Spanish reconquest of New Granada

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The Spanish Invasion of New Granada in 1815–1816 was part of Bolívar's War in South America.

Shortly after the Napoleonic Wars ended, a restored monarchy in Spain decided to send military forces to retake most of their South American colonies, which had been lost to rebellious forces such as those led by Simón Bolívar and other personalities.

In 1815, Spain decided to send to its seditious colonies perhaps the strongest expeditionary force that had ever crossed the Atlantic at that point in time. Its chosen commander was Colonel Pablo Morillo, a veteran of the Spanish struggle against Napoleon. The expeditionary force was made up of approximately 10,000 men and nearly 60 ships. Originally, they were to head for Montevideo in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, but soon it was decided to send these forces to the Viceroyalty of New Granada (present-day Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela).

Leaving the port of Cádiz on February 17, 1815, the Spanish force initially landed at the island of Margarita in April, where no resistance was encountered. After leaving the island, Morillo's forces reinforced existing Royalist activities in the Venezuelan mainland, entering Cumaná and Caracas in May. A small part of the main corps set off towards Panamá, while the main contingent was directed towards the coastal city of Santa Marta which was still in Royalist hands.

Hearing news of the arrival of the expeditionary force, diverse positions were assumed by the republican leaders. Internal divisions, which had developed during the previous years of struggle, softened but still remained a considerable obstacle. In the end, they prevented an easy unification of efforts by the different factions, despite some attempts to do so, such as under the United Provinces of New Granada. One of the matters of conflict was the fact that representatives of Great Britain and of the United States would still not promise a sufficient amount of aid or of political recognition. In addition, the provinces themselves did not give each other much needed aid. Finally, several notable individuals, whose leadership would have been useful, decided to exile themselves, although others did remain in the region and tried to reorganize it military and political activities in order to face the new threat.

Due to these internal conflicts, on May 8, 1815, Simón Bolívar left his command under the United Provinces, after failing to subdue Cartagena in March, which had refused to give him arms and men. Bolívar turned to Jamaica and later Haiti, a small republic that had freed itself from French rule, where he and other leaders were given a friendly reception. Eventually, the growing exile community would also receive money, volunteers and weapons from the Haitian president and resumed the struggle for independence in the remote border areas of both New Granada and Venezuela, where they established irregular bands with the locals. This formed the early basis of an independent base from which the struggle to establish republics spread towards other colonial areas under Spanish control.

After picking up supplies and militia volunteers in Santa Marta in July 23, the Spanish expeditionary forces besieged Cartagena. After a five-month siege the fortified city fell on December 1815. By 1816, the combined efforts of Spanish and colonial forces, marching south from Cartagena and north from Royalist strongholds in Quito, Pasto, and Popayán, completed the reconquest of New Granada, taking Bogotá on May 6, 1816. A permanent war council was set up to judge those found guilty of treason and rebellion, resulting in the execution of more than a hundred notable republican personalities, including Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Francisco José de Caldas and José María Cabal.

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[edit] Bibliography

Costeloe, Michael P. Response to Revolution: Imperial Spain and the Spanish American Revolutions, 1810-1840. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. ISBN 0521320836
Earle, Rebecca. Spain and the Independence of Colombia, 1810-1825. Exter: University of Exter Press, 2000. ISBN 0859896129
Stoan, Stephen K. Pablo Morillo and Venezuela, 1815-1820. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1959.