Which Countries Did Simón Bolívar Liberate, and Why Did He Die Disillusioned?

Simón Bolívar liberated, or led the wars that liberated, six present-day countries from Spanish rule: Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. After crossing the Andes in 1819 to free New Granada, his forces defeated Spanish armies in Venezuela and Panama in 1821, Ecuador in 1822, Peru in 1824 and Bolivia in 1825. He became the first president of Colombia, the first president of Bolivia, which is named after him, and for a time the dictator of Peru. Yet he died in 1830, at only 47, convinced that his dream of a united Spanish America had failed.

A rich orphan from Caracas

Bolívar was born in Caracas on 24 July 1783 into a wealthy criollo family, that is, a family of Spanish descent born in the Americas. His full name, Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Palacios Ponte y Blanco, is itself a small lesson in Spanish naming customs, which pile up the surnames of both parents and older family lines.

Wealth did not protect him from loss. His father died in 1786 and his mother in 1792, so he was raised largely by guardians and by Hipólita, an enslaved woman in the household who cared for him as a child.

A marriage, a death and an oath in Rome

Part of his education took place in Spain. On 26 May 1802 he married María Teresa Rodríguez del Toro y Alaysa. Less than a year later she was dead: yellow fever killed her in January 1803.

Grieving, he travelled through Europe between 1803 and 1805. In August 1805, on the Mons Sacer near Rome, he swore that he would not rest, body or soul, until he had broken the chains of Spanish rule. Oaths like this can sound like later myth-making, but this one is a fixed part of his biography and he returned to America with a clear purpose.

False starts and the title "Liberator"

The independence movement in Venezuela began in 1810, and a republic was declared in 1811. It did not last. After an earthquake in 1812 and royalist advances, the first republic collapsed and Bolívar fled. In exile he wrote the Cartagena Manifesto, explaining why the republic had failed, and in 1813 he launched what became known as the Admirable Campaign. It included his harsh Decree of War to the Death, one of the most controversial orders of the whole conflict. When he entered Caracas, the city named him El Libertador, "the Liberator", in October 1813.

Success was again short-lived. Another defeat in 1814 sent him into exile once more.

The Jamaica Letter

In 1815, in Kingston, Jamaica, Bolívar wrote one of the most famous political letters in Latin American history. It answered a letter from Henry Cullen, a Jamaican merchant of English origin, and was finished in September 1815. The original was written in Spanish, and a contemporary English translation was prepared for publication, a sign that Bolívar wanted readers in Britain and beyond.

In the letter he reviewed the patriot victories since 1810, explained why Spanish Americans wanted independence, asked Europe to help, and speculated about the future of different regions. It ends with a call for unity among the American countries. That call would shape the rest of his life.

Help from Haiti and the promise to free slaves

From Jamaica Bolívar went to Haiti. Its president, Alexandre Pétion, gave him support, and in return Bolívar promised to free slaves in the territories he controlled. In his Angostura Address of 1819 he argued for the abolition of slavery, although historians note that his views on race and democracy were often contradictory.

Crossing the Andes: Boyacá and Carabobo

In 1819 Bolívar led his army across the Andes into New Granada, the territory of present-day Colombia. On 7 August 1819, at the Battle of Boyacá, the royalists were routed, and three days later he entered Bogotá. The new state of Colombia, often called Gran Colombia by historians, brought together territories that today form several countries, and Bolívar became its first president.

Venezuela followed. On 24 June 1821, at the Battle of Carabobo, Bolívar and José Antonio Páez defeated the royalist army, and Bolívar entered Caracas on 29 June.

Guayaquil, Ayacucho and a country named Bolivia

In July 1822 Bolívar met José de San Martín, the liberator of Argentina and Chile, at Guayaquil. They talked for two days without reaching agreement, and afterwards San Martín resigned and went into exile, leaving the final campaign in Peru to Bolívar. In 1824 the patriots won at Junín on 6 August and at Ayacucho on 9 December, where Antonio José de Sucre's victory ended royalist resistance in Peru.

On 6 August 1825 Upper Peru declared itself an independent republic, named itself Bolivia in his honour, and made him president. Bolívar drafted a constitution for it, which Bolivia ratified in modified form in 1826.

Manuela Sáenz and the last years

In Quito in 1822 Bolívar met Manuela Sáenz, who became his lasting companion. In 1828 she helped him escape an assassination attempt. By then his union was falling apart. Regional leaders resisted rule from Bogotá, and in August 1828 Bolívar assumed supreme power, a step that many former allies saw as dictatorship.

In 1830 he resigned the presidency. In a letter that year he wrote that all who had served the revolution had "plowed the sea". He died of tuberculosis near Santa Marta on 17 December 1830. Gran Colombia broke apart soon after, but his name lives on in the currencies of Venezuela and Bolivia and in countless squares and streets.

Learn with Bolívar: English phrases about freedom and failure

Phrase	Meaning	Example
to break the chains	to free yourself from control	He swore to break the chains of Spanish rule.
a false start	an attempt that fails early	The first republic was a false start.
to rally support	to gather people behind a cause	He rallied support in Haiti.
to fall apart	to break into pieces, to fail	His union fell apart after 1830.
to plow the sea	to work hard for nothing	He felt he had plowed the sea.

Try this: Think of a project that did not go as planned. Write three English sentences about it using "a false start" and "fall apart", then one sentence about what you learned.