of America colonized by the Spaniards in one nation.
At the Haiti, Bolivar had the protection of the government of alexanderPetion, which even helped him to replenish his forces to return to Venezuela. Bolivar returned to Venezuela, declaring the liberation of slaves, in 1816, and, in 1817, he conquered the Venezuelan city of Angostura. Bolivar led the independence of New Granada with about 2500 men.
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Formation of Gran Colombia
The independence of New Granada was formalized with the victory in the Battle of Boyaca, in 1819. In 1821, Bolivar again managed to free Venezuela from Spanish rule after the Carabobo Battle. With that, the Great Colombia, joining the territories that correspond to Colombia and Venezuela. The territory corresponding to Ecuador was annexed to Gran Colombia the following year, 1822.
Bolivar also participated in the efforts to guarantee the independence ofPeru, the place that concentrated the biggerresistance of those who were loyal to Spanish rule. The Peruvians, however, refused to join Gran Colombia. Bolivar, finally, was also involved in the process of independence ofBolivia (named after him).
Bolivar was President of Great Colombia, from 1819 to 1830. During this period, he tried to expand his project of territorial unification of the nations of America through the Congress of Panama, in 1826. Some of the South American nations attended and signed some agreements among themselves, but, in general, historians consider this congress a failure.
THE Great Colombia, Bolivar's big dream was a failuretotal. The different interests defended by the established elites in the territories that made up Gran Colombia made its existence unsustainable. Bolivar tried to carry out a more centralized government, but opposition movements to Gran Colombia began to consolidate.
In May 1830, Bolivar resigned the presidency from Gran Colombia, which quickly crumbled, giving rise to newcountries: New Granada (would later be renamed Colombia), Venezuela and Ecuador.
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Death
Bust in honor of Bolivar in Paramaribo, Venezuela.
Simón Bolívar died in December 17, 1830, victimized by tuberculosis. At the time, Bolivar was based in Santa Marta, Colombia. Bolivar was converted into a great Venezuelan hero, especially since the government of Hugo Chávez, Venezuelan president from 1999 to 2013.
Image credit
[1] Image credits: Neveshkin Nikolay and Shutterstock
Grades
|1| GAVIÃO, Leandro and SUPPO, Hugo. Simón Bolívar's Pan-American Utopia. In.: XAVIER, Lídia de Oliveira and AVILA, Carlos F. Dominguez. Politics, culture and society in Latin America: interdisciplinary and comparative studies – Vol. 5. Curitiba: Publisher CRV, 2018, p. 165.
|2| Idem, p. 165.
