Simón Bolívar

Simón Bolívar, called The Liberator (1783-1830), South American soldier and statesman, who was the principal leader in the struggle for South American independence from Spain.

Bolívar was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 24, 1783. Educated by private tutors in Caracas, and also in Spain, Bolívar was profoundly influenced by the French political philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau. Bolívar fought under the command of Francisco de Miranda, who led the revolt against the Spanish in Venezuela in 1810. The rebels were defeated by the Spanish royalists, and Bolívar was forced to flee the country. In 1812 he led another expedition to Venezuela. He captured Caracas in 1813 and assumed dictatorship. Royalist forces defeated him again in 1814, and he went into exile in Jamaica and later Haiti.

Uniting his forces with those of Jose Antonio Páez and European volunteers, Bolívar again invaded Venezuela in 1817. He established a revolutionary government at Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar), and he was elected president of Venezuela. In 1819 Bolívar’s army crossed the Andes Mountains into New Granada (now Colombia), defeating the Spanish at Boyacá, thus ending royalist rule there. Several months later, on December 17, 1819, the republic of Colombia, consisting of Venezuela and New Granada, was proclaimed, with Bolívar as president. He countered a resurgence of royalist activity by leading his army on June 24, 1821, to an overwhelming victory near Carabobo, ensuring Venezuelan independence.

Bolívar, with a vision of a united Spanish America, secured independence for Quito (now Ecuador) in 1822, which then became part of Colombia. In 1824 he led the revolutionary forces of Peru in their fight for independence. Victorious, he was elected president of Peru in February 1825, and the following May he organized in southern Peru a new republic, which was named Bolivia in his honor. To preserve the independence of the new nations Bolívar initiated a series of inter-American conferences in Panama in June 1826. From that September, when he left Peru, to 1830, Bolívar sought unsuccessfully to maintain the political unity of the republic of Colombia. He resigned the presidency of the republic in August 1828, then assumed dictatorial control the next month. Unable to pacify contending factions, he relinquished power on April 27, 1830. He died on December 17 of that year, a defeated, disillusioned, and hated man. Today, however, the memory of Bolívar is revered throughout South America, and in Venezuela and Bolivia his birthday is a national holiday.