Simon Bolivar

Simon Bolivar was known as “The Liberator” and played a huge role in the independence of Venezuela and surrounding countries. Bolivar spent his life working to drive the Spanish out of Latin America. He was born in 1783 in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. He was the son of a wealthy landowning family in Venezuela however both his parents died by the time he was 9. At  16 Bolivar traveled to Spain to continue his education where he married Maria Teresa del Toro however she died only a year after marriage. Bolivar then traveled back to Venezuela with the newfound concepts of rights that had led to the French Revolution. Bolivar joined the Venezuelan independence movement and became a prominent political and military leader. In 1811 Bolivar became a lieutenant of Francisco Miranda however Miranda was soon captured by the Spanish. Bolivar fled to Colombia and gathered an army to drive the Spanish out of Bogota. Bolivar led his men through the Andes Mountains to surprise the Spanish. When Bolivar’s army arrived the Spanish had no time to prepare and were defeated. Due to all his success, Bolivar became president of Gran Colombia but due to his ideas of leadership several assassinations were attempted but none were successful. Bolivar died in 1830 from Tuberculosis