BOLIVAR, SIMON

born July 24, 1783, Caracas, New Granada [now in Venezuela] died Dec. 17, 1830, near Santa Marta, Colombia byname The Liberator, Spanish El Libertador South American soldier and statesman who led the revolutions against Spanish rule in New Granada (renamed Colombia, or Gran Colombia, in 1819 and including Venezuela and Ecuador as well as Colombia), Peru, and Upper Peru (Bolivia). He was president, actually dictator, of both Colombia (182130) and Peru (182329). The son of a Venezuelan aristocrat of Spanish descent, Bolvar was born to wealth and position. After Bolvar's father died when the boy was three and his mother six years later, his uncle administered his inheritance and provided him with tutors. At the age of 16, Bolvar was sent to Europe to complete his education. For three years he lived in Spain and in 1801 married the daughter of a Spanish nobleman, with whom he returned to Caracas. The young bride died of yellow fever less than a year after her marriage. In 1804, when Napoleon was approaching the pinnacle of his career, Bolvar returned to Europe. In Paris he encountered a former childhood tutor, Simn Rodrguez, who guided him to the writings of such European rationalist thinkers as Locke, Hobbes, Buffon, d'Alembert, and Helvetius as well as Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. The idea of independence for Hispanic America took root in Bolvar's imagination, and, on a trip to Rome, standing on the heights of the Monte Sacro, he made a vow to liberate his country. In 1807 he returned to Venezuela by way of the United States, visiting the eastern cities. Additional reading Gerhard Masur, Simn Bolvar, 2nd ed. (1969), recognized as the best biography in English; V.A. Belaunde, Bolvar and the Political Thought of the Spanish American Revolution (1938), a penetrating study of Bolvar's ideas; D.F. O'Leary, Bolvar and the War of Independence (1970), an abridged translation of the recollections of one of Bolvar's closest political and military aides (ends at 1826); S. de Madariaga, Bolvar (1951; Eng. trans. 1952), an unfavourable assessment of Bolvar by a great Spanish writer; V.W. von Hagen, The Four Seasons of Manuela, a Biography: The Love Story of Manuela Senz and Simn Bolvar (1952), the best biography of Manuela Senz; Simn Bolvar, Cartas del Libertador, ed. by Vicente Lecuna, 12 vol. (192959), the most important collection of source material for the personality of Bolvara selection from these letters may be found in Simn Bolvar's, Selected Writings, comp. by Vicente Lecuna, ed. by H.A. Bierck, 2 vol. (1951); D. Bushnell, The Liberator: Simn Bolvar (1970), a useful introduction to the man and his image; Pan American Union, Bibliography of the Liberator, Simn Bolvar (1930), incomplete but still useful; R.A. Humphreys, Latin American History: A Guide to the Literature in English (1958), an indispensable tool for those who do not read Spanish.