Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Palacios Ponte y

Blanco[1] (Spanish: [siˈmon boˈliβar] ( listen);[2] 24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830),

generally known as Simón Bolívar and also colloquially as El Libertador,[3] was
a Venezuelan military and political leader who played a leading role in the establishment
of Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Panama as sovereign states,
independent of Spanish rule.
Bolívar was born into a wealthy, aristocratic Creole family and, as was common for the
heirs of upper-class families in his day, was sent to be educated abroad at a young age,
arriving in Spain when he was 16 and later moving to France. While in Europe, he was
introduced to the ideas of the Enlightenment, which later motivated him to overthrow the
reigning Spanish in colonial South America. Taking advantage of the disorder in Spain
prompted by the Peninsular War, Bolívar began his campaign for independence in 1808,
appealing to the wealthy Creole population through a conservative process,[4]. The
campaign for the independence of New Granada was consolidated under the auspices of
Francisco Mariño y Soler with the victory at the Battle of Boyacá on 7 August 1819. Later
he established an organized national congress within three years. Despite a number of
hindrances, including the arrival of an unprecedentedly large Spanish expeditionary force,
the revolutionaries eventually prevailed, culminating in the patriot victory at the Battle of
Carabobo in 1821, which effectively made Venezuela an independent country.
Following this triumph over the Spanish monarchy, Bolívar participated in the foundation of
the first union of independent nations in Latin America, Gran Colombia, of which he was
president from 1819 to 1830. Through further military campaigns, he ousted Spanish rulers
from Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, the latter of which was named after him. He was
simultaneously president of Gran Colombia (present-day Venezuela, Colombia, Panama
and Ecuador) and Peru, while his second-in-command, Antonio José de Sucre, was
appointed president of Bolivia. Bolívar aimed at a strong and united Spanish America able
to cope not only with the threats emanating from Spain and the European Holy Alliance but
also with the emerging power of the United States. At the peak of his power, Bolívar ruled
over a vast territory from the Argentine border to the Caribbean Sea.
Bolívar is viewed as a national icon in much of modern South America, and is considered
one of the great heroes of the Hispanicindependence movements of the early 19th century,
along with José de San Martín, Francisco de Miranda and others. At the end of his life,
Bolívar despaired of the situation in his native region, with the famous quote "all who
served the revolution have plowed the sea".[5]:450 In an address to the Constituent Congress
of the Republic of Colombia, Bolívar stated "Fellow citizens! I blush to say this:
Independence is the only benefit we have acquired, to the detriment of all the rest."[6]