known as The Liberator (The Liberator) and the “George Washington of South America”, Simón Bolívar was a great general and statesman of South America.
He led revolutions against Spanish rule in the Viceroyalty of New Granada (an area that included present-day Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela).
For this he won military victories against the Spanish forces in Bolivia, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. These victories marked the end of Spanish colonialism and the beginning of national independence in each of these countries.
Born into an aristocratic family in 1783, he was inspired by Enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and vowed to liberate his country, Venezuela.
He captured Venezuela, but his victory was short-lived, as the Spanish counterattacked and took control of the country, forcing Bolívar to flee.
In exile, Bolívar wrote The Jamaican Charter (“The Letter from Jamaica”) in which he outlines his vision of South America: constitutional republics with upper and lower houses (modeled after the UK government) and, ominously, an elected president for life.
After returning to Venezuela, he engaged Spanish forces in the Battle of Boyacá (1819) and the Battle of Carabobo (1821), culminating in a final victory for Bolívar and the revolutionary patriots over the Spanish.
At the end of 1822, Ecuador was liberated by Bolívar’s forces and this was followed in 1824 by the liberation of Peru.
Bolívar was now president of Gran Colombia (an area that included present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama), a country already recognized by the United States, and dictator of Peru.
In 1825, Bolívar’s forces, under the command of Antonio José de Sucre, liberated Upper Peru. This country was renamed Bolivia, in honor of Simón Bolívar.
Bolívar had hoped to form a union of the new South American nations, from Chile and Argentina to Mexico; but, in fact, nationalist sentiments soon prevailed over pancontinental ideals, and by 1830 Gran Colombia had been divided into three different countries: Colombia (including Panama), Venezuela, and Ecuador.
At the end of his life, Bolívar experienced great opposition and was on the verge of being assassinated. He died on December 17, 1830.
Despite his weaknesses, being a conservative who was not adverse to the dictatorship, the presence of Simón Bolívar is still felt everywhere in Latin America: streets, places, monuments, statues, bills, coins, stamps and even a country that bears his name. He is remembered throughout the continent to this day as the hero who brought national independence.