Venezuelan military and political leader (1783–1830)"Bolívar" redirects here. For other uses, see Bolívar (disambiguation) and Simón Bolívar (disambiguation).In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Bolívar and the second or maternal family name is Palacios.

Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Ponte Palacios y Blanco (English: /ˈbɒlɪvər, -vɑːr/ BOL-iv-ər, -⁠ar, also US: /ˈboʊlɪvɑːr/ BOH-liv-ar, Spanish:: ; 24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Bolivia to independence from the Spanish Empire. He is known colloquially as El Libertador, or the Liberator of America.

Simón Bolívar was born in Caracas in the Captaincy General of Venezuela into a wealthy creole family, but lost both parents before he turned ten and lived in several households. As was common for men of upper-cl* families in his day, Bolívar was sent to be educated abroad, and lived in Spain. While living in Madrid from 1800 to 1802, he was introduced to Enlightenment philosophy and met María Teresa Rodríguez del Toro y Alaysa. The two married in 1802 and returned to Venezuela, where del Toro contracted yellow fever and died within a year of their nuptials. Bolívar traveled in 1803 to France as Napoleon established the First French Empire, then to Rome, where he famously swore to end Spanish rule in the Americas. Bolívar returned to Venezuela in 1807 and began to discuss Venezuelan independence with other wealthy creoles. Following the collapse of Spanish authority in the Americas as a result of Napoleon's invasion of the Iberian peninsula, Bolívar threw himself into revolutionary politics and became an active and zealous combatant in the Spanish American wars of independence.

Bolívar began his military career in 1810 as a militia officer in the Venezuelan War of Independence, fighting Spanish and more native Royalist forces for the first and second Venezuelan republics and the United Provinces of New Granada. After Spanish forces subdued New Grenada in 1816, Bolívar was forced into exile in the Republic of Haiti, led by Haitian revolutionary Alexandre Pétion. Bolívar befriended Pétion and, after promising to abolish slavery in South America, received military support from Haiti. Returning to Venezuela, he established a third republic in 1817 and then crossed the Andes in 1819 to liberate New Granada. Bolívar and his allies decisively defeated the Spanish in New Granada in 1819, Venezuela and Panama in 1821, Ecuador in 1822, Peru in 1824, and Bolivia in 1825. Venezuela, New Granada, Ecuador, and Peru were merged into the state of Gran Colombia, with Bolívar president there and in Bolivia. Despite his best efforts, Bolívar could not hold Gran Colombia together against separatist, federalist inclinations in its member states and in 1830 was removed from government and almost **inated. That year, while waiting to board a ship for exile in Europe, Bolívar died of tuberculosis.

Bolívar is regarded as a national and cultural icon throughout Latin American; the nations of Bolivia and Venezuela and their currencies are named after him. His legacy is diverse and far-reaching both within Latin America and beyond. He has been memorialized all over the world in the form of public art or street names and in popular culture.

Contents

• 1 Early life and family
  • 1.1 Education and first journey to Europe, 1793–1802
  • 1.2 Return to Venezuela and second journey to Europe, 1802–1805
• 2 Political and military career
  • 2.1 First Republic of Venezuela, 1811–12
  • 2.2 New Grenada and Venezuela, 1812–1819
  • 2.3 Gran Colombia, 1819–1830
    • 2.3.1 Ecuador and Peru, 1822–1824
    • 2.3.2 Republic of Bolivia
    • 2.3.3 Struggles inside Gran Colombia
• 3 Final months and death
• 4 Personal beliefs
• 5 Legacy
  • 5.1 Monuments and physical legacy
• 6 See also
• 7 References
  • 7.1 Citations
  • 7.2 Bibliography
    • 7.2.1 Biographies of Simón Bolívar
    • 7.2.2 Works by Simón Bolívar
    • 7.2.3 General reference
• 8 Further reading
• 9 External links

Early life and family

Simón Bolívar was born on 24 July 1783 in Caracas, capital of the Captaincy General of Venezuela, the fourth and youngest child of Juan Vicente Bolívar y Ponte: and María de la Concepción Palacios y Blanco:. He was baptized as Simón José Antonio de la Santísma Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios on 30 July. Simón was born into the Bolívar family, one of the wealthiest and most prestigious creole families in the Spanish Americas. The first Bolívar to emigrate to the Americas was Simón de Bolívar e Ibargüen, a Basque nobleman and notary official who arrived in Santo Domingo in the mid-16th century. In 1588–89, he joined the staff of Diego Osorio Villegas, Governor of Santo Domingo, when he was named Governor of the Venezuela Province and moved to Caracas. There, Simón de Bolívar's descendants would also serve in the colonial bureaucracy and marry into rich Caracas families. By the time Simón Bolívar was born, the Bolívars owned property throughout Venezuela.

Simón Bolívar's childhood was described by British historian John Lynch as "at once privileged and deprived." Juan Vicente died of tuberculosis on 19 January 1786, and left María de la Concepción Palacios and her father, Feliciano Palacios y Sojo:, as legal guardians over the Bolívar children's inheritances. Those children – María Antonia: (born 1777), Juana: (born 1779), Juan Vicente: (born 1781), and Simón – were raised separately from each other and their mother, and, following colonial custom, by African house slaves. Simón in particular was breastfed and then raised by a slave named Hipólita, whom Bolívar came to view as both a motherly and fatherly figure. On 6 July 1792, María de la Concepción also died of tuberculosis. Believing that his family would inherit the Bolívars' wealth, Feliciano Palacios arranged marriages for María Antonia and Juana and, before dying on 5 December 1793, *igned custody of Juan Vicente and Simón to his sons, Juan Félix Palacios and Carlos Palacios y Blanco:, respectively.

Education and first journey to Europe, 1793–1802

As a child, Bolívar was unruly and he obeyed neither his mother nor Hipólita. He came to loathe Carlos, who had no interest in Bolívar other than his inheritance, and neglected his studies. Even before Bolívar's mother died, he spent two years under the tutelage of the Venezuelan lawyer Miguel José Sanz at the direction of the Real Audiencia of Caracas:, the Spanish court of appeals in Caracas. In 1793, Carlos Palacios enrolled Bolívar at a rudimentary primary school: run by Simón Rodríguez. Two years later in June 1795, Bolívar fled his uncle's custody for the house of Maria Antonia and her husband. The couple sought formal recognition of his change of residence, which Palacios resisted. In July 1795, the case was taken to the Real Audiencia and decided in Palacios's favor. Palacios sent Simón to live with Rodríguez in his overcrowded home.

After two months at Rodríguez's home, Bolívar was moved at the direction of the Real Audiencia back to the Palacios family home. Bolívar promised the Real Audiencia that he would focus on his education, and began to be taught full-time by Rodríguez and by Venezuelan intellectuals Andrés Bello and Francisco de Andújar:. In 1797, Rodríguez's connection to a pro-independence conspiracy forced him to go into exile, and Bolívar was enrolled in an honorary militia force. When he was commissioned as an officer after a year, his uncles Carlos and Esteban Palacios y Blanco: decided to send Bolívar to join the latter in Madrid. There, Esteban was friends with the Spanish Prime Minister, Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis, and Queen Maria Luisa's favorite, Manuel Mallo.

Miniature portrait of Bolívar in 1800

On 19 January 1799, Bolívar boarded the Spanish warship San Ildefonso at the port of La Guaira, bound for Cádiz. The ship sailed first to Veracruz to load Mexican silver for transit to Spain. The ship arrived on 2 February, but was prevented from leaving for seven weeks by a British blockade of Havana. Taking advantage of the delay, Bolívar traveled to Mexico City, capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and met the Viceroy. By 20 March, the British blockade had been lifted and the San Ildefonso departed and, in May 1799, docked in Santoña, on the northern coast of Spain. A little over a week later, Bolívar joined his uncles Esteban and Pedro in Madrid. Esteban found Bolívar to be "very ignorant" and hired tutors to teach him. When he found himself in financial difficulty, Esteban asked Gerónimo Enrique de Uztáriz y Tovar, a Caracas native and government official, to educate Bolívar. Uztáriz accepted and Bolívar, who moved into his residence in February 1800, was thoroughly educated.

At the same time, Mallo fell out of the Queen's favor and Manuel Godoy, her previous favorite, returned to power. As members of Mallo's faction at court, Esteban was arrested on pretense, and Pedro fled to Cádiz. Bolívar meanwhile was banished from court following a public incident at the Puerta de Toledo over the wearing of diamonds without royal permission. Bolívar also at this time met María Teresa Rodríguez del Toro y Alaysa, the daughter of another wealthy Caracas creole. They were engaged in August 1800, then were separated when the del Toros left Madrid for a summer home in Bilbao. After Uztáriz left Madrid for a government *ignment in Teruel in 1801, Bolívar himself left for Bilbao and remained there when the del Toros returned to the capital in August 1801. Early in 1802, Bolívar traveled to Paris while he awaited permission to return to Madrid, which was granted in April.

Return to Venezuela and second journey to Europe, 1802–1805

Bolívar and del Toro, aged 18 and 21 respectively, were married in Madrid on 26 May 1802. The couple boarded the San Ildefonso in A Coruña on 15 June and sailed for La Guaira, where they arrived on 12 July, and settled in Caracas. There, del Toro fell ill and died of yellow fever on 22 January 1803 and was buried in the Bolívar family crypt at Caracas Cathedral. Bolívar was devastated by del Toro's death, and later told Louis Peru de Lacroix, one of his generals and biographers, that he swore to never remarry. By July 1803, Bolívar decided to leave Venezuela for Europe. He entrusted his estates to an agent and his brother and in October boarded a ship bound for Cádiz.

Bolívar arrived in Spain in December 1803, then traveled to Madrid to console his father-in-law. In March 1804, Madrid ordered all non-residents in the city to leave to alleviate a bread shortage brought about by resumed hostilities with Britain. Over April, Bolívar and Fernando Rodríguez del Toro:, a childhood friend and relative of his wife, made their way to Paris and arrived in time for Napoleon to be proclaimed Emperor of the French on 18 May 1804. They rented an apartment on the rue Vivienne and met with other South Americans such as Carlos de Montúfar:, Vicente Rocafuerte, and Simón Rodríguez, who joined Bolívar and del Toro in their apartment. Bolívar soon thereafter began a dalliance with the Countess Dervieu du Villars, who hosted a salon frequented by members of French high society. It was likely at this salon that Bolívar met the naturalists Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland, who had traveled through much of Spanish America from 1799 to 1804, and allegedly discussed Spanish American independence with them.

I swear before you that I will not rest body or soul until I have broken the chains binding us to the will of Spanish might!

Simón Bolívar, 15 August 1805

On 2 December 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor in Notre Dame de Paris. Though he remained awed by Napoleon, Bolívar was disgusted and, in April 1805, left Paris with Rodríguez and del Toro on a Grand Tour to Italy. Beginning in Lyon, they traveled to Chambéry, where the philosopher Rousseau had once resided, through the Savoy Alps, and then to Milan. The trio arrived in time to witness Napoleon's coronation there on 26 May 1805 as King of Italy. From there, they traveled down the Po Valley to Venice, then to Florence, and then finally Rome, where Bolívar met among others Pope Pius VII, the French writer Germaine de Staël, and Humboldt again. Rome's sites and history fired Bolívar's imagination. On 18 August 1805, he, del Toro, and Rodríguez traveled to the Mons Sacer, where the plebs had seceded from Rome, and swore to end Spanish rule in the Americas.

Political and military career

Main article: Military career of Simón Bolívar Francisco de Miranda, portrait by Martín Tovar y Tovar

From Rome, Bolívar returned to Paris by April 1806 and sought to return to Venezuela, where Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda had just attempted an invasion with American volunteers. British control of the seas resulting from the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 made crossing the Atlantic from France impossible, so in October 1806, Bolívar boarded an American ship in Hamburg. Bolívar arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, in January 1807, and from there traveled to Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New York City, and Boston. After six months in the United States, Bolívar returned to Philadelphia and sailed for Venezuela, where he arrived in June 1807. He began to meet with other creole elites to discuss independence from Spain. Finding himself to be far more radical than the rest of Caracas high society, however, Bolívar occupied himself with a property dispute with a neighbor, Antonio Nicolás Briceño:.

In 1807–08, Napoleon invaded the Iberian peninsula and replaced the rulers of Spain with his brother. This news arrived in Venezuela in July 1808. Napoleonic rule was rejected and Venezuelan creoles, though still loyal to Ferdinand VII of Spain, sought to form their own local government in place of the existing Spanish government. When, on 24 November 1808, the creoles presented a pe*ion demanding an independent government to Juan de Casas:, the Captain-General of Venezuela, he cracked down and arrested the pe*ioners. Bolívar, who did not sign the pe*ion, was not arrested but was warned to cease hosting or attending seditious meetings. In May 1809, Casas was replaced by Vicente Emparán and his staff, which included Fernando Rodríguez del Toro. Emparán's government, while friendlier to the creoles and connected to some of the opposition leaders, was also resisted by the creoles.

By February 1810, French victories in Spain prompted the dissolution of the anti-French Spanish government in favor of a five-man regency council for Ferdinand VII. This news, and two delegates that included Carlos de Montúfar, arrived in Venezuela on 17 April 1810. Two days later, the creoles succeeded in deposing and then expelling Emparán, and created the Supreme Junta of Caracas, independent from the Spanish regency but not Ferdinand VII. Absent from Caracas for the coup, the Bolívar brothers returned to the city and offered their services to the Supreme Junta as diplomats. In May 1810, Juan Vicente was sent to the United States to buy weapons, while Simón secured a place in a diplomatic mission to Great Britain with the lawyer Luis López Méndez:, and Andrés Bello by paying for the mission. The trio boarded a British warship, HMS Wellington, in June 1810 and arrived at Portsmouth on 10 July 1810.

The three delegates first met Miranda at his London residence, despite instructions from the Supreme Junta to avoid him, and thereafter received the benefit of his connections and consultation. On 16 July 1810, the Venezuelan delegation met the British foreign secretary, Richard Wellesley, at his residence. Led by Bolívar, the Venezuelans argued in favor of Venezuelan independence. Wellesley stated that it was intolerable for Anglo-Spanish relations, and moreover was using his talks with the Venezuelans to secure access to Spanish American markets for British merchants from the Spanish regency. Subsequent meetings produced no recognition or concrete support from Britain. Finding that he had many shared beliefs with Miranda, however, Bolívar convinced him to come back to Venezuela. On 22 September 1810, Bolívar left for Venezuela aboard HMS:Sapphire while López and Bello remained in London as diplomats, and arrived in La Guaira on 5 December. Miranda, whose return to Venezuela the British government did not desire but could not prevent, arrived in La Guaira later in December.

First Republic of Venezuela, 1811–12

Main article: First Republic of Venezuela

While Bolívar was in England, the Supreme Junta p*ed liberal economic reforms, restructured government in Venezuela, and began to hold elections for representatives to a congress to be held in Caracas. It had also alienated Caracas from the Venezuelan provinces of Coro, Maracaibo, and Guayana, which professed loyalty to the regency council, and began hostilities with them. Creating the Patriotic Society:, Bolívar and Miranda campainged for and secured the latter's election to the congress. The congress first met on 2 March 1811 and reaffirmed Caracas's allegiance to Ferdinand VII. After it was discovered that one of the men leading the congress was a Spanish agent who had escaped with military do*ents, however, discourse – which Bolívar was prominent in – changed decidedly in favor of independence over 3 and 4 July 1811. Finally, on 5 July, after a near-unaminous vote, the congress made a declaration of independence.

The declaration of independence created a republic with a weak base of support and enemies in conservative whites, disenfranchised people of color, and already hostile Venezuelan provinces, which received troops and supplies from the Captaincy-Generals of Puerto Rico and Cuba. On 13 July 1811, two days after an attempted counterrevolutionary uprising in Caracas, the republic raised its militias to fight the pro-Spanish Royalists. Command of the Republican forces was given to Francisco Rodríguez del Toro:, the Marquis of Toro:, who had led an abortive campaign against Coro: in November 1810. This promotion opened a breach between Bolívar and Miranda, who had more military experience than del Toro, as Bolívar was a friend of del Toro and remained loyal to him. Following a failed attempt to suppress a Royalist uprising in the city of Valencia later in July, del Toro was replaced with Miranda, who recaptured Valencia on 13 August 1811.

I left my house for the Cathedral and the earth began to shake with a huge roar. I saw the church of San Jacinto collapse on its own foundations. I climbed over the ruins and entered, and I immediately saw about forty persons dead or dying under the rubble. I climbed out again and I shall never forget that moment. On the top of the ruins I found Don Simón Bolívar . He saw me and , "We will fight nature itself if it opposes us, and force it to obey."

Royalist historian José Domingo Díaz:, quoted by John Lynch

As a condition of *uming command of the Republican forces, Miranda had Bolívar removed from his command of a militia unit. Bolívar nonetheless participated in the Valencia campaign: as part of del Toro's militia and fought with distinction. He was selected by Miranda to bring news of Valencia's recapture to Caracas, where he argued for more punitive and forceful campaigning against the Royalists. The congress of the republic, then working on a cons*ution, instead pardoned its Royalist prisoners. That cons*ution: was ratified on 21 December 1811 and dismayed Bolívar and Miranda, who believed in a centralized government, with its decentralized structure.

Beginning in November 1811, Royalist forces began pushing back the Republicans on from the north and east. Then, on 26 March 1812, a powerful earthquake struck Venezuela, devastating areas under Republican control; Caracas itself was almost totally destroyed. Bolívar, who was still in the area of Caracas, rushed into the city to participate in the rescue of survivors and exhumation of the dead. The earthquake also destroyed public support for the republic, as Royalists and Republicans alike believed it to have been divine retribution for declaring independence from Spain. By April, a Royalist army under the Spanish naval officer Juan Domingo de Monteverde overran western Venezuela. Miranda, retreating east with a desintegrating army, ordered Bolívar to *ume command of the coastal city of Puerto Cabello and its fortress, which contained Royalist prisoners and most of the republic's remaining arms and ammunition.

Bolívar arrived at Puerto Cabello on 4 May 1812. On 30 June, a Royalist officer of the fort's garrison released its prisoners, armed them, and turned its cannons on Puerto Cabello. Weakened by further shelling, defections, and lack of supplies, Bolívar wrote to Miranda requesting *istance but received none, as the letter arrived too late. On 6 July, Bolívar and his remaining troops fled Puerto Cabello to La Guaira. Believing the republic to be doomed, Miranda decided to surrender to Monteverde on 12 July, shocking Bolívar and other Republican officers. On 25 July, Miranda formally capitulated to Monteverde, then made his way to La Guaira with his papers and a large sum of money to sail into exile. On the night of 30 July, a group of Republican conspirators that included Bolívar arrested and imprisoned Miranda on charges of treason. The very next day, the governor of La Guaira declared for the Royalists and closed the port on Monteverde's orders. Miranda, still incarcerated, was taken into Spanish custody and moved to a prison in Cádiz, where he died on 16 July 1816.

New Grenada and Venezuela, 1812–1819

Bolívar escaped La Guaira early on 31 July 1812 and rode to Caracas, where he hid from arrest in the home of Esteban Fernández de León:, the Marquis de Casa León:. Bolívar and Casa León convinced Francisco Iturbe, a friend of the Bolívar family and of Monteverde, to intercede on Bolívar's behalf and secure escape from Venezuela for him. Iturbe persuaded Monteverde to issue Bolívar a p*port for his role in Miranda's arrest, and on August 27 he sailed for Curaçao. He and his uncles Francisco and José Félix Ribas arrived on 1 September. Late in October, the exiles arranged for p*age to the city of Cartagena in New Grenada (now Colombia) to offer their services to the United Provinces of New Granada. They arrived in November and were welcomed by Manuel Rodríguez Torices, president of the Free State of Cartagena:, who instructed his commanding general, Pierre Labatut, to give Bolívar a military command. Labatut, a former partisan of Miranda, begrudgingly obliged and on 1 December 1812 placed Bolívar in command of the 70-man garrison of a town on the lower Magdalena River.

1917 engraving of Bolívar

On 15 December 1812, while en route to his posting, Bolívar issued the Cartagena Manifesto, outlining what he believed to be the causes of the Venezuelan republic's defeat and his political program. In particular, Bolívar called for the disparate New Granadine republics to help him invade Venezuela to prevent a Royalist invasion of New Granada. Bolívar arrived on the Magdalena River on 21 December and, desiring to clear the river of Royalist forces, immediately prepared for an offensive in spite of orders from Labatut to not act without his direction. He launched that offensive – the Magdalena campaign – on 23 December, and succeeded in his aims by 8 January 1813. Bolívar soon thereafter received a request for *istance from Republican colonel Manuel del Castillo y Rada:, who was struggling to check a Royalist force advancing into New Grenada from Venezuela through the city of Cúcuta. On 9 February, Bolívar joined forces with del Castillo to repel the Royalists and together they captured Cúcuta on 28 February.

In early March 1813, Bolívar set up his headquarters in Cúcuta and sent José Félix Ribas to request permission to invade Venezuela. Though rewarded with honorary citizenship in New Granada and a promotion to the rank of brigadier general, that permission did not come until 7 May because of del Castillo's opposition to the invasion. When a limited invasion was permitted, Castillo resigned his command and was succeeded by Francisco de Paula Santander, who also refused to participate in the invasion. On 14 May, Bolívar finally launched his invasion, remembered as the Admirable Campaign, in which he ordered the death of all Spaniards in South America not actively aiding his forces. Within six months, Bolívar pushed all the way to Caracas, which he entered and paraded through on 6 August, and then defeated Monteverde near Puerto Cabello and drove him out of Venezuela in October. Bolívar returned to Caracas on 14 October and was named "The Liberator" (El Libertador) by its town council, a *le first given to him by the citizens of the Venezuelan town of Mérida on 23 May.

On 2 January 1814, Bolívar was made the dictator of a Second Republic of Venezuela, which retained the weaknesses of the first republic. Though all of Venezuela but Maracaibo, Coro, and Guayana was controlled by republicans, Bolívar only governed western Venezuela. The east was controlled by Santiago Mariño, a Venezuelan republican who had fought Monteverde in the east throughout 1813. Mariño was unwilling to recognize Bolívar as his superior and Bolívar, already rebuffing requests to restore the 1811 cons*ution, desired a single, centralized, and stable Venezuelan republic under his governance. Venezuela, however, was economically devastated and could not support the republic's armies, and people of color remained disenfranchised and thus unsupportive of the republic. The republic was *ailed from all sides by slave revolts and Royalist forces, especially the Legion of Hell, an army of llaneros – the colored cowboys of the Llanos, to the south – led by the Spanish warlord José Tomás Boves. Beginning in February 1814, Boves surged out of the llanos and overwhelmed the republic, occupying Caracas on 16 July and destroying Mariño's powerbase – and dying in battle – on 5 December.

As Boves approached Caracas, Bolívar ordered the city stripped of its gold and silver, which was moved to La Guaira and shipped to Barcelona, Venezuela, and then led 20,000 of its citizens east. Bolívar arrived in Barcelona on 2 August, but following another Royalist victory: at Aragua de Barcelona on 17 August 1814, he moved to *aná, where he arrived on 25 August.

Gran Colombia, 1819–1830

Main article: Gran Colombia Bolívar and Francisco de Paula Santander during the Congress of Cúcuta, October 1821

On 15 February 1819, Bolívar was able to open the Venezuelan Second National Congress in Angostura, in which he was elected president and Francisco Antonio Zea was elected vice president.

The campaign for the independence of New Granada, which included the crossing of the Andes mountain range, one of history's great military feats, was consolidated with the victory at the Battle of Boyacá on 7 August 1819. Bolívar returned to Angostura, when congress p*ed a law forming a greater Republic of Colombia on 17 December, making Bolívar president and Zea vice president, with Francisco de Paula Santander vice president on the New Granada side, and Juan Germán Roscio vice president on the Venezuela side.

Morillo was left in control of Caracas and the coastal highlands. After the restoration of the Cádiz Cons*ution, Morillo ratified two treaties with Bolívar on 25 November 1820, calling for a six-month armistice and recognizing Bolívar as president of the republic. Bolívar and Morillo met in Santa Ana de Trujillo on 27 November, after which Morillo left Venezuela for Spain, leaving La Torre in command.

From his newly consolidated base of power, Bolívar launched outright independence campaigns in Venezuela and Ecuador. These campaigns concluded with the victory at the Battle of Carabobo, after which Bolívar triumphantly entered Caracas on 29 June 1821.

Ecuador and Peru, 1822–1824

Bolívar followed with the Battle of Bombona and the Battle of Pichincha, after which he entered Quito on 16 June 1822. On 26 and 27 July 1822, Bolívar held the Guayaquil Conference with the Argentine General José de San Martín, who had received the *le of "Protector of Peruvian Freedom" in August 1821 after partially liberating Peru from the Spanish.

The Peruvian congress named Bolívar dictator of Peru on 10 February 1824, which allowed him to reorganize completely the political and military administration.

On 19 March 1824, José Gabriel Pérez wrote to Antonio José de Sucre about the orders given to him by Bolívar; Pérez talked about "all the ordinary and extraordinary means" that should be applied to *ure the subsistence of the patriot army. Indeed, Pérez said that Bolívar issued instructions to take from churches "all golden and silver jewels" in order to coin them and pay war expenditures. Days later, Bolívar himself said to Sucre that there would be a complete lack of resources unless severe actions were taken against "the jewels of the churches, everywhere".

Republic of Bolivia

Portrait by Francis Martin Drexel, 1827

On 6 August 1825, at the Congress of Upper Peru, the "Republic of Bolivia" was created. Bolívar is thus one of the few people to have a country named after him. Bolívar returned to Caracas on 12 January 1827, and then back to Bogotá.

Struggles inside Gran Colombia

El Libertador (Bolívar diplomático), 1860

Bolívar thought that a federation like the one founded in the United States was impossible in Spanish America. For this reason, and to prevent a break-up, Bolívar sought to implement a more centralist model of government in Gran Colombia, including some or all of the elements of the Bolivian cons*ution he had written, which included a lifetime presidency with the ability to select a successor (although this presidency was to be held in check by an intricate system of balances).

This move was considered controversial in New Granada and was one of the reasons for the deliberations that took place from 9 April to 10 June 1828. The convention almost ended up drafting a do*ent which would have implemented a radically federalist form of government, which would have greatly reduced the powers of a central administration. The federalist faction was able to command a majority for the draft of a new cons*ution which has definite federal characteristics despite its ostensibly centralist outline. Unhappy with what would be the ensuing result, pro-Bolívar delegates withdrew from the convention, leaving it moribund.

Two months after the failure of this congress to write a new cons*ution, Bolívar was declared president-liberator in Colombia's "Organic Decree". He considered this a temporary measure, as a means to reestablish his authority and save the republic, although it increased dissatisfaction and anger among his political opponents. An **ination attempt on 25 September 1828 failed, thanks to the help of his lover, Manuela Sáenz. Bolívar afterward described Sáenz as "Liberatrix of the Liberator". Dissent continued, and uprisings occurred in New Granada, Venezuela, and Ecuador during the next two years.

After, Bolívar continued to govern in a rarefied environment, cornered by factional disputes. Uprisings occurred in New Granada, Venezuela, and Ecuador during the following two years. The separatists accused him of betraying republican principles and of wanting to establish a permanent dictatorship. Gran Colombia declared war against Peru when president General La Mar invaded Guayaquil. He was later defeated by Marshall Antonio José de Sucre in the Battle of the Portete de Tarqui, 27 February 1829. Sucre was killed on 4 June 1830.

Final months and death

Bolívar's death, by Venezuelan painter Antonio Herrera Toro

Bolívar resigned the presidency on 27 April 1830, intending to leave the country for exile in Europe.

On 17 December 1830, at the age of 47, Simón Bolívar died of tuberculosis in the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino in Santa Marta, Gran Colombia (now Colombia).

Bolívar's remains were buried in the cathedral of Santa Marta. Twelve years later, in 1842, at the request of President José Antonio Páez, they were moved from Santa Marta to Caracas, where they were buried in the Caracas Cathedral together with the remains of his wife and parents. In 1876, he was moved to a monument set up for his interment at the National Pantheon of Venezuela. The Quinta near Santa Marta has been preserved as a museum with numerous references to his life. In 2010, symbolic remains of Manuela Sáenz, were also interred in Venezuela's National Pantheon.

In January 2008, then-President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez set up a commission to investigate theories that Bolívar was the victim of an **ination. On several occasions, Chávez claimed that Bolívar was in fact poisoned by "New Granada traitors". In April 2010, infectious diseases specialist Paul Auwaerter studied records of Bolívar's symptoms and concluded that he might have suffered from chronic arsenic poisoning, but that both acute poisoning and murder were unlikely. In July 2010, Bolívar's body was ordered to be exhumed to advance the investigations. In July 2011, international forensics experts released their report, claiming there was no proof of poisoning or any other unnatural cause of death.

Personal beliefs

Bolívar was an admirer of both the American Revolution and the French Revolution. While he was an admirer of U.S. independence, he did not believe that its governmental system could work in Latin America. Thus, he claimed that the governance of heterogeneous societies like Venezuela "will require a firm hand".

Bolívar felt that the U.S. had been established in land especially fertile for democracy. By contrast, he referred to Spanish America as having been subject to the "triple yoke of ignorance, tyranny, and vice". If a republic could be established in such a land, in his mind, it would have to make some concessions in terms of liberty. This is shown when Bolívar blamed the fall of the first republic on his subordinates trying to imitate "some ethereal republic" and in the process, not paying attention to the gritty political reality of South America.

Among the books accompanying him as he traveled were Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, Voltaire's Letters and, when he was writing the Bolivian cons*ution, Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws. His Bolivian cons*ution placed him within the camp of what would become Latin American conservatism in the later nineteenth century. The Bolivian cons*ution intended to establish a lifelong presidency and a hereditary senate, essentially recreating the British unwritten cons*ution, as it existed at the time.

Legacy

Due to the historical relevance of Bolívar as a key element during the process of independence in Hispanic America, his memory has been strongly attached to sentiments of nationalism and patriotism, being a recurrent theme of rhetoric in politics.

In Venezuela, Bolívar left behind a militarist legacy with multiple governments utilizing the memory, image and written legacy of Bolívar as important parts of their political messages and propaganda. Bolívar disapproved of the excesses of "party spirit" and "factions", which led to an anti-political environment in Venezuela. For much of the 1800s, Venezuela was ruled by caudillos, with six rebellions occurring to take control of Venezuela between 1892 and 1900 alone. The militarist legacy was then used by the nationalist dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez and more recently the socialist political movement led by Hugo Chávez.

Monuments and physical legacy

The nations of Bolivia and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and their respective currencies (the Bolivian boliviano and the Venezuelan bolívar), are all named after Bolívar. Most cities and towns in Colombia and Venezuela are built around a main square known as Plaza Bolívar, as is Bogotá. There are monuments to Bolívar and public places named after him all over the world, but especially in Latin America.

Several cities in Spain, especially in the Basque Country, have constructed monuments to Bolívar, including a large monument in Bilbao and a comprehensive Venezuelan government-funded museum in Cenarruza-Puebla de Bolívar, his ancestral hometown.

Monuments to Bolívar's military legacy also comprise one of Venezuelan Navy's sail training barques, which is named after him, and the USS:Simon Bolivar, a Benjamin Franklin-cl* fleet ballistic missile submarine which served with the U.S. Navy between 1965 and 1995.

Minor planet 712 Boliviana discovered by Max Wolf is named in his honor. The name was suggested by Camille Flammarion. The first Venezuelan satellite, Venesat-1, was given the alternative name Simón Bolívar after him.

His birthday is a public holiday in Venezuela and Bolivia.

• Monuments

• Simón Bolívar Memorial Monument, standing in Santa Marta, Colombia, at the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino

• Statue of Bolívar in Plaza Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela, by Adamo Tadolini

• Simón Bolívar's statue in Paris, France

• A monument in honor of Simón Bolívar in Sofia, Bulgaria

• Statue of Simón Bolívar in Lisbon, Portugal

• Statue of Simón Bolívar in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain

• Statue of Simón Bolívar in Bucharest, Romania

• Statue of Simón Bolívar in Trinity Bellwoods Park, Toronto, Canada

• Statue of Simon Bolivar in Tehran, Iran

See also

• Latin America portal
• Venezuela portal

• Bolivarian Revolution
• Bolivarianism
• Statue of Simón Bolívar (Houston)
• Toussaint Louverture

References

Citations

Bibliography

Biographies of Simón Bolívar

• Arana, Marie (2013). Bolívar: American Liberator. Simon & Schuster. ISBN:9781439110201.
• Langley, Lester D. (2009). Simón Bolívar: Venezuelan Rebel, American Revolutionary. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN:9780742566552.
• Lynch, John (2006). Simón Bolívar: A Life. Yale University Press. ISBN:9780300126044.
• Masur, Gerhard (1969). Simón Bolívar. University of New Mexico Press. ISBN:9780826301314.
• Slatta, Richard W.; de Grummond, Jane Lucas (2003). Simón Bolívar's Quest for Glory. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN:9781585442393.

Works by Simón Bolívar

• Brown, Matthew, ed. (2009). The Bolívarian Revolution: Simón Bolívar. Verso Books. ISBN:9781844673810.
• Bushnell, David, ed. (2003). El Libratador: Writings of Simón Bolívar. Oxford University Press. ISBN:9780195144802.
• Salcedo–*o, José Luis, ed. (1983). The Hope of the Universe. UNESCO. ISBN:9789231021039.

General reference

• Bushnell, David; Langley, Lester D., eds. (2008). Simón Bolívar: Essays on the Life and Legacy of the Liberator. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN:9780742556195.
• Cardozo Uzcátegui, Alejandro (2011). "Don Gerónimo Enrique de Uztáriz y Tovar. II Marqués de Uztáriz. Protector y maestro de Simón Bolívar en Madrid". Presente y Pasado: Revista de Historia (in Spanish). University of the Andes (Venezuela). 16 (31): 11–36. ISSN:1316-1369.
• Conn, Robert T. (2020). Bolívar's Afterlife in the Americas: Biography, Ideology, and the Public Sphere. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN:9783030262174.
• Lynch, David (1986). The Spanish American Revolutions, 1808–1826 (2:ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN:9780393955378.
• McFarlane, Anthony (2014). War and Independence in Spanish America. Routledge. ISBN:9781857287837.
• Murray, Pamela S. (2008). For Glory and Bolívar: The Remarkable Life of Manuela Sáenz, 1797–1856. University of Texas Press. ISBN:9780292718296.
• Shanahan, Maureen G.; Reyes, Ana Maria (2017). Simón Bolívar: Travels and Transformations of a Cultural Icon. University Press of Florida. ISBN:9780813054490.

Further reading

• Bushnell, David. The Liberator, Simón Bolívar: Man and Image. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970.
• Bushnell, David and Macaulay, Neill. The Emergence of Latin America in the Nineteenth Century (Second edition). Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. ISBN:978-0-19-508402-3
• Ducoudray Holstein, H.L.V. Memoirs of Simón Bolívar. Boston: Goodrich, 1829.
• Gómez Martínez, José Luis. "La encrucijada del cambio: Simón Bolívar entre dos paradigmas (una reflexión ante la encrucijada postindustrial)". Cuadernos Americanos 104 (2004): 11–32.
• Harvey, Robert. "Liberators: Latin America's Struggle For Independence, 1810–1830". John Murray, London (2000). ISBN:978-0-7195-5566-4
• Higgins, James (editor). The Emancipation of Peru: British Eyewitness Accounts, 2014. Online at https://sites.google.com/site/jhemanperu
• Lacroix, Luis Perú de. Diario de Bucaramanga. Caracas: Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Comunicación y la Información, 2009.
• Ludwig, Emil. Bolivar: The Life of an Idealist, Alliance Book Corporation, New York, 1942; popular biography
• Lynch, John. Simón Bolívar and the Age of Revolution. London: University of London Ins*ute of Latin American Studies, 1983. ISBN:978-0-901145-54-3
• Lynch, John. The Spanish American Revolutions, 1808–1826 (Second edition). New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1986. ISBN:978-0-393-95537-8
• Madariaga, Salvador de. Bolívar. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1952. ISBN:978-0-313-22029-6
• Marx, Karl. "Bolívar y Ponte" in The New American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, Vol. III. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1858.
• O'Leary, Daniel Florencio. Bolívar and the War of Independence/Memorias del General Daniel Florencio O'Leary: Narración (Abridged version). Austin: University of Texas, 1970. ISBN:978-0-292-70047-5
• Racine, Karen. "Simón Bolívar and friends: Recent biographies of independence figures in Colombia and Venezuela" History Comp* 18#3 (Feb 2020) https://doi.org/10.1111/hic3.12608

External links

Simón Bolívarat Wikipedia's sister projects

• Media from Commons
• Quotations from Wikiquote

• Archivo del Libertador (In Spanish) –12,000+ transcribed do*ents of the Libertador, from 1799 to 1830.

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