Simón Bolívar

Simón Bolívar
President of Gran Colombia
In office 17 December 1819 – 4 May 1830
Vice President	Francisco de Paula Santander
Succeeded by	Domingo Caycedo
President of Bolivia
In office 12 August 1825 – 29 December 1825
Succeeded by	Antonio José de Sucre
President of Peru
In office 17 February 1824 – 28 January 1827
Preceded by	José Bernardo de Tagle, Marquis of Torre-Tagle
Succeeded by	Andrés de Santa Cruz
Personal details
Born	Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Blanco (1783-07-24)24 July 1783 Caracas, Captaincy General of Venezuela, Spanish Empire (present-day Venezuela)
Died	17 December 1830(1830-12-17) (aged 47) Santa Marta, Gran Colombia (present-day Colombia)
Spouse(s)	María Teresa Rodríguez del Toro y Alaysa
Religion	Roman Catholic
Signature

Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Blanco (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830), commonly known as Simón Bolívar (Spanish pronunciation: [siˈmon boˈliβar]), was a military and political leader. Bolívar played a key role in Latin America's successful struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire, and is today considered one of the most influential politicians in the history of the Americas.

Following the triumph over the Spanish monarchy, Bolívar participated in the foundation of the first union of independent nations in Hispanic-America, a republic, now known as Gran Colombia, of which he was president from 1819 to 1830. Bolívar is regarded as a hero, visionary, revolutionary, and liberator in Hispanic-America.

During his lifetime, he led Venezuela, Colombia (including Panama at the time), Ecuador, Peru (together with Don José de San Martín), and Bolivia to independence from the Spanish Empire. Admirers claim that he helped lay the foundations for democracy in much of Latin America.

Family history

The surname Bolívar derives from the Bolívar aristocrats who came from a small village in the Basque Country, Spain, called La Puebla de Bolívar.^[1] His father came from the male line of the Ardanza family.^[2][3] His maternal grandmother was descended from some families from the Canary Islands that settled in the country.^{[lower-alpha 1]}

The Bolívars settled in Venezuela in the sixteenth century. His first South American Bolívar ancestor was Simón de Bolívar (or Simon de Bolibar; the spelling was not standardized until the nineteenth century), who went to live and work with the governor of Santo Domingo from 1550 to 1570. When the governor of Santo Domingo was reassigned to Venezuela by the Spanish Crown in 1589, Simón de Bolívar came back with him. As an early settler in Caracas Province, he became prominent in the local society and he and his descendants were granted estates, encomiendas, and positions in the Caracas cabildo.^[4]

The social position of the family is illustrated by the fact that when the Caracas Cathedral was built in 1594, the Bolívar family had one of the first dedicated side chapels. The majority of the wealth of Simón de Bolívar's descendants came from the estates. The most important of these estates was a sugar plantation with an encomienda that provided the labor needed to run the estate.^[5] Another portion of Bolívar wealth came from the silver, gold, and more importantly, copper mines in Venezuela. In 1632, small gold deposits first were mined in Venezuela, leading to further discoveries of much more extensive copper deposits. From his mother's side, the Palacios family, Bolívar inherited the copper mines at Cocorote. Native American and African slaves provided the majority of the labor in these mines.^[6]

Toward the end of the seventeenth century, copper exploitation became so prominent in Venezuela that it became known as Cobre Caracas ("Caracas copper"). Many of the mines became the property of the Bolívar family. Bolívar's grandfather, Juan de Bolívar y Martínez de Villegas, paid 22,000 ducats to the monastery at Santa Maria de Montserrat in 1728 for a title of nobility that had been granted by the king, Philip V of Spain, for its maintenance. The crown never issued the patent of nobility, and so the purchase became the subject of lawsuits that were still going on during Bolívar's lifetime, when independence from Spain made the point moot. (If successful, Bolívar's older brother, Juan Vicente, would have become the Marqués de San Luis and Vizconde de Cocorote.) Bolívar was able to use his family's immense wealth to finance his revolutionary efforts.^{[citation needed]}

Early life

Although some people believe he was actually born in the Bolivia residence located in San Mateo in Aragua State, which belonged to the Caracas province by 1783, it is officially claimed that Simón Bolívar was born in a house in Caracas, Captaincy General of Venezuela (now the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela), on 24 July 1783. Bolívar was baptized as Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios. His mother was Doña María de la Concepción Palacios y Blanco and his father was Coronel Don Juan Vicente Bolívar y Ponte. He had two older sisters and a brother: María Antonia, Juana, and Juan Vicente. Another sister, María del Carmen, died at birth.^[7]

Bolívar's parents found themselves in a circumstance that forced them to entrust the baby Simón Bolívar to the care of Doña Ines Manceba de Miyares and the family's slave la negra Hipolita. A couple of years later Bolívar returned to the love and care of his parents, but this traumatic experience would have a severe effect on Bolívar's life. Before his third birthday, his father Juan Vicente had died.^[7]

Bolívar's father died in his sleep when Bolívar was two and a half years old. Bolívar's mother, Maria Concepción de Palacios y Blanco, died when he was approaching nine years of age. He then was placed in the custody of a severe instructor, Miguel José Sanz, but this relationship did not work out and he was sent back to his home. In an effort to give Bolívar the best education possible, he received private lessons from the renowned professors Andrés Bello, Guillermo Pelgrón, Jose Antonion Negrete, Fernando Vides, Father Andújar, and the most influential of all, Don Simón Rodríguez, formerly known as Simón Carreño. Don Simón Rodriguez was later to become Bolívar's friend and mentor, and he instilled in the young man the ideas of liberty, enlightenment, and freedom.^[8]

In the meantime, he was mostly cared for by his nurse, a black slave woman named Hipólita, whom he later called "the only father I have known."^[9] His instructor Don Simón understood the young Bolívar's personality and inclinations, and tried from the very beginning to be an empathetic friend. They took long walks through the countryside and climbed mountains. Don Simón taught Bolívar how to swim and ride horses, and, in the process, taught him about liberty, human rights, politics, history, and sociology.^[8]

Military career

When Bolívar was fourteen, his private instructor and mentor Simón Rodríguez had to abandon the country, as he was accused of being involved in a conspiracy against the Spanish government in Caracas. Thus, Bolívar entered the military academy of the Milicias de Veraguas, which his father had directed as colonel years earlier. Through these years of military training, he developed his fervent passion for armaments and military strategy, which he later would employ on the battlefields of the wars of independence.^[8] A few years later, while in Paris, Bolívar witnessed the coronation of Napoleon in Notre Dame, and this majestic event left a profound impression upon him. From that moment he wished that he could emulate similar triumphant glory for the people of his native land.^[8]

El Libertador

Bolívar returned to Venezuela in 1807. In 1813 he was given a military command in Tunja, New Granada (modern day Colombia), under the direction of the Congress of United Provinces of New Granada, which had formed out of the juntas established in 1810.

This was the beginning of the famous Admirable Campaign. He entered Mérida on 24 May, where he was proclaimed as El Libertador (The Liberator).^[10] That event was followed by the occupation of Trujillo on 9 June. Six days later, on 15 June, he dictated his famous Decree of War to the Death. Caracas was retaken on 6 August 1813 and Bolívar was ratified as "El Libertador", thus proclaiming the restoration of the Venezuelan republic. Due to the rebellion of José Tomás Boves in 1814 and the fall of the republic, he returned to New Granada, where he then commanded a force for the United Provinces and entered Bogotá in 1814, recapturing the city from the dissenting republican forces of Cundinamarca. He intended to march into Cartagena and enlist the aid of local forces in order to capture Royalist Santa Marta. In 1815, after a number of political and military disputes with the government of Cartagena, however, Bolívar fled to Jamaica, where he was denied support and an attempt was made on his life, after which he fled to Haiti, where he was granted sanctuary and protection. He befriended Alexandre Pétion, the leader of the newly independent country, and petitioned him for aid.^[10]

In 1816, with Haitian soldiers and vital material support (on the condition that he abolish slavery), Bolívar landed in Venezuela and their forces captured Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar) after defeating the counter-attack of Miguel de la Torre. However, Venezuela remained a captaincy of Spain after the victory in 1818 by Pablo Morillo in Caracas. Bolívar decided that he would first fight for the independence of New Granada, to gain resources of the vice royalty, intending later to consolidate the independence of Venezuela.^[11]

The campaign for the independence of New Granada was consolidated with the victory at the Battle of Boyacá in 1819. From this newly consolidated base of power, Bolívar launched outright independence campaigns in Venezuela and Ecuador, and these campaigns were concluded with the victories at the Battle of Carabobo in 1821 and the Battle of Pichincha in 1822. On 7 September 1821 the Gran Colombia (a state covering much of modern Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, Ecuador, northern Peru, and northwest of Brazil) was created, with Bolívar as president and Francisco de Paula Santander as vice president.

On 26 and 27 July 1822, Bolívar held the Guayaquil conference with the Argentinian General José de San Martín, who had received the title of Protector of Peruvian Freedom in August 1821 after having partially liberated Peru from the Spanish. Thereafter, Bolívar took over the task of fully liberating Peru. The Peruvian congress named him dictator of Peru on 10 February 1824, which allowed Bolívar to reorganize completely the political and military administration. Assisted by Antonio José de Sucre, Bolívar decisively defeated the Spanish cavalry at the Battle of Junín on 6 August 1824. Sucre destroyed the still numerically superior remnants of the Spanish forces at Ayacucho on 9 December 1824.

On 6 August 1825, at the Congress of Upper Peru, the "Republic of Bolivia" was created. Bolívar is thus one of the few men to have a country named after him.

Proclamation of dictatorial power

Bolívar had great difficulties maintaining control of the vast Gran Colombia. In 1826, internal divisions had sparked dissent throughout the nation, and regional uprisings erupted in Venezuela. The new South American union had revealed its fragility and appeared to be on the verge of collapse. To preserve the union, an amnesty was declared and an arrangement was reached with the Venezuelan rebels, but this increased the political dissent in neighboring New Granada. In an attempt to keep the nation together as a single entity, Bolívar called for a constitutional convention at Ocaña in March 1828.^[12]

Bolívar's dream had been to engender an American Revolution-style federation among all the newly independent republics, with a government set up solely to recognize and uphold the rights of the individual.^{[citation needed]} This dream had succumbed to the pressures of particular interests throughout the region, which rejected that model and had little or no allegiance to liberal principles. For this reason, and to prevent a break-up, Bolívar sought to implement a more centralist model of government in Gran Colombia, including some or all of the elements of the Bolivian constitution he had written, which included a lifetime presidency with the ability to select a successor (although theoretically, this presidency was held in check by an intricate system of balances). This move was considered controversial in New Granada and was one of the reasons for the deliberations, which met from 9 April to 10 June 1828. The convention almost ended up drafting a document which would have implemented a radically federalist form of government, which would have greatly reduced the powers of a central administration. The federalist faction was able to command a majority for the draft of a new constitution which has definite federal characteristics despite its ostensibly centralist outline. Unhappy with what would be the ensuing result, pro-Bolívar delegates withdrew from the convention, leaving it moribund.^[13]

After the failure of this congress to write a new constitution, Bolívar proclaimed himself dictator on 27 August 1828 through the Decree of Dictatorship. He considered this as a temporary measure, as a means to reestablish his authority and save the republic, although it increased dissatisfaction and anger among his political opponents. An assassination attempt on 25 September 1828 failed, thanks to the help of his lover, Manuela Sáenz. Bolívar afterward described Manuela as Libertadora del Libertador (the liberator of the liberator). Although Bolívar emerged safely from the attempt, this nevertheless greatly affected him. Dissent continued, and uprisings occurred in New Granada, Venezuela, and Ecuador during the next two years.^[13]

Death

Saying, "All who served the Revolution have plowed the sea", Bolívar finally resigned his presidency on 27 April 1830, intending to leave the country for exile in Europe, possibly in France. He already had sent several crates (containing his belongings and writings, which he had selected) ahead of him to Europe,^[14] but he died before setting sail.

On 17 December 1830, at the age of forty-seven, Simón Bolívar died of tuberculosis^[15] in the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino in Santa Marta, Gran Colombia (now Colombia). On his deathbed, Bolívar asked his aide-de-camp, General Daniel F. O'Leary to burn the remaining, extensive archive of his writings, letters, and speeches. O'Leary disobeyed the order and his writings survived, providing historians with a wealth of information about Bolívar's liberal philosophy and thought, as well as details of his personal life, such as his long love affair with Manuela Sáenz. Shortly before her own death in 1856, Sáenz augmented this collection by giving O'Leary her own letters from Bolívar.^[14]

His remains were buried in the cathedral of Santa Marta. Twelve years later, in 1842, at the request of President José Antonio Páez, they were moved from Santa Marta to Caracas, where a monument was set up for his interment in the National Pantheon of Venezuela. The 'Quinta' near Santa Marta has been preserved as a museum with numerous references to his life.^[16] In 2010, symbolic remains of Bolívar's lover, Manuela Sáenz, were interred by his side during a national ceremony reuniting them and honoring her role in the liberations.^[17]

On January 2008, then President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez set up a commission^[18] to investigate theories that Bolívar was the victim of an assassination. On several occasions, Chavez has claimed that Bolívar was in fact poisoned by "New Granada traitors".^[19] In April 2010, infectious diseases specialist Paul Auwaerter studied records of Bolívar's symptoms and concluded that he might have suffered from chronic arsenic poisoning, but that both acute poisoning and murder were unlikely.^[20][21] In July 2010, Bolívar's body was ordered to be exhumed to advance the investigations.^[22] In July 2011, international forensics experts released their report claiming that there was no proof of poisoning or other unnatural cause of death.^[23]

Private life

In 1799, following the early deaths of his father Juan Vicente (died 1786) and his mother Concepción (died 1792), he traveled to Mexico, France, and Spain, at age sixteen, to complete his education. While in Madrid during 1802, he married María Teresa Rodríguez del Toro y Alaiza, who was his only wife. She was related to the family of the Marqués del Toro of Caracas.^[8] Eight months after returning to Venezuela with him, she died from yellow fever. Bolívar returned to Europe in 1804, where he lived in Napoleonic France for a while and undertook the Grand Tour.^[24] During this time in Europe, he is supposed to have met Alexander von Humboldt in Paris.^[25] Humboldt wrote in 1804 of having met a young man in Paris, having noticed his love of liberty and lively conversation, but having remained unimpressed by him.^{[citation needed]}

Relatives

Bolívar had no children, having contracted measles and mumps as a child. His closest living relatives descend from his sisters and brother. One of his sisters died in infancy. His sister Juana Bolívar y Palacios married their maternal uncle, Dionisio Palacios y Blanco, and had two children, Guillermo and Benigna. Guillermo Palacios died fighting alongside his uncle Simón in the battle of La Hogaza on 2 December 1817. Benigna had two marriages, the first to Pedro Briceño Méndez and the second to Pedro Amestoy.^[26] Their great-grandchildren, Bolívar's closest living relatives, Pedro, and Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa lived in Caracas, as of 2009. The family still lives in Caracas today.

His eldest sister, María Antonia, married Pablo Clemente Francia and had four children: Josefa, Anacleto, Valentina, and Pablo. María Antonia became Bolívar's agent to deal with his properties while he served as president of Gran Colombia and she was an executrix of his will. She retired to Bolívar's estate in Macarao, which she inherited from him.^[27]

His older brother, Juan Vicente, who died in 1811 on a diplomatic mission to the United States, had three children born out of wedlock whom he recognized: Juan, Fernando Simón, and Felicia Bolívar Tinoco. Bolívar provided for the children and their mother after his brother's death. Bolívar was especially close to Fernando and in 1822 sent him to study in the United States, where he attended the University of Virginia. In his long life, Fernando had minor participation in some of the major political events of Venezuelan history and also traveled and lived extensively throughout Europe. He had three children, Benjamín Bolívar Gauthier, Santiago Hernández Bolívar, and Claudio Bolívar Taraja. Fernando died in 1898 at the age of 88.^[28]

Political beliefs

He was an admirer of both the American and the French Revolutions.^{[citation needed]} In fact, George Washington and Bolívar shared the same objective: independence for their people and the establishment of democratic states. He admired Thomas Jefferson and sent his nephew to the University of Virginia, which was founded and designed by Jefferson. Bolívar differed, however, in political philosophy from the leaders of the revolution in the United States on two important matters. First of all, he was staunchly anti-slavery, despite coming from an area of Spanish America that relied heavily on slave labor. Second, while he was an admirer of the American independence, he did not believe that its governmental system could function in Latin America.^[29] Thus, he claimed that the governance of heterogeneous societies like Venezuela "will require an infinitely firm hand."^[30]

He felt that the US had been established in land especially fertile for democracy. By contrast, he referred to Spanish America as having been subject to the "triple yoke of ignorance, tyranny, and vice." If a republic could be established in such a land, in his mind, it would have to make some concessions in terms of liberty. This is shown when Bolívar blamed the fall of the first republic on his subordinates trying to imitate "some ethereal republic" and in the process, not paying attention to the gritty political reality of South America.^[31]

Among the books accompanying him as he traveled were, Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, Voltaire's Letters, and when he was writing the Bolivian Constitution, Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws.^[32] His Bolivian constitution placed him within the camp of what would become Latin American conservatism in the later nineteenth century. The Bolivian Constitution intended to establish a lifelong presidency and a hereditary senate, essentially recreating the British unwritten constitution, as it existed at the time, without formally establishing a monarchy. It was his attempts to implement a similar constitution in Gran Colombia that led to his downfall and rejection by 1830.

Freemasonry

Similarly to some others in the history of American Independence (George Washington, Benito Juárez, José de San Martín, Bernardo O'Higgins and Francisco Miranda), Simón Bolívar was a Freemason. He was initiated in 1803 in the Masonic Lodge Lautaro which operated in Cadiz, Spain.^[33] It was in this lodge that he first met some of his revolutionary peers, such as José de San Martín. In May 1806 he was conferred the rank of Master Mason in the "Scottish Mother of St. Alexander of Scotland" in Paris. During his time in London, he frequented "The Great American Reunion" lodge in London, founded by Francisco de Miranda. In April 1824, Simón Bolívar was given the 33rd degree of Inspector General Honorary.

Legacy

Political legacy

Due the historical relevance of Bolivar as a key element during the process of independence in Hispanic America, his memory has been strongly attached to sentiments of nationalism and patriotism, being a recurrent theme of rhetoric in politics, more notably in Venezuela. For instance, the left-wing political movement led by Hugo Chávez in Venezuela makes the memory, image and writing legacy of Bolívar an important part of its political message and agenda from a socialist perspective.^[34][35] Since the image of Bolívar became an important part to the national identities of Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, his mantle is often claimed by Hispanic American politicians all across the political spectrum.^{[36][lower-alpha 2]} Bolivia and Venezuela (the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela) are both named after Bolívar.

Monuments and physical legacy

The nations of Bolivia and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Venezuela) are named after Bolívar.

Most cities and towns in Venezuela and Colombia have a bust or statue of Bolívar. The capital cities in Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia also have busts and/or statues of Bolívar.

In Venezuela, every city or town has a main square known as Plaza Bolívar.

• Bilbao (Basque Country, Spain), "Simón Bolívar Street", a street in Bilbao city center to honour Bolívar and his Basque ancestry and a monument at Venezuela square.
• The main square in Bogotá, Colombia is called plaza de Bolívar (Bolivar Square), around this square rise the Colombian national capitol, the Colombian palace of justice, the palace of Lievano (which houses the mayor of Bogotá), and the main cathedral of the city.
• Bolivar (Basque Country, Spain), Bolívar's ancestor's home town; a monument to Bolívar, a gift by Venezuela. A museum devoted to Simón Bolívar, his family and ancestors was built in Simón Bolívar's patrimonial house.
• Currencies; the boliviano and the Venezuelan bolívar
• The Venezuelan Navy has a sail training barque named after him.
• USS Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641), a Benjamin Franklin class fleet ballistic missile submarine. It was commissioned in October 1965, de-activated in September 1994 and de-commissioned in February 1995.
• An avenue in Paris, France, is named after him.
• A square near Tahrir Square in the downtown of Cairo, Egypt is named after him.
• There is a road in New Delhi named after Bolívar.
• There is a large bronze equestrian statue of Simon Bolivar at the entrance to Central Park at Avenue of the Americas in New York, New York.^[37]
• A street in the central district of Cankaya in Ankara, (Capital of Turkey) is named after him.
• Asteroid 712 Boliviana is named in his honor.
• The Bolivar Peninsula, Texas was named in his honor.
• The small town of Bolivar, West Virginia was named in his honor.
• The small town of Bolivar, Ohio was named in his honor.
• Bolivar, Tennessee, a small town in Hardeman County, Tennessee is named for him.
• There is a statue of Bolivar in the city of Paris, France.
• There is an avenue named after Simon Bolivar, as well as a monument to him containing a large statue of the Liberator, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
• There is a statue of Bolivar in the city of Ottawa, Canada.
• There is a statue of Bolivar in the city of Marina di Camerota, Italy. There are plenty of references to Simon Bolivar and to Venezuela.
• There is a statue of Bolivar in the small town of Bolivar, Missouri.
• There is a statue of Bolivar in the city of San Salvador, El Salvador.

See also

• Brigadier General Antonio Valero de Bernabe
• Bolivarian Revolution
• General Louis Peru de Lacroix, a biographer of Bolivar who served as one of his generals
• Gabriel García Márquez's novel The General in His Labyrinth (1989), a fictionalized account, of Bolívar's last days
• National Pantheon of Venezuela

Explanatory notes

References

Cited sources

Further reading

• Arana, Marie. Bolivar: American Liberator. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013.
• Reza, German de la. "La invención de la paz. De la república cristiana del duque de Sully a la sociedad de naciones de Simón Bolívar", México, Siglo XXI Editores, 2009. ISBN 978-607-03-0054-7
• Bushnell, David. The Liberator, Simón Bolívar. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970.
• Bushnell, David (ed.) and Fornoff, Fred (tr.), El Libertador: Writings of Simón Bolívar, Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-19-514481-9
• Bushnell, David and Macaulay, Neill. The Emergence of Latin America in the Nineteenth Century (Second edition). Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. ISBN 978-0-19-508402-3
• Ducoudray Holstein, H.L.V. Memoirs of Simón Bolívar. Boston: Goodrich, 1829.
• Harvey, Robert. "Liberators: Latin America's Struggle For Independence, 1810–1830". John Murray, London (2000). ISBN 978-0-7195-5566-4
• Lynch, John. Simón Bolívar and the Age of Revolution. London: University of London Institute of Latin American Studies, 1983. ISBN 978-0-901145-54-3
• Lynch, John. The Spanish American Revolutions, 1808–1826 (Second edition). New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1986. ISBN 978-0-393-95537-8
• Madariaga, Salvador de. Bolívar. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1952. ISBN 978-0-313-22029-6
• Marx, Karl. "Bolívar y Ponte" in The New American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, Vol. III. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1858.
• Mijares, Augusto. The Liberator. Caracas: North American Association of Venezuela, 1983.
• O'Leary, Daniel Florencio. Bolívar and the War of Independence/Memorias del General Daniel Florencio O'Leary: Narración (Abridged version). Austin: University of Texas, [1888] 1970. ISBN 978-0-292-70047-5
• Bastardo-Salcedo,JL (1993) Historia Fundamental de Venezuela UVC,Caracas.

External links

Find more about Simón Bolívar at Wikipedia's sister projects
	Media from Commons
	Quotations from Wikiquote

• Simón Bolívar on In Our Time at the BBC. (listen now)

• The Life of Simón Bolívar
• The Louverture Project: Simón Bolívar – Information about the support Bolívar received from Haiti.
• In Profile: Simón Bolívar – The Liberator
• About the surname Bolíbar/Bolívar, in Spanish
• Paternal ancestors of the Liberator, in Spanish
• Coats of arms of the Bolíbars, in Spanish
• Maternal ancestors of the Liberator (Palacios family), in Spanish
• (Spanish) Glrbv.org: Biography
• Beside Bolivar: The Edecán Demarquet – About C. E. Demarquet, one of Bolívar's principal aides
• "Building a New History by Exhuming Bolívar" Simon Romero, The New York Times, 3 August 2010
• "Bolivar: American Liberator" Lecture by Marie Arana, The John W. Kluge Center, The Library of Congress, 6 June 2013
• Simón Bolívar at Find a Grave

Political offices
Preceded by Federation created	President of Colombia 17 December 1819 – 4 May 1830	Succeeded by Domingo Caycedo
Preceded by José Bernardo de Tagle	President of Peru February 1824 – January 1826	Succeeded by Andres de Santa Cruz
Preceded by Republic created	President of Bolivia 1825–1826	Succeeded by Antonio José de Sucre

v t e Presidents of Colombia Gran Colombia (1819–1831) Simón Bolívar y Palacios Joaquín Mosquera y Arboleda Rafael Urdaneta y Faría Francisco de Paula Santander y Omaña Republic of New Granada (1831–1858) Francisco de Paula Santander y Omaña José Ignacio de Márquez Barreto Pedro Alcántara Herrán Martínez Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera y Arboleda José Hilario López Valdéz José María Obando del Campo José María Melo y Ortiz Mariano Ospina Rodríguez Grenadine Confederation (1858–1863) Mariano Ospina Rodríguez Bartolomé Calvo Díaz Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera y Arboleda United States of Colombia (1863–1886) Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera y Arboleda Manuel Murillo Toro Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera y Arboleda Santos Acosta Castillo Santos Gutiérrez Prieto Eustorgio Salgar Moreno Manuel Murillo Toro Santiago Pérez de Manosalbas Aquileo Parra Gómez Julián Trujillo Largacha Rafael Núñez Moledo Francisco Javier Zaldúa y Racines José Eusebio Otalora Martínez Rafael Núñez Moledo Republic of Colombia (1886–2014) Rafael Núñez Moledo Miguel Antonio Caro Tobar Manuel Antonio Sanclemente Sanclemente José Manuel Marroquín Ricaurte Rafael Reyes Prieto Ramón González Valencia Carlos Eugenio Restrepo Restrepo José Vicente Concha Ferreira Marco Fidel Suárez Jorge Holguín Mallarino Pedro Nel Ospina Váquez Miguel Abadía Méndez Enrique Olaya Herrera Alfonso López Pumarejo Eduardo Santos Montejo Alfonso López Pumarejo Mariano Ospina Pérez Laureano Gómez Castro Gustavo Rojas Pinilla Alberto Lleras Camargo Guillermo León Valencia Muñóz Carlos Lleras Restrepo Misael Pastrana Borrero Alfonso López Michelsen Julio César Turbay Ayala Belisario Betancur Cuartas Virgilio Barco Vargas César Gaviria Trujillo Ernesto Samper Pizano Andrés Pastrana Arango Álvaro Uribe Vélez Juan Manuel Santos Calderón

v t e Presidents of Venezuela Mendoza Bolívar Páez Vargas Carreño Narvarte Carreño Soublette Páez Soublette J. T. Monagas J. G. Monagas J. T. Monagas Gual J. Castro Gual Tovar Gual Páez Falcón Bruzual Villegas J. R. Monagas Villegas Guzmán Linares Valera Guzmán Crespo Guzmán H. López Rojas Andueza Villegas Villegas Pulido Crespo Andrade C. Castro Gómez Gil Fortoul Márquez Gómez J. Pérez Gómez López Contreras Medina Betancourt Gallegos Delgado Chalbaud Suárez Flamerich Pérez Jiménez Larrazábal Sanabria Betancourt Leoni Caldera C. Pérez Herrera Lusinchi C. Pérez Lepage (Acting) Velásquez Caldera Chávez Maduro

v t e Presidents of Bolivia Simón Bolívar Antonio José de Sucre José María Pérez de Urdininea Pedro Blanco Soto Andrés de Santa Cruz Sebastián Ágreda Mariano Enrique Calvo Cuellar José Ballivián Eusebio Guilarte Vera Víctor González Fuentes José Miguel de Velasco Franco Manuel Isidoro Belzu Jorge Córdova José María Linares José María Achá Mariano Melgarejo Agustín Morales Adolfo Ballivián Tomás Frías Ametller Hilarión Daza Narciso Campero Gregorio Pacheco Aniceto Arce Mariano Baptista Severo Fernández José Manuel Pando Eliodoro Villazón Ismael Montes José Gutiérrez Bautista Saavedra Felipe S. Guzmán Hernando Siles Reyes Carlos Blanco Galindo Daniel Salamanca Urey José Luis Tejada Sorzano David Toro Germán Busch Carlos Quintanilla Enrique Peñaranda Gualberto Villarroel Néstor Guillén Tomás Monje Enrique Hertzog Mamerto Urriolagoitía Hugo Ballivián René Barrientos Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas Alfredo Ovando Candía Juan José Torres Hugo Banzer Juan Pereda David Padilla Wálter Guevara Alberto Natusch Lidia Gueiler Tejada Luis García Meza Tejada Celso Torrelio Guido Vildoso Hernán Siles Zuazo Víctor Paz Estenssoro Jaime Paz Zamora Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Hugo Banzer Jorge Quiroga Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Carlos Mesa Eduardo Rodríguez Evo Morales

v t e Presidents of Peru San Martín Luna Pizarro La Mar Bernardo de Tagle Riva Agüero Sucre Bernardo de Tagle Bolívar Santa Cruz Salazar y Baquíjano La Mar Gutiérrez de la Fuente Gamarra Luna Pizarro Orbegoso Bermúdez Salaverry Santa Cruz Gamarra Menéndez Torrico Vidal Figuerola Vivanco Nieto Castilla Elías Menéndez Figuerola Menéndez Castilla Echenique Castilla San Román Castilla P. Diez Canseco Pezet Prado Pezet P. Diez Canseco Prado P. Diez Canseco Balta Gutiérrez F. Diez Canseco Zevallos Pardo Prado Piérola García Calderón Montero Cáceres Iglesias Arenas Cáceres Morales Bermúdez Borgoño Cáceres Candamo Piérola Romaña Candamo S. Calderón Pardo y Barreda Leguía Billinghurst Benavides Pardo y Barreda Leguía Ponce Sánchez Cerro Elías Arias Jiménez Samanez Ocampo Sánchez Cerro Benavides Prado Ugarteche Bustamante y Rivero Odría Noriega Odría Prado Ugarteche Pérez Godoy Lindley Belaúnde Velasco Morales Bermúdez Belaúnde García Fujimori Paniagua Toledo García Humala

v t e Pan-Americanism History Spanish American wars of independence Latin American wars of independence Latin American integration North American integration Patria Grande Simón Bolívar José de San Martín Organizations Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) Andean Community of Nations (CAN) Association of Caribbean States (ACS) Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Central American Integration System (SICA) Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Latin American Economic System (SELA) Latin American Integration Association (ALADI) Mercosur Organization of American States (OAS) Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) Pacific Alliance Petrocaribe Rio Group Union of South American Nations (Unasur) United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC, CEPAL) Projects Andean passport CARICOM passport CARICOM Single Market and Economy CARIPASS Central America-4 Border Control Agreement Central America-4 passport Eastern Caribbean Currency Union Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA) Interoceanic Highway SUCRE Institutions Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) Bank of the South (BancoSur) Caribbean Court of Justice Caribbean Development Bank Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Latin American Parliament Mercosur Parliament South American Parliament Free trade areas Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) CARIFORUM Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) Economic Partnership Agreements Free Trade Area of the Americas G3 Free Trade Agreement North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

Authority control WorldCat VIAF: 35731693 LCCN: n79065448 ISNI: 0000 0001 2127 8712 GND: 118513052 BNF: cb118926507 NDL: 00620390

Persondata
Name	Bolívar, Simón
Alternative names
Short description	President of Gran Colombia
Date of birth	1783-7-24
Place of birth	Caracas, Venezuela
Date of death	1830-12-17
Place of death	Santa Marta, Colombia