216
LET US LAY THE
CORNERSTONE OF
AMERICAN FREEDOM
WITHOUT FEAR.
TO HESITATE
IS TO PERISH
BOLÍVAR ESTABLISHES GRAN COLOMBIA (1819)
T
he establishment in
1819 of the Republic
of Colombia, or Gran
Colombia as it came to be known,
by Simón Bolívar, the self-styled
Libertador, marked a pivotal
moment in the emergence of an
independent Latin America.
By 1825, the continent had
successfully ended almost 300 years
of Spanish and Portuguese rule. In
Brazil, which won its independence
in 1822, the process was relatively
easy and also largely bloodless.
Elsewhere, it was complex, long,
drawn out, and violent. It was a
reflection of societies comprising a
teeming range of classes and
races—ruling Europeans, nativeIN CONTEXT
FOCUS
Latin American
independenceBEFORE
1807–08 Napoleonic invasion
of Iberia leads to governmental
crisis in the Iberian colonies
of South America.1819 Spain is expelled from
its former province of New
Granada, and the Republic
of Colombia is declared.AFTER
1822 Portugal assents to Brazil
becoming a constitutional
monarchy under Pedro I.1824 The Spanish capitulate
in Peru, and their New World
empire ends.1830 Break up of the Republic
of Colombia. Ecuador,
Colombia, and Venezuela
emerge as independent states.US_216-219_Bolivar.indd 216 15/02/2016 16:43
217
See also: The signing of the Declaration of Independence 204–07 ■
The storming of the Bastille 208–13 ■ The Slave Trade Abolition Act 226–27 ■
The Mexican Revolution 265 ■Simón Bolívar
Born in Caracas, Venezuela,
in 1783, Simón Bolívar came
from one of the oldest and
wealthiest noble families in
the city. His education was
completed in Europe, where
he absorbed the republican
ideals of the American and
French revolutions. The idea
of independence for Hispanic
America accordingly took
root in his imagination.
His revolutionary career
began with an abortive
uprising in Caracas in 1810. In
1814, the charismatic Bolívar
declared himself “liberator”
and head of state of the new
republic of Venezuela. In 1817,
he staged a daring invasion
of Colombia and went on to
complete the conquests of
Ecuador and Peru in 1824.
Bolívar’s dream was to unite
all of South America—except
Argentina, Brazil, and Chile—
in a single great republic.
However, his dictatorial
tendencies and the brutality
of his armies eventually led
to dissent and the fracturing
of Gran Colombia in 1830,
the year of his death.Indians, black people, and those of
mixed race—that were never likely
to produce coherent political
wholes. Plagued by bitter disputes,
the short-lived republic of Gran
Colombia would break up in 1830.Brazilian independence
Though partly influenced by the
liberal doctrines of the American
and French revolutions, the drive
to independence in South America
was seldom the product of a desire
for social justice or representative
government. Aside from two
abortive Mexican revolutions in
1810 and 1813, it was a struggle for
supremacy between ruling elites,
none of which had much interest inthe kind of social change—society
recast on liberal principles—that
underpinned the French Revolution.
That said, this drive was also
significantly affected by the
Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon’s
invasion of Portugal in 1807 forced
the Portuguese king, João VI, and
his court to flee to safety in its
Brazilian colony. João remained
there even after the fall of Napoleon
in 1815, returning to Portugal only in- However, his son and heir,
Pedro, stayed in Brazil.
As in Spain’s Latin American
colonies, Brazil was dominated by
a land-owning elite, a great many
of whom, over many generations,
had been born in South America. ❯❯
CHANGING SOCIETIES
Bitter wars against colonial powers in
South America lead to the creation of
a newly independent Gran Colombia.South America, racially and socially dislocated, consistently
struggles to assert itself economically and politically.The new state faces divisions and instabilities.
Hopes of unity are undermined by political infighting.These ideas destabilize the Spanish
administration on the continent.Notions of political liberation spread across the territories
colonized by the Spanish and Portuguese in South America.US_216-219_Bolivar.indd 217 15/02/2016 16:43