Bolívar in New Granada

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Bolívar's campaign in New Granada in 1819-1820 was part of Bolívar's War, struggle for Independence from Spanish Colonial rule of South America led by Simón Bolívar.

[edit] Overview

During the years 1815 and 1816, Spain had, during the Spanish Invasion of New Granada, reconquered most of the Viceroyalty (Colombia) from rebellious forces. Three years of indecisive defeats and victories followed. In 1817, Bolívar decided to set up headquarters in the Orinoco region, which had not been devastated by war and from which the Spaniards could not easily oust him. He engaged the services of several thousand foreign soldiers and officers, mostly British and Irish, established his capital at Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar) and convened a congress, began to publish a newspaper, and established liaison with the revolutionary forces of the llanos, including one group of Venezuelan llaneros (cowboys) led by José Antonio Páez and another group of New Granadan exiles led by Francisco de Paula Santander. In the spring of 1819, he conceived his master plan of attacking New Granada, which had been a Spanish stronghold for the past three years, and proceeded to carry out his plan, despite lack of support in the Congress and from Páez.

Bolívar's attack on New Granada is considered one of the most daring in military history, compared by contemporaries and some historians to Napoleon's crossing of the Alps in 1800 and José San Martín's Crossing of the Andes in 1817. The route that the small army of about 2,500 men—including a British legion—took went from the hot and humid, flood-swept plains of Venezuela lead through the icy mountain passes of the Cordillera Oriental. The mostly llanero army was not prepared and poorly clothed for the cold and altitude of the mountains, and many became ill or died. The Spanish considered the route impassable, and therefore, they were taken by surprise when Bolívar's small army appeared in New Granada. At the Battle of Boyacá on August 7, 1819, the bulk of the royalist army surrendered to Bolívar. On receiving the news, the viceroy, Juan José de Sámano, and the rest of royalist government fled the capital so fast that they left behind the treasury. On August 10 Bolívar's army entered Bogotá.

Bolívar returned to Venezuela, where he urged the Congress to proclaim the creation of a new state: the Republic of [Gran] Colombia. The form of government the new country was left to a future congress, but since two of its three regions, Venezuela and Quito (Ecuador), were still under royalist control, it was only a paper achievement. Bolívar continued his efforts against the royalist areas of Venezuela, culminating in the Battle of Carabobo two years later, which all but sealed his victories in New Granada. Bolívar's victory in New Granada was, therefore, a major turning point in the history of northern South America.