Simón Bolivar was born in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas (Getty Images)

Simón Bolívar is an emblematic figure in South America, considered by some to be one of its legends, who liberated much of the southern American continent from Spanish domination and earned the nickname "Libertador". He presided over what was formerly called Greater Colombia, which included the countries of Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, and named Bolivia.

His military victories against the Spanish armies and the important political positions he held in many South American countries left a deep mark, making him a historical hero in the Latin part of the American continent.

Birth and upbringing

Born on July 24, 1783, in Caracas, Venezuela, Simón Bolívar came to a wealthy family of European origins and settled in South America since the 16th century, where his family members worked in colonial administrations.

His father was called Juan Vincent Bolívar, a military member of the Almentos group, the large landowner, and his mother, Dunia María Palacios, also from a wealthy family, was the youngest of his parents' four children.

His father died when he was 3 years old, and his mother died 6 years later, after which his uncle managed his inheritance and took care of his education and studies.

German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt was the main influence in pushing Bolivar to liberate Latin America (Stellar - Joseph Karl)

Study and training

One of these teachers chosen by his uncle was Simon Rodríguez, who would have a profound and lasting influence on him, directing him to read the writings of European rational thinkers such as: John Locke, Thomas Hobbes and Charles Montesquieu, especially Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who had a profound influence on his political orientation, and François Voltaire, who greatly influenced his philosophy of life.

Although Bolivar came from a high and wealthy social class, which enabled him to receive a good education, he was chaotic and refused to follow social rules, and was psychologically unstable due to the sudden loss of his parents at a young age.

He was interested in reading Rousseau's books and took from him the rules of classical literature and liberal philosophy at the age of 16.

At the end of the 18th century, the economic crisis in Spain escalated and cast a shadow over its colonies, and restlessness began to get rid of Spanish commercial domination, and revolutionary ideas began to crystallize and spread little by little south of the American continent.

Crystallization of his idea and positions

In 1798, with the encouragement of his uncle, Simón Bolívar joined the revolutionary "white volunteers" battalion, and from 1799 he began a series of journeys and travels that led him to the European continent, which had a great impact on his intellectual and political formation.

Simón Bolivar arrived in Spain in 1799, where he was received by his uncle, close to the royal court and the queen in particular, and through this experience he saw how conspiracies were hatched in the circles of government and power, and was apprenticed at that time by the Marquis Astarez, who was an educated man, and enabled him to discover the arts and literature.

Bolivar did not stay long in Spain until he began to create chaos and entered a tense psychological phase that led him to the French capital, Paris, in a short-lived journey after which he returned to Spain after being tired of theaters, commercial streets and nightlife.

After the declaration of independence of Venezuela, Francisco Miranda took command of the Army of the Republic (Jokinda Information Center – French Ministry of Culture)

As soon as he returned to Spain, he married a young Spanish woman from a noble family named Maria Theresa, but she contracted yellow fever and died during his return trip to the South America, which prompted him again to return to Europe and indulge in a life of opulence and chaos in an attempt to forget his wife and her death, which had a great impact on his psyche and he did not marry after that.

In 1804, while in Paris, Bolívar met the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, who had just returned from South America, where he had spent 5 consecutive years.

"I think your country Venezuela is ready for its independence, but I don't see the person who can achieve it," Humboldt told Bolivar, a sentence that changed the course of Bolivar's life and then decided to be the one who would liberate his country from Spanish colonialism.

In the same year, Simon Bolívar attended the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of France, and Bolívar's reaction to the coronation ranged from admiration for the man's achievements to resentment of his "betrayal" of the principles of the French Revolution.

Political career

Bolívar returned to Venezuela in 1807 to begin his quest to liberate his country, and in 1808 the Latin American independence movement was launched, as Napoleon's invasion of Spain destabilized Spanish power, but failed in his attempt to win the support of the Spanish colonies, which maintained their right to nominate their officials.

Bolívar participated in various meetings to achieve this goal, and on April 19, 1810, the Spanish governor was formally stripped of his powers, expelled from Venezuela, and taken over by the junta.

Bolívar was sent on a mission to London to obtain international assistance, which he arrived in July 1810, and his mission was to explain to the kingdom the view of his revolutionary colonial country, to gain its recognition, weapons and support.

Bolívar failed in his formal negotiations, but he invested his journey in other areas, as he had the opportunity to study the institutions of the United Kingdom that represented models of political, economic and social stability, as well as his success in persuading the exiled Venezuelan Francisco de Miranda, who in 1806 tried to liberate his country on his own, to return to Caracas and lead the independence movement.

Simón Bolivar signing the War Decree against the Spaniards (Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional)

In March 1811, the National Convention met in Caracas to draft a constitution for the country, and after long deliberations, the National Assembly declared Venezuela's independence on July 1811, <>.

Bolívar took over the army of the young republic, whose leader was President Miranda, and was tasked with leading the defense of the port of Porto Capello, a vital port overlooking the Caribbean Sea west of Caracas.

The Spanish reaction began to haunt the new leaders of Venezuela, as Spanish victories followed, forcing Miranda to enter into negotiations with the Spanish commander-in-chief until the armistice of July 1812 was signed, and the country returned to Spanish control, which arrested and detained Miranda.

Meanwhile, Bolivar succeeded in leaving the country and went to New Granada and published what was known as the "Cartagena Manifesto", where he attributed the fall of the First Republic of Venezuela to the weakness and incoherence of the new government, and called for a unified revolutionary effort to get rid of Spain's authority in the Americas.

In August 1813, with the support of the neo-patriots of Granada, Bolívar led a force to retake Venezuela, defeating the royalists in 6 fierce battles and entering Caracas victoriously, earning the title of "Liberator" that gave himself vast powers.

Bolivar's rule did not last long, as in 1814 he was defeated by the Spaniards, who captured Caracas and other major cities, bringing down the Second Venezuelan Republic.

Bolivar fled to New Granada and from there into exile in Jamaica, from where he directed his plan for support from Britain by writing the Jamaica Letter, in which he said that "a people who love freedom will eventually be free."

The battles of Bolivar and the Spaniards lasted 3 years of inconclusive defeats and victories, and in 1817 he decided to establish a headquarters on the banks of the Orinoco River on the Colombian side and which the Spaniards could not control.

He enlisted the services of several thousand foreign soldiers and officers, mainly the British and the Irish, established his capital at Angostura and established a network of liaison with the revolutionary forces.

On August 1819, 3, Bolívar won the battle with the Spanish in the Boyacá region and large numbers of the Royal Army surrendered to him, and after <> days he was able to enter Bogotá (the current capital of Colombia), a milestone in South American history.

Statue of the liberator of "Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia" of the Spanish Empire in Venezuela (Getty Images)

In December 1819, Bolívar appeared before the conference in Angostura, became military president and urged legislators to declare the Republic of Colombia.

Bolivar then defeated Spanish forces in Venezuela to open the "Battle of Carabobobo", which took place in June 1821 at the gates of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, and on May 24, 1822, he fought the Battle of Pichancha, which lasted about a year and led to the liberation of Ecuador.

The liberation of Peru brought Bolivar together with the Argentine revolutionary José de San Martín, who declared Peruvian independence, but was unable to chase the Spanish troops who retreated to the heights, and on July 26, 1822 the two men consulted in the Ecuadorian port city of Guayaquil, but upon his return from Guayaquil, San Martín unexpectedly resigned and went into exile, allowing Bolivar to assume command unchallenged.

In September 1823, Bolívar arrived in Lima, the capital of Peru, and on December 1824, <>, the Spanish governor lost the Battle of Ayacucho and surrendered with his entire army to Bolivar.

Simón Bolívar attempted to unite all of South America under his authority in a federation in 1826 and convene the historic Panama Conference, which brought together representatives from Mexico, Central America, and Great Colombia to sign a mutual defense treaty against Spain and its allies. But he faced great difficulties and had to take dictatorial powers to unify the country.

These measures intensified the attack of his political opponents, and his political opponents and his old military comrades began to conspire against him with the aim of overthrowing him, and internal conflicts and civil wars began until it came to the extent of orchestrating an attempt to assassinate him in 1828, from which he miraculously survived, which disappointed him to resign from the presidency, in addition to his deteriorating health and tuberculosis.

Death

Simón Bolivar died in 1830 in Santa Marta, Colombia, at the age of 47, of tuberculosis after being deprived of his position and military pension.

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