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Simón Bolívar

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Historical figures

   Simón Bolívar
   Simón Bolívar
     __________________________________________________________________

   2nd President of Venezuela
   1st President of Bolivia
   3rd President of Venezuela
   1st President of Greater Colombia
   In office
   1813 –  1814
   12 August 1825 - 29 December 1825
   1819 - 1830
   1819 - 1830
   Preceded by Cristóbal Mendoza ( 1813)
   Succeeded by José Antonio Páez ( 1830)
     __________________________________________________________________

   Born July 24, 1783
   Caracas, Venezuela
   Died December 17, 1830
   Santa Marta, Colombia
   Spouse María Teresa Rodríguez del Toro y Alaysa
   Simón Bolívar Monument, Sixth Avenue entrance to Central Park, New York
   City
   Enlarge
   Simón Bolívar Monument, Sixth Avenue entrance to Central Park, New York
   City
   Simón Bolívar Memorial Monument, near Santa Marta, Colombia
   Enlarge
   Simón Bolívar Memorial Monument, near Santa Marta, Colombia
   Equestrian statue of Bolívar on Bolívar Square, Caracas
   Enlarge
   Equestrian statue of Bolívar on Bolívar Square, Caracas

   Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Ponte Palacios y
   Blanco (born July 24, 1783 in Caracas, Venezuela; died December 17,
   1830, in Santa Marta, Colombia) was a leader of several independence
   movements throughout South America, collectively known as Bolívar's
   War.

   Credited with leading the fight for independence in what are now the
   countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia, he
   is revered as a hero in these countries and throughout much of the rest
   of Hispanic America.

   In 1802, he married María Teresa Rodríguez del Toro y Alaysa, and when
   she died of yellow fever less than a year later, he never remarried.

   Bolívar is known as "El Libertador", The Liberator.

Family heritage and early life

   The Bolívar aristocratic bloodline derives from la Ciudad de Caracas
   (also Bolívar or Bolívar, today part of the municipality of
   Ziortza-Bolibar), a small village in the Basque county of Biscay
   (Spain), and is the origin of their surname. A portion of their wealth,
   by the 1600s, came from the Aroa River gold and copper mines in
   Venezuela.

   By the 1500s, vague information about existence of gold was rumored
   around the rivers Yaracuy, Santa Cruz, and Aroa. In 1605, more precise
   locations of ores became known, particularly in a small valley lateral
   to the Aroa River next to La Quebrada de Las Minas.

   In 1632, gold was first mined, leading to further discoveries of
   extensive copper deposits. Towards the later 1600s, copper was
   exploited with the name "Cobre Caracas". These mines became property of
   Simón Bolívar's family.

   Later in his revolutionary life, Bolívar used part of the mineral
   income to finance the South American revolutionary wars. Some people
   claim that his family grew to prominence before gaining great wealth.
   For example, the Cathedral of Caracas, founded in 1575, has a side
   chapel dedicated to Simón Bolívar's family.

El Libertador (The Liberator)

   Bolívar returned to Venezuela in 1807, and, when Napoleon made Joseph
   Bonaparte King of Spain and its colonies in 1808, he participated in
   the resistance juntas in South America. The Caracas junta declared its
   independence in 1810, and Bolívar was sent to Britain on a diplomatic
   mission.

   Bolívar returned to Venezuela in 1811. But, in July 1812, junta leader
   Francisco de Miranda surrendered to the Spanish, and Bolívar had to
   flee to Cartagena de Indias. In this period, Bolívar wrote his
   Manifiesto de Cartagena.

   In 1813, after acquiring a military command in New Granada under the
   direction of the Congress of Tunja, he led the invasion of Venezuela on
   May 14. This was the beginning of the famous Campaña Admirable, the
   Admirable Campaign. He entered Mérida on May 23, where he was
   proclaimed as El Libertador (the liberator from the Spanish army),
   following the occupation of Trujillo on June 9. Six days later, on June
   15, he dictated his famous Decree of War to the Death ( Decreto de
   Guerra a Muerte). Caracas was retaken on August 6, 1813, and Bolívar
   was ratified as "El Libertador", thus proclaiming the Venezuelan Second
   Republic. Due to the rebellion of José Tomás Boves in 1814 and the fall
   of the republic, he returned to New Granada, where he then commanded a
   Colombian nationalist force and entered Bogotá in 1814, recapturing the
   city from the dissenting republican forces of Cundinamarca. He intended
   to march into Cartagena and enlist the aid of local forces in order to
   capture Royalist Santa Marta. However, after a number of political and
   military disputes with the government of Cartagena, Bolívar fled, in
   1815, to Jamaica, where he requested the Haitian leader Alexandre
   Pétion for aid.

   In 1816, with Haitian help (given because he promised to free slaves),
   Bolívar landed in Venezuela and captured Angostura (now Ciudad
   Bolívar).

   A victory at the Battle of Boyacá in 1819 added New Granada to the
   territories free from Spanish control, and in September 7, 1821 the
   Gran Colombia (a federation covering much of modern Venezuela,
   Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador) was created, with Bolívar as president
   and Francisco de Paula Santander as vice president.

   Further victories at the Carabobo in 1821 and Pichincha in 1822
   consolidated his rule over Venezuela and Ecuador respectively. After a
   meeting in Guayaquil, on July 26 and July 27, 1822, with Argentine
   General José de San Martín, who had received the title of Protector of
   Peruvian Freedom, in August 1821, after having partially liberated Peru
   from the Spanish, Bolívar took over the task of fully liberating Peru.
   The Peruvian congress named him dictator of Peru, on February 10, 1824,
   which allowed Bolívar to completely reorganize the political and
   military administration. Bolívar, assisted by Antonio José de Sucre,
   decisively defeated the Spanish cavalry, on August 6, 1824, at Junín.
   Sucre destroyed the still numerically superior remnants of the Spanish
   forces at Ayacucho on December 9.

   On August 6, 1825, at the Congress of Upper Peru, the Republic of
   Bolivia was created in order to weaken the former aristocracy of the
   former Viceroyalty of Peru in Lima and to honour Bolívar, who drafted a
   new constitution for the new nation. This constitution reflected the
   influence of the French and Scottish Enlightenment on Bolívar's
   political thought, as well as that of classical Greek and Roman
   authors.

   Bolívar had great difficulties maintaining control of the vast Gran
   Colombia. During 1826, internal divisions had sparked dissent
   throughout the nation and regional uprisings erupted in Venezuela, thus
   the fragile South American coalition appeared to be on the verge of
   collapse.

   An amnesty was declared and an arrangement was reached with the
   Venezuelan rebels, but political dissent in New Granada grew as a
   consequence of this. In an attempt to keep the federation together as a
   single entity, Bolívar called for a constitutional convention at Ocaña
   during April 1828.

   He had seen his dream of eventually creating an American
   Revolution-style federation between all the newly independent
   republics, with a government ideally set-up solely to recognize and
   uphold individual rights, succumb to the pressures of particular
   interests throughout the region, which rejected that model and
   allegedly had little or no allegiance to liberal principles.

   For this reason, and to prevent a break-up, Bolívar wanted to implement
   in Gran Colombia a more centralist model of government, including some
   or all of the elements of the Bolivian constitution he had written
   (which included a lifetime presidency with the ability to select a
   successor, though this was theoretically held in check by an intricate
   system of balances).

   This move was considered controversial and was one of the reasons why
   the deliberations met with strong opposition. The convention almost
   ended up drafting a document which would have implemented a radically
   federalist form of government, which would have greatly reduced the
   powers of the central administration.

   Unhappy with what would be the ensuing result, Bolívar's delegates left
   the convention. After the failure of the convention due to grave
   political differences, Bolívar proclaimed himself dictator on August
   27, 1828 through the "Organic Decree of Dictatorship".

   He considered this as a temporary measure, as a means to reestablish
   his authority and save the republic, though it increased
   dissatisfaction and anger among his political opponents. An
   assassination attempt on September 25, 1828 failed, in part thanks to
   the help of his lover, Manuela Sáenz, according to popular belief.

   Although Bolívar emerged physically intact from the event, this
   nevertheless greatly affected him. Dissident feelings continued, and
   uprisings occurred in New Granada, Venezuela and Ecuador during the
   next two years.

Death and Legacy

   Bolívar finally resigned his presidency on April 27, 1830, intending to
   leave the country for exile in Europe, possibly in France. He had
   already sent several crates (containing his belongings and his
   writings) ahead of him to Europe.

   He died before setting sail, after a painful battle with tuberculosis
   on December 17, 1830, in "La Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino", in Santa
   Marta, Colombia.

   His remains were moved from Santa Marta to Caracas in 1842, where a
   monument was set up for his burial. The 'Quinta' near Santa Marta has
   been preserved as a museum with numerous references to his life.

Political legacy

   Statue of Simón Bolívar in Belgrave Square, London
   Enlarge
   Statue of Simón Bolívar in Belgrave Square, London

   On his deathbed, Bolívar asked his aide-de-camp, General Daniel
   Florencio O'Leary to burn the extensive archive of his writings,
   letters, and speeches. O'Leary disobeyed the order and his writings
   survived, providing historians with a vast wealth of information about
   Bolívar's liberal philosophy and thought.

   A great admirer of the American Revolution (and a great critic of the
   French Revolution), Bolívar described himself in his many letters as a
   " liberal" and defender of the free market economic system. Among the
   books he traveled with when he wrote the Bolivian Constitution were
   Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws and Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations.

   Bolívar's many speeches and writings reveal him to be an adherent of
   limited government, the separation of powers, freedom of religion,
   property rights, and the rule of law.

Relatives

   Simón Bolívar has no direct descendants. His bloodline lives on through
   his sister Juana Bolívar y Palacios who married Dionisio Palacios y
   Blanco (Simón and Juana's maternal uncle) and had two children:
   Guillermo and Benigna.

   Fernando Bolívar was the nephew and adoptive son of Simon Bolívar, the
   great hero of South America’s wars of independence. In 1826, Fernando
   Bolívar preferred the University of Virginia over West Point and
   matriculated in 1827 against the desires of Simon Bolívar. Young
   Bolívar chose the University of Virginia because of his profound
   admiration of Thomas Jefferson’s ideas, legacy and dreams. Bolívar came
   to the newly opened University of Virginia to enroll in classes and
   began a long and still-growing link between Latin America and
   Jefferson’s University. Fernando Bolívar was the second international
   student to attend U.Va. and the first from Latin America before leaving
   the University to become a distinguished South American diplomat.
   Fernando Bolívar stayed for a brief period at U.Va, but he always
   treasured his days in Charlottesville and wrote about them in his
   memoirs.

   Guillermo died when fighting alongside his uncle in the battle of La
   Hogaza in 1817. Benigna Palacios y Bolívar married Pedro Amestoy. Their
   great-grandchildren, Pedro (94) and Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa (90) live
   in Caracas. They are Simón Bolívar's closest living relatives.

Honours

        Preceded by:
   Federation created     President of Greater Colombia
                          1821–1830                       Succeeded by:
                                                       Domingo Caycedo
        Preceded by:
   José Bernardo de Tagle Liberator of Peru
                          February 1824 – January 1826    Succeeded by:
                                                       Andres de Santa Cruz
        Preceded by:
   Republic created       President of Bolivia
                          1825–1826                       Succeeded by:
                                                       Antonio José de Sucre

   In addition to the statues shown elsewhere in this article, there is an
   equestrian statue commemorating Bolívar's life and works in Washington,
   D.C a statue in Cairo, Egypt, a statue on Reforma Ave. in Mexico City,
   and another Statue signifying Friendship between Quebec and South
   America in Quebec City.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sim%C3%B3n_Bol%C3%ADvar"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
