Descendant of a family of Basque origin that had been established in Venezuela since the

end of the 16th century, and occupied a prominent economic and social position in the
Province, Simón Bolívar was born in the city of Caracas on July 24, 1783. His parents were
Colonel Don Juan Vicente Bolívar y Ponte, and Doña Concepción Palacios Blanco. He had
three siblings older than him - María Antonia, Juana and Juan Vicente - and there was another
girl, María del Carmen, who died at birth. Before he was three years old, Simón lost his father,
who died in January 1786. The children's education was the responsibility of their mother, a
woman of fine sensitivity, but also capable of managing the considerable assets that the family
owned. In addition to his paternal inheritance, Simón was the holder of a rich estate,
established for him in 1785 by the Priest Juan Félix Jérez y Aristaguieta.

His first years were spent in his hometown, with occasional

trips to the estates that the family owned in the Aragua Valleys. In 1792 Doña Concepción
died. María Antonia and Juana married very soon, and the two men in the family, Juan Vicente
and Simón, continued living with their maternal grandfather, Don Feliciano Palacios, guardian
of both. The family's mansion faced the San Jacinto square, in the heart of the city. When his
grandfather died, Simón was left in the care of his uncle and guardian Carlos Palacios. In July
1795, when she turned 12, she suffered a crisis typical of early adolescence: she fled from her
uncle's side to take refuge in the house of her sister María Antonia and her husband, towards
whom she felt a greater emotional affinity. As a result of these events, which were soon
resolved favorably, Simón Bolívar spent a few months as an intern in the house of Don Simón
Rodríguez (1771-1854), also born in Caracas, who then ran the city's School of First Letters.
Between that brilliant pedagogue and social reformer, and the boy Simón Bolívar, a current of
mutual understanding and sympathy was soon established, which would last as long as their
lives. Rodríguez left Caracas in 1797. Before and after being his student, Bolívar had other
teachers in Caracas, among whom are mentioned Carrasco and Vides, who gave him lessons
in writing and arithmetic, to Brother Jesús Nazareno Zidardia, to the Priest José Antonio
Negrete, professor of History and Religion, and Guillermo Pelgrón, preceptor of Latinidad. He
also received private lessons in History and Geography from Don Andrés Bello (1781-1865),
who already in his youth treasured the wealth of knowledge that would eventually lead him to
be the first humanist in America.
Bolívar's vocation was the exercise of arms. In January 1797, he joined the White Militia
Battalion of the Aragua Valleys as a cadet, of which his own father had been Colonel years
before. He was not yet 14 years old. In July of the following year, when he was promoted to
Second Lieutenant, it was noted in his service record: Value: known; application: outstanding.
Bolívar combined practical training in military duties with theoretical learning of subjects then
considered the basis of military training: mathematics, topographical drawing, physics, etc.,
which he learned at the Academy established in Bolívar's own house. by the wise Capuchin
fray Francisco de Andújar since mid-1798, and which was also attended by several of Simón's
friends.
At the beginning of 1799, he traveled to Spain. In Madrid, under the direction of his uncles
Esteban and Pedro Palacios and the moral and intellectual guidance of the wise Marquis of
Ustáriz, he devoted himself passionately to study. There he received the education of a
gentleman who was destined for the world and the practice of arms: he expanded his
knowledge of history, classical and modern literature, and mathematics, he began the study of
French, and he also learned fencing and dancing . , making rapid progress in everything.
Frequent attendance at gatherings and salons polished his spirit, enriched his language, and
gave him greater poise. In Madrid he met María Teresa Rodríguez del Toro and Alayza, with
whom he fell in love. At the end of 1800 he thought about establishing a home, ensuring
offspring, and returning to his country to tend to the development of his properties. There was
a period of waiting: in the spring of 1801 he traveled to Bilbao, where he remained almost the
entire rest of the year. He then made a brief tour of France that led him to Paris and Amiens. In
May 1802 he was again in Madrid, where he married María Teresa on the 26th. The young
couple traveled to Venezuela, but Simón's happiness did not last long. María Teresa died in
January 1803. The young widower returned to Europe at the end of that same year, passing
through Cádiz and Madrid, and settling in Paris in the spring of 1804.

In the capital of the nascent French Empire, the pleasures of

a social, mundane life, and the intellectual stimuli, share Bolívar's attention, no less than the
fascinating spectacle of a Europe in full political ferment. He frequents theaters, gatherings and
salons, where he meets beautiful women, but he also meets wise men such as Alejandro de
Humboldt and Amado Bonpland, and attends conferences and free study courses where the
most recent knowledge and theories are disseminated. At this time in his life he passionately
devoted himself to reading. He has met again with Simón Rodríguez, whose knowledge and
experience make him an extraordinary companion for conversations, readings and travels.
They go together to Italy, and cross Savoy on foot. In Rome, one day in August 1805, on the
Holy Mountain, Bolívar swore in the presence of his master not to give rest to his arm or rest to
his soul until he had managed to free the Spanish-American world from Spanish tutelage.
Bolívar and Rodríguez separate again. The first, a little later, ascends Vesuvius in the
company of Baron Humboldt and other scientists. Bolívar returns to Paris, where he joins a
Masonic lodge. At the end of 1806, aware of the attempts made by the Precursor Miranda in
Venezuela, Bolívar considered that the time had come to return to his homeland. He embarked
on a neutral ship that touched at Charleston in January 1807; He tours a part of the United
States, and returns to Venezuela in the middle of the same year.
He now lives as a young aristocrat, attentive to the development of his estates, and in
1808 he had a notorious lawsuit with Antonio Nicolás Briceño over the boundaries of one of
them; but always think about the future of the country. In the meetings that he and his brother
Juan Vicente hold with their friends in the recreational villa they own in Caracas on the banks
of the Guaire River, they talk about literature, but they also make plans for the Independence
of Venezuela.
It arrives on April 19, 1810. The Board established that day appoints Bolívar, in the
company of Luis López Méndez and Andrés Bello, commissioner to the British Government.
His mission accomplished, Bolívar returned from London at the end of the same year. In
England he has seen the practical functioning of institutions. Within the Patriotic Society of
Caracas he was one of the most ardent advocates of Independence, which Congress
proclaimed on July 5, 1811. Bolívar joined the Army, and with the rank of Colonel he
contributed in 1811, under the orders of Miranda, to the submission of Valencia. In 1812,
despite great efforts, he was unable to prevent the plaza of Puerto Cabello, of which he was
commander, from falling into the power of the royalist forces due to treason. In mid-1812,
General Miranda capitulated to the Spanish leader Domingo de Monteverde. In the port of La
Guaira, a group of young officers, among whom is Bolívar, eager to continue the fight, arrest
the unfortunate Precursor. But all efforts are useless. Bolívar manages to save himself thanks
to the nobility of a friend of his, Don Francisco Iturbe, who obtains a passport for him. He
moved to Curacao, and then to Cartagena de Indias, where he wrote and published his
"Memory addressed to the citizens of New Granada by a Caracas native", one of the
fundamental writings, in which he already exposed his political creed, as well as the principles
that will guide your action in future years.
Their dazzling military campaigns then began, in which victories and setbacks would
alternate until 1818, and from the following year triumphs would predominate. At the head of a
small army, he cleared the banks of the Magdalena River of enemies, took the Villa de Cúcuta
in February 1813, and began the liberation of Venezuela in May. The series of combats and
skillful maneuvers that in three months led him victorious from the border of Táchira to
Caracas, where he entered on August 6, truly deserve the name of Admirable Campaign by
which they are known. While passing through Trujillo, in June, he had issued the War to Death
Decree, with the aim of affirming the incipient national sentiment of Venezuelans. Shortly
before, as he passed through the city of Mérida, the people had acclaimed him Liberator, a title
that was solemnly conferred on him in October 1813 by the Municipality and the people of
Caracas, and with which he would go down in history.

The period from August 1813 to July 1814, the Second

Republic, is truly the Terrible Year in the History of Venezuela. The War to the Death rages,
and undecided, successful or lost combats and battles follow one another with great rapidity.
Despite victories such as that of Araure, that of Bocachica, or the first battle of Carabobo, and
such heroic resistance as that of the entrenched field of San Mateo and the city of Valencia,
both Bolívar and General Santiago Mariño (who had the east of the country was previously
liberated) are forced to give in to the number of their adversaries, whose main leader is the
royalist José Tomás Boves. This triumphs in the Battle of La Puerta (June 1814), and the
patriots find themselves in the need to evacuate the city of Caracas. There is a great
emigration to the East of the country. There, Bolívar and Mariño see their authority unknown to
their own comrades in arms. The Liberator once again finds fraternal asylum in New Granada,
where he intervenes with various successes in the internal political disputes and achieves that
the city of Bogotá joins the United Provinces. In May 1815, facing Cartagena, Bolívar
abandoned command to prevent the outbreak of civil war.
Isolated in Jamaica from May to December 1815, he impatiently awaits the moment to
intervene again in the fight. Meanwhile, he meditated on the destiny of Latin America and
wrote in September the famous Letter of Jamaica, where he embraced with penetrating
understanding and prophetic vision the past, present and future of the Continent.
While the defeat of Napoleon in Europe, and the arrival in Venezuela of a powerful
Spanish army commanded by General Pablo Morillo, gave new courage to the supporters of
the royalist cause, Bolívar moved to the Republic of Haiti, in search of resources. to continue
the fight. The President of that State, Alejandro Petión, provides them with magnanimity. An
expedition under the command of Bolívar soon leaves Los Cayos, arriving in May 1816 at
Margarita Island and passing shortly after to the Continent. Carúpano is taken by assault, and
there Bolívar issues, on June 2, a decree that grants freedom to the slaves, which he will ratify
shortly after. The expedition then passes to the port of Ocumare de la Costa, where Bolívar is
accidentally separated from the bulk of his forces, and must embark again. He returned to
Haiti, where he organized a second expedition that reached Margarita Island at the end of the
year. At the beginning of 1817 Bolívar was in Barcelona. Their objective is to take over the
Province of Guayana, and make it the base for the definitive liberation of Venezuela. In July,
the capital of that Province, Angostura (today Ciudad Bolívar), is taken by the patriots. The
State is organized again. Bolívar creates the Council of State, the Council of Government, the
Superior Council of War, the High Court of Justice, the Court of the Consulate, and is
concerned with establishing a newspaper (which will appear in June 1818), the «Correo de
Orinoco ». Meanwhile, he had to fight not only against the Spanish but also against the
anarchy that had crept into his own camp: in October 1817, after a military trial, General
Manuel Piar, one of the main republican leaders, was shot in Angostura. Around those same
days, the Liberator dictated the "Law on the Distribution of National Assets", which would
contribute to strengthening patriotic sentiment.
In 1818 the campaign of the Center began under favorable auspices, as the Liberator
managed to surprise the royalist general Morillo in the city of Calabozo, but the Republicans
were defeated at the siege of Semén. Days later, in the Rincón de los Toros, Bolívar is about
to die at the hands of a royalist patrol, in the middle of the night. On June 5 he is again in
Angostura. A Diplomatic Agent from the United States and a large number of European
volunteers then arrive.
The Second Congress of Venezuela, convened by Bolívar, meets in Angostura on
February 15, 1819. Before it he delivers a Speech that is one of the fundamental documents of
his political ideology. He also presents a draft Constitution. Shortly afterward he embarked on
the campaign that would liberate New Granada. The army crossed the Andes through the
inhospitable wasteland of Pisba, and after the bloody battles, in July 1819, in Gámeza and the
Pantano de Vargas, it obtained a decisive victory in the battle of Boyacá, on August 7. Days
later Bolívar enters Bogotá. Leaving the provinces of New Granada organized under the
command of General Santander, the Liberator returned to Angostura, where Congress, at his
proposal, issued the Fundamental Law of the Republic of Colombia in December 1819. This
great State, creation of the Liberator , included the current republics of Venezuela , Colombia,
Ecuador and Panama.

To these events that had strengthened the republican cause,

was added the Liberal Revolution that broke out in Spain in January 1820. The situation has
changed. Everywhere the armies of the Republic gain advantages. Cartagena is besieged,
Mérida and Trujillo are liberated. The new Spanish Government is trying to reach a peaceful
agreement with the patriots. The commissioners of both parties signed in Trujillo, in November
1820, a Treaty of Armistice and another of Regularization of the War. The Liberator and
General Morillo meet in the town of Santa Ana. A few months later, after the Armistice expired,
the republican armies set off towards Caracas. On June 24, 1821, in the Carabobo Savannah,
Bolívar fought a battle that definitively decided the independence of Venezuela. The remains of
the Royalist Army take refuge in Puerto Cabello, which will fall in 1823. The Liberator
triumphantly enters his hometown amid the joy of his fellow citizens.
He now turns his gaze to Ecuador, still dominated by the Spanish. Through Maracaibo he
heads to Cúcuta, where Congress is meeting, and from there to Bogotá. In 1822 two patriot
armies try to liberate Quito: Bolívar leads the North, and General Antonio José de Sucre the
South, leaving from Guayaquil. The action of Bomboná, given by Bolívar in April, breaks the
resistance of the Pastusos, while the battle of Pichincha, won by Sucre on May 24, definitively
liberates Ecuador, which is integrated into the great Republic of Colombia. In Quito Bolívar
meets Manuela Sáenz, the great love of the last years of his life. On July 11, Bolívar was in
Guayaquil, where General José de San Martín, from Peru , landed on the 25th . There the two
illustrious captains of South American Independence hug and interview each other. What they
conferred in private is recorded in the authentic documents issued by Bolívar and his General
Secretariat. General San Martín's main objective, which was to negotiate the future destiny of
Guayaquil, could not be achieved, since the Province had already joined the Republic of Gran
Colombia. By mid-1823 the political-military situation in Peru had deteriorated greatly. Called
by the Congress and the people of that Nation, the Liberator embarked in Guayaquil on August
7 and arrived in Callao at the beginning of September. Anarchy reigned among the patriots.
Bolívar, empowered only to direct military operations, dedicated himself tirelessly to
reorganizing the army, giving it as its central nucleus the corps that had accompanied him from
Guayaquil. In January 1824, Bolívar was seriously ill in Pativilca, on the coast of Peru, where
he received the news that the garrison of Callao had gone over to the royalists. In the face of
so many difficulties, his indomitable spirit manifested itself in his famous exclamation:
"Triumph!"

Lima falls into the hands of the royalists, but the Congress of
Peru, before dissolving, appoints Bolívar Dictator - as in the ancient Roman Republic - with
unlimited powers to save the country. He calmly accepts such a tremendous responsibility.
Retired to Trujillo, he works tirelessly; His genius and his faith in the destiny of America work
the miracle. He undertook the offensive, and on August 7, 1824, in Junín, he defeated the
Royal Army of Peru. The campaign continues, and while Bolívar enters Lima and reestablishes
the siege of Callao, General Sucre, in Ayacucho, puts the definitive seal on American freedom
on December 9, 1824. Two days before, from Lima, Bolívar had led the governments of Latin
America an invitation to send their plenipotentiaries to the Congress that was to meet in
Panama, which was actually held in June 1826.
The military phase of Independence has ended. On February 10, 1825, before the
Peruvian Congress meeting in Lima, Bolívar renounces the unlimited powers that had been
conferred on him. Two days later that body decrees honors and rewards to the Army and the
Liberator, but he does not accept the million pesos that were offered to him in particular. He
then leaves the capital to visit Arequipa, Cuzco and the provinces that were then called Upper
Peru. These are constituted as a Nation, and they do so under the aegis of the hero: "Bolivar
Republic", the one we know today as Bolivia was called. For the New State, Bolívar wrote a
Draft Constitution in 1826 in which his ideas for the consolidation of order and independence of
the newly emancipated countries were expressed.
Meanwhile, a Revolution led by General Páez - "La Cosiata" - has broken out in
Venezuela against the Government of Bogotá, in April 1826. Bolívar returns to Caracas and
manages to restore peace at the beginning of 1827. However, the forces of dissociation
predominate over agglutinating tendencies. Bolívar distanced himself more and more,
politically and personally, from Vice President Santander, until a total break occurred. On July
4, 1827, Bolívar left Caracas for the last time, embarked in La Guaira, and arrived in Bogotá
via Cartagena. There, on September 10, he takes the oath before Congress as President of
the Republic.
 The National Convention met in Ocaña in 1828 was
dissolved without the various parties being able to reach an agreement. Bolívar, acclaimed
Dictator, escaped an attempt on his life in Bogotá in September of that year; Shortly after, he
had to go on campaign to confront the forces of Peru that had entered Ecuador, where he
remained for almost the entire year of 1829. Despite being sick and feeling tired, he fought to
save his work. At the beginning of 1830 he returned to Bogotá to install the Constituent
Congress. Venezuela stirs again and proclaims itself an Independent State. In New Granada
the opposition grows and strengthens. The Liberator, increasingly ill, resigns from the
Presidency and begins his journey to the Coast. The news of Sucre's murder, which he
receives in Cartagena, affects him deeply. He plans to go to Europe, but death surprises him in
San Pedro Alejandrino, an estate located near Santa Marta, on December 17, 1830. Days
before, on the 10th, he had addressed his last proclamation to his compatriots, which is his
political testament.
He stood out among his contemporaries for his talents, his intelligence, his will and
selflessness, qualities that he put entirely at the service of a great and noble enterprise: that of
liberating and organizing for civil life many nations that today see in him a Father. His mortal
remains, brought to Venezuela with great pomp in 1842, rest today in the National Pantheon.