Simn Bolvar
Oil painting by Ricardo Acevedo Bernal
President of Venezuela
In office August 6, 1813– July 7, 1814
Preceded by	Cristbal Mendoza
In office February 15, 1819– December 17, 1819
Succeeded by	Jos Antonio P¡ez
President of Gran Colombia (Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama)
In office December 17, 1819– May 4, 1830
Vice President	Francisco de Paula Santander
Succeeded by	Domingo Caycedo
President of Bolivia
In office August 12, 1825– December 29, 1825
Succeeded by	Antonio Jos de Sucre
President of Peru
In office February 17, 1824– January 28, 1827
Preceded by	Jos Bernardo de Tagle, Marquis of Torre-Tagle
Succeeded by	Andrs de Santa Cruz
Born	July 24, 1783(1783-07-24) Caracas, Venezuela
Died	December 17, 1830 (aged 47) Santa Marta, Colombia
Spouse(s)	Mara Teresa Rodrguez del Toro y Alaysa
Religion	Roman Catholic
Signature

Simn Jos Antonio de la Santsima Trinidad Bolvar y Palacios, commonly known as Simn Bolvar (Spanish pronunciation: [simon boliîar]; July 24, 1783 – December 17, 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader. Together with Jos de San Martn, he played a key role in Latin America's successful struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire.

Following the triumph over the Spanish Monarchy, Bolvar participated in the foundation of the first union of independent nations in Latin America, which was named Gran Colombia, and of which he was president from 1819 to 1830.

Simn Bolvar is regarded in Latin America as a hero, visionary, revolutionary, and liberator. During his short life, he led Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela to independence, and helped lay the foundations for democratic ideology in much of Hispanic America. For this reason he is often referred to as the "George Washington of South America".^[1][2]

[edit] Bolivar family

The surname Bolvar derives from the Bolvar aristocrats who came from a small village in the Basque Country, Spain, called La Puebla de Bolvar.^[3] His father was a descendant of King Fernando III of Castile and Count Amedeo IV of Savoy, and came from the male line of the de Ardanza family.^[4][5]

The Bolvars settled in Venezuela in the sixteenth century. His first South American Bolivar ancestor was Simn de Bolvar (or Simon de Bolibar; the spelling was not standardized until the nineteenth century), who lived and worked with the governor of the Santo Domingo from 1550 to 1570. When the governor of Santo Domingo was reassigned to Venezuela in 1589, Simn de Bolvar came 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.

The social position of the family is illustrated by the fact that when the Caracas Cathedral was built in 1594, the Bolvar family had one of the first dedicated side chapels. The majority of the wealth of Simn de Bolvar's descendants came from the estates. The most important of these estates was a sugar plantation in San Mateo, which came with an encomienda that provided the labor needed to run the estate.^[6] In later centuries, slave and free black labor would have replaced most of the encomienda labor.

Another portion of Bolivar 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, Bolvar inherited the copper mines at Cocorote. Slaves provided the majority of the labor in these mines.

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 Bolvar family. Bolvar's grandfather, Juan de Bolvar y Martnez 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 Bolvar's lifetime, when independence from Spain made the point moot. (If successful, Bolvar's older brother, Juan Vicente, would have become the Marqus de San Luis and Vizconde de Cocorote.) Bolvar was able to use his family's immense wealth to finance his revolutionary efforts.

[edit] Early life

Birthplace of Simn Bolvar in Caracas, Venezuela

Simn Bolvar was born in Caracas, Captaincy General of Venezuela (now the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela), on July 24, 1783 and he was baptized as Simn Jos Antonio de la Santsima Trinidad Bolvar y Palacios. His mother was Doa Mara de la Concepcin Palacios y Blanco and his father was Coronel Don Juan Vicente Bolvar y Ponte.

He had two older sisters and a brother: Mara Antonia, Juana, and Juan Vicente. Another sister, Mara del Carmen, died at birth.^[7]

The circumstances of Bolvar's parents forced them to entrust the baby Simn Bolvar to the care of Doa Ines Manceba de Miyares and the family's slave la negra Hipolita. A couple of years later Bolvar returned to the love and care of his parents, but this traumatic experience would have a severe effect on Bolvar's life. By his third birthday, his father Juan Vicente died.^[7]

Bolvar's father died when Bolvar was two and a half years old. Bolvar's mother, Maria Juanita Cabeza Grande, died when he was approaching nine years old. He then was placed in the custody of a severe instructor, Miguel Jos Sanz, but this relationship did not work out and he was sent back to his home. In an effort to give Bolvar the best education possible, he received private lessons from the renowned professors Andrs Bello, Guillermo Pelgrn, Jose Antonion Negrete, Fernando Vides, Father Andjar, and the most influential of all, Don Simn Rodrguez, formerly known as Simn Carreo. Don Simn Rodriguez was later to become Bolvar's friend and mentor, and he instilled in the young man the ideas of liberty, enlightenment, and freedom.^[8]

In the meantime, all the love, affection, and attention given to Bolvar was from his nanny, Hiplita. Hiplita gave the young Bolvar all the affection he needed and indulged him in all his wishes and desires.^{[citation needed]} His instructor Don Simn understood the young Bolvar'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 Simn taught Bolvar how to swim and ride horses, and, in the process, taught him about liberty, human rights, politics, history, and sociology.^[8]

[edit] Military career

At the age of fourteen, Bolvar's private instructor and mentor Don Simn Rodrguez had to abandon the country, as he was accused of being involved in a conspiracy against the Spanish government in Caracas. Thus, Bolvar 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, Bolvar witnessed the coronation of Napoleon in Notre Dame, and this majestic event left a profound impression upon him. From that moment he wished to emulate similar triumphant glory for the people of his native land.^[8]

[edit] El Libertador

Bolvar returned to Venezuela in 1807. It was during this period that he wrote his Cartagena Manifesto. It blames the sad state of affairs his native country was in at the time on an excess of political liberties in the republican system. In it Bolvar asserts that the republican system is unfit for the emerging states, because "our fellow countrymen still ... lack the political virtues that characterize the true Republican".

In 1813 he was given a military command in Tunja, New Granada (today Colombia), under the direction of the Congress of United Provinces of New Granada, which had formed out of the juntas established in 1810.

From New Granada, Bolvar began an invasion of Venezuela on May 14. This was the beginning of the famous Admirable Campaign. He entered Mrida on May 23, where he was proclaimed as El Libertador.^[9] That event was followed by the occupation of Trujillo on June 9. Six days later, on June 15, he dictated his famous Decree of War to the Death. Caracas was retaken on August 6, 1813 and Bolvar was ratified as "El Libertador", thus proclaiming the restoration of the Venezuelan republic. Due to the rebellion of Jos Tom¡s 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 Bogot¡ 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, Bolvar 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 Ption, the leader of the newly independent country, and petitioned him for aid.^[9]

Bolvar and Francisco de Paula Santander during the Congress of Ccuta, October 1821

In 1817, with Haitian soldiers and vital material support (on the condition that he abolish slavery), Bolvar landed in Venezuela and captured Angostura (now Ciudad Bolvar). At that time, Venezuela remained a captaincy of Spain, however, and Bolvar decided that he would first fight for the independence of New Granada (which was a vice royalty), intending later to consolidate the independence of Venezuela and other less politically important Spanish territories.

The campaign for the independence of New Granada was consolidated with the victory at the Battle of Boyac¡ in 1819. From this newly consolidated base of power, Bolvar 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 September 7, 1821 the Gran Colombia (a state covering much of modern Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador) was created, with Bolvar as president and Francisco de Paula Santander as vice president.

On July 26 and 27 of 1822, Bolvar held the Guayaquil conference with the Argentinian General Jos de San Martn, who had received the title of Protector of Peruvian Freedom in August 1821 after having partially liberated Peru from the Spanish. Thereafter, Bolvar took over the task of fully liberating Peru. The Peruvian congress named him dictator of Peru on February 10, 1824, which allowed Bolvar to reorganize completely the political and military administration.

Battle of Junn, August 1824

Assisted by Antonio Jos de Sucre, Bolvar decisively defeated the Spanish cavalry at the Battle of Junn on August 6, 1824. Sucre destroyed the still numerically superior remnants of the Spanish forces at Ayacucho on December 9.

On August 6, 1825, at the Congress of Upper Peru, the Republic of Bolivia was created. Bolvar is thus one of the few men to have a country named after him. The constitution reflected the influence of the French and Scottish Enlightenment on Bolvar's political thought, as well as that of classical Greek and Roman authors.^{[citation needed]}

Battle of Carabobo, June 24, 1821

[edit] Proclamation of dictatorial power

Bolvar had great difficulties maintaining control of the vast Gran Colombia. During 1826, internal divisions had sparked dissent throughout the nation and regional uprisings erupted in Venezuela, thus the new South American union 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, Bolvar called for a constitutional convention at Ocaa during April 1828.

Bolvar'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, Bolvar 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).

Manuela S¡enz, lover of Bolvar who rescued him from an assassination attempt and whose burial has been united with his recently

This move was considered controversial in New Granada and was one of the reasons the deliberations in favor of such a constitution met with strong opposition at the Convention of Ocaa, which met from April 9 to June 10, 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. Unhappy with what would be the ensuing result, pro-Bolvar delegates withdrew from the convention, leaving it moribund.

After the failure of this congress to write a new constitution, Bolvar proclaimed himself dictator on August 27, 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 September 25, 1828 failed, thanks to the help of his lover, Manuela S¡enz. Bolivar afterward described Manuela as Libertadora del Libertador (the liberator of the liberator).

Although Bolvar 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.

[edit] Death

Bolvar's death by Venezuelan painter Antonio Herrera Toro

Simn Bolvar Memorial Monument, standing in Santa Marta (Colombia) at the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino

Saying, "all who served the Revolution have plowed the sea", Bolvar finally resigned his presidency on April 27, 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.^[10], but he died before setting sail.

On December 17 of 1830, at the age of forty-seven, Simn Bolvar died after a painful battle with tuberculosis^[11] in the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino in Santa Marta, Gran Colombia (now Colombia). On his deathbed, Bolvar 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 vast wealth of information about Bolvar's liberal philosophy and thought, as well as details of his personal life, such as his longstanding love affair with Manuela S¡enz. Shortly before her own death in 1856, S¡enz augmented this collection by giving O'Leary her own letters from Bolvar.^[10]

His remains were buried in the cathedral of Santa Marta. Twelve years later, in 1842, at the request of President Jos Antonio P¡ez, 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.^[12] In 2010, symbolic remains of Bolivar's lover, Manuela S¡enz, were interred by his side during a national ceremony reuniting them and honoring her role in the liberations.^[13]

On January 2008, President of Venezuela Hugo Ch¡vez set up a commission^[14] to investigate theories indicating that Bolvar could have been the victim of an assassination. In April 2010, infectious diseases specialist Paul Auwaerter studied existing records of Bolivar's symptoms and concluded that he may have suffered from chronic arsenic poisoning, but considered that both acute poisoning and murder were unlikely.^[15][16] In July 2010, Bolvar's body was ordered to be exhumed to advance the investigations.^[17]

[edit] Private life

In 1799, following the early deaths of his father Juan Vicente (died 1786) and his mother Concepcin (died 1792), he traveled to Mexico, France, and Spain, at age sixteen, to complete his education. While in Madrid during 1802, he married Mara Teresa Rodrguez del Toro y Alaiza, who was his only wife. She was related to the family of the Marqus del Toro of Caracas.^[8] Eight months after returning to Venezuela with her, she died from yellow fever. Bolvar returned to Europe in 1804, where he lived in Napoleonic France for a while and undertook the Grand Tour.^[18] During this time in Europe, it was rumored that he met Alexander von Humboldt in Paris. Humboldt wrote in 1804 of having met a young man in Paris and Humboldt had noticed how the young man loved liberty and made for some lively conversation, but he left Humboldt unimpressed.

[edit] Relatives

Bolvar had no descendants. His closest living relatives descend from his sisters and brother. One of his sisters died in infancy. His sister, Juana Bolvar y Palacios, married their maternal uncle, Dionisio Palacios y Blanco, and had two children, Guillermo and Benigna. Guillermo Palacios died fighting alongside his uncle Simn in the battle of La Hogaza on December 2, 1817. Benigna had two marriages, the first one to Pedro Breceo Mndez and the second to Pedro Amestoy.^[19] Their great-grandchildren, Bolvar's closest living relatives, Pedro, and Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa lived in Caracas, as of 2000.

His eldest sister, Mara Antonia, married Pablo Clemente Francia and had four children: Josefa, Anacleto, Valentina, and Pablo. Mara Antonia became Bolvar'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 Bolvar's estate in Macarao, which she inherited from him.^[20]

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 Simn, and Felicia Bolvar Tinoco. Bolvar provided for the children and their mother after his brother's death. Bolvar 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, Benjamn Bolvar Gauthier, Santiago Hern¡ndez Bolvar, and Claudio Bolvar Taraja. Fernando died in 1898 at the age of eight-eight.^[21]

[edit] Political beliefs

He was an admirer of both the American Revolution and the French Revolution. He admired Thomas Jefferson and sent his nephew to the University of Virginia, which was founded and designed by Jefferson. Bolvar 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 labour. Second, while he was an admirer of the United States, he did not believe that its governmental system could function in Latin America.^[22]

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 Bolvar 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.^[22]

Among the books accompanying him as he traveled were, Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations", Voltaire's "Letters", and when he wrote the Bolivian Constitution, Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws.^[23] His Bolivian constitution placed him within the camp of what would become Latin American conservatism in the later nineteenth century. The Bolivian Constitution had 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.

Regarding his immigration policy for Colombia, he viewed the immigration of North-Americans and Europeans as necessary for improving the country's economy, arts, and sciences,^[24] following the steps of the Latin-American criollo elites, who accepted without questions many of the evolutionist, social, and racial theories of their time.

[edit] Freemasonry

Similar to some others in the history of American Independence (George Washington, Jos de San Martn, and Francisco Miranda), Simn Bolvar was a Freemason. He was initiated in 1803 in the Masonic Lodge Lautaro which operated in Cadiz, Spain ^[25]. It was in this lodge that he first met some of his revolutionary peers, such as Jos de San Martn. 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, Simn Bolvar was given the 33rd degree of Inspector General Honorary.

[edit] Legacy

[edit] Political legacy

Simn Bolvar lends his name and image to the Venezuelan Bolvar coin

Bolvar's political legacy has been massive and he is a very important figure in South American political history. The 'Bolivarianism' of the last two decades, such as in the Venezuela of Hugo Ch¡vez, tries to evoke the memory of Bolivar, using a left-wing view of his writings and supposed ambitions as the basis for a political movement.^[26][27]

After his defeat and early death, it took more than a decade to rehabilitate his lost image in South America. By the 1840s the memory of Bolvar proved useful for the construction of a sense of nationhood. In Venezuela, in particular, a type of 'cult' to Bolvar, first under the President Jos Antonio P¡ez and most dramatically under President Antonio Guzm¡n Blanco appeared. Because the image of Bolvar became central to the national identities of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, his mantle is claimed by nearly all politicians from all parts of the political spectrum.^[28] Bolivia and Venezuela (the Bolvarian Republic of Venezuela) are both named after Bolvar.

[edit] Monuments, institutions and place names

• San Salvador, El Salvador. "Plaza Bolvar", five-meter-tall equestrian statue
• Paris, France, equestrian statue between the Alexandre III bridge and the Petit Palais, a joint gift to the city from the "five Bolivarian republics" of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.
• Rome, equestrian statue in the Piazzale Simn Bolvar facing equestrian statue of Jose de San Martin.
• Tegucigalpa, Honduras, bust
• San Juan, Puerto Rico, bust
• Ottawa, signifying the friendship between Canada and South America (which caused some controversy at the time of its erection)
• Sydney, Australia, bust
• Montreal, Canada, bust
• Quebec City, in the Parc de l'Amrique Latine, equestrian statue

Simn Bolivar's statue in Washington, D.C., USA

• Bolivar, Missouri, statue presented by President Rmulo Gallegos of Venezuela and dedicated by U.S. President Harry S. Truman.
• A central avenue in Ankara, the capital of Turkey
• Bolivar, West Virginia, bears his name and displays his bust
• Frankfurt, Germany, bust
• Washington, D.C., monument
• New York, statue faces Jose de San Martin and Jose Marti at the Fifty-ninth Street and Sixth Avenue entrance of Central Park
• Cairo, Egypt, statue next to the Intercontinental Hotel (Semiramis)^[29], unveiled on February 11, 1979. Attending the inauguration of the revamped Midan was Venezuela's first lady, Dona Blanca Rodriguez de Perez, who arrived especially for the occasion. The 500-kilogram, 2.3-meter high bronze statue is attributed to Venezuelan sculptor Carmelo Tabaco; the accompanying pedestal is the work of his countryman, Manuel Silveira Blanco. These are only a few of the examples.
• Santiago (Chile), monument celebrating Latin American Freedom, erected in 1836 at the main square (Plaza de Armas), panel dedicated to Bolvar. Around 1836-40 a full-size equestrian statue was erected in his honour and located at a square at the beginning of an avenue that bears his name.
• Most cities and towns in Venezuela and Colombia have a bust or statue of Bolvar.
• In Colombia, every capital city, except Pasto, has a main square known as Plaza Bolvar.
• Caracas, central avenue named Avenida Bolvar, at its terminus a twin-tower-complex named Centro Simn Bolvar, built during the 1950s holds several governmental offices
• Guayaquil, Ecuador, El parque Bolivar, Bolivar Park. Streets, provinces, and several schools named after Bolvar in Ecuador.
• Bolivar, Mexican municipality in the State of Durango
• Currencies, the boliviano and the Venezuelan bolvar
• Caracas, Simn Bolvar University
• Bolivarian Games, sports event involving athletes from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela
• In the 1930s, during a time of civil unrest in Spain, Montgomery Terrace in Mount Floria, Glasgow, Scotland, was renamed after Simn Bolvar, a Scottish Rite freemason.

[edit] See also

Find more about Simn Bolvar on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions from Wiktionary
	Textbooks from Wikibooks
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Images and media from Commons
	News stories from Wikinews
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• Brigadier General Antonio Valero de Bernabe
• Gabriel Garca M¡rquez's novel The General in His Labyrinth (1989), a fictionalized account of Bolvar's last days
• Palomo (horse), Bolvar's horse
• Nevado, Bolvar's mucuchies dog

[edit] Notes

[edit] Bibliography about Bolvar

• Reza, German de la. "La invencin de la paz. De la repblica cristiana del duque de Sully a la sociedad de naciones de Simn Bolvar", Mxico, Siglo XXI Editores, 2009. ISBN 978-607-03-0054-7
• Bushnell, David. The Liberator, Simn Bolvar. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970.
• Bushnell, David (ed.) and Fornoff, Fred (tr.), El Libertador: Writings of Simn Bolvar, Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0195144819
• 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 0-19-508402-0
• Ducoudray Holstein, H.L.V. Memoirs of Simn Bolvar. Boston: Goodrich, 1829.
• Lynch, John. Simn Bolvar and the Age of Revolution. London: University of London Institute of Latin American Studies, 1983. ISBN 9780901145543
• Lynch, John. The Spanish American Revolutions, 1808-1826 (Second edition). New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1986. ISBN 0-393-95537-0
• Lynch, John. Simn Bolvar: A Life, Yale University Press, 2006. ISBN 0300110626.
• Madariaga, Salvador de. Bolvar. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1952. ISBN 9780313220296
• Marx, Karl. "Bolvar y Ponte" in The New American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, Vol. III. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1858.
• Masur, Gerhard. Simn Bolvar (Revised edition). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1969.
• Mijares, Augusto. The Liberator. Caracas: North American Association of Venezuela, 1983.
• O'Leary, Daniel Florencio. Bolvar and the War of Independence/Memorias del General Daniel Florencio O'Leary: Narracin (Abridged version). Austin: University of Texas, [1888] 1970. ISBN 0-292-70047-4
• Bastardo-Salcedo,JL (1993)'Historia Fundamental de Venezuela' UVC,Caracas.

[edit] External links

• The Life of Simn Bolvar
• The Louverture Project: Simn Bolvar - Information about the support Bolvar received from Haiti.
• About the surname Bolbar/Bolvar, in Spanish
• Paternal ancestors of the Liberator, in Spanish
• Coats of arms of the Bolbars, in Spanish
• Maternal ancestors of the Liberator (Palacios family), in Spanish
• (Spanish) Glrbv.org: Biography
• BESIDE BOLIVAR: The Edec¡n Demarquet - About C. E. Demarquet, one of Bolvar's principal aides
• "Building a New History by Exhuming Bolvar" Simon Romero, The New York Times, 3 August 2010

v – d – e Heads of state of Colombia United Provinces of New Granada (1810–1816) Jos Miguel Pey de Andrade– Jorge Tadeo Lozano– Antonio Nario– Manuel Benito de Castro– Antonio Nario– Manuel de Bernardo lvarez del Casal– Camilo Torres Tenorio– Jos Mara del Castillo y Rada– Joaqun Camacho– Jos Fern¡ndez Madrid– Custodio Garca Rovira– Antonio Villavicencio– Manuel Rodrguez Torices– Jos Miguel Pey de Andrade– Camilo Torres Tenorio– Jos Fern¡ndez Madrid– Custodio Garca Rovira– Liborio Meja– Fernando Serrano Gran Colombia (1819–1831) Simn Bolvar– Domingo Caycedo– Joaqun de Mosquera– Rafael Urdaneta– Domingo Caycedo Republic of New Granada (1831–1858) Domingo Caycedo– Jos Mara Obando– Jos Ignacio de M¡rquez– Francisco de Paula Santander– Jos Ignacio de M¡rquez– Domingo Caycedo– Pedro Alc¡ntara Herr¡n– Tom¡s Cipriano de Mosquera– Jos Hilario Lpez– Jos de Obalda– Jos Hilario Lpez– Jos Mara Obando– Jos Mara Melo– Tom¡s de Herrera– Jos de Obalda– Manuel Maria Mallarino– Mariano Ospina Rodrguez Grenadine Confederation (1858–1863) Mariano Ospina Rodriguez– Bartolom Calvo– Tom¡s Cipriano de Mosquera United States of Colombia (1863–1886) Francisco Javier Zalda– Eustorgio Salgar– Tom¡s Cipriano de Mosquera– Manuel Murillo Toro– Jos Mara Rojas Garrido– Tom¡s Cipriano de Mosquera– Joaqun Riascos– Santos Acosta– Santos Gutirrez– Eustorgio Salgar– Manuel Murillo Toro– Santiago Prez– Aquileo Parra– Juli¡n Trujillo Largacha– Rafael Nez– Francisco Javier Zalda– Clmaco Caldern– Jos Eusebio Otalora– Ezequiel Hurtado– Rafael Nez Republic of Colombia (1886–present) Jos Mara Campo Serrano– Eliseo Pay¡n– Rafael Nez– Carlos Holgun Mallarino– Miguel Antonio Caro– Rafael Nez– Miguel Antonio Caro– Manuel Antonio Sanclemente– Jos Manuel Marroqun– Rafael Reyes– Jorge Holgun– Ramn Gonz¡lez Valencia– Carlos Eugenio Restrepo– Jos Vicente Concha– Marco Fidel Su¡rez– Jorge Holgun– Pedro Nel Ospina– Miguel Abada Mndez– Enrique Olaya Herrera– Alfonso Lpez Pumarejo– Eduardo Santos– Alfonso Lpez Pumarejo– Alberto Lleras Camargo– Mariano Ospina Prez– Laureano Gmez– Roberto Urdaneta Arbel¡ez– Gustavo Rojas Pinilla– Gabriel Pars Gordillo– Alberto Lleras Camargo– Guillermo Len Valencia– Carlos Lleras Restrepo– Misael Pastrana Borrero– Alfonso Lpez Michelsen– Julio Csar Turbay Ayala– Belisario Betancur– Virgilio Barco Vargas– Csar Gaviria– Ernesto Samper– Andrs Pastrana Arango– lvaro Uribe– Juan Manuel Santos

v – d – e Presidents of Bolivia Simn Bolvar– Antonio Jos de Sucre– Jos Mara Prez de Urdininea– Pedro Blanco Soto– Andrs de Santa Cruz– Sebasti¡n greda– Mariano Enrique Calvo Cuellar– Jos Ballivi¡n– Eusebio Guilarte Vera– Vctor Gonz¡lez Fuentes– Jos Miguel de Velasco Franco– Manuel Isidoro Belzu– Jorge Crdova– Jos Mara Linares– Jos Mara Ach¡– Mariano Melgarejo– Agustn Morales– Adolfo Ballivi¡n– Tom¡s Fras Ametller– Hilarin Daza– Narciso Campero– Gregorio Pacheco– Aniceto Arce– Mariano Baptista– Severo Fern¡ndez– Jos Manuel Pando– Eliodoro Villazn– Ismael Montes– Jos Gutirrez– Bautista Saavedra– Felipe S. Guzm¡n– Hernando Siles Reyes– Carlos Blanco Galindo– Daniel Salamanca Urey– Jos Luis Tejada Sorzano– David Toro– Germ¡n Busch– Carlos Quintanilla– Enrique Pearanda– Gualberto Villarroel– Nstor Guilln– Tom¡s Monje– Enrique Hertzog– Mamerto Urriolagoitia– Hugo Ballivi¡n– Ren Barrientos– Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas– Alfredo Ovando Canda– Juan Jos Torres– Hugo Banzer– Juan Pereda– David Padilla– W¡lter Guevara– Alberto Natusch– Lidia Gueiler Tejada– Luis Garca Meza Tejada– Celso Torrelio– Guido Vildoso– Hern¡n Siles Zuazo– Vctor Paz Estenssoro– Jaime Paz Zamora– Gonzalo S¡nchez de Lozada– Hugo Banzer– Jorge Quiroga– Gonzalo S¡nchez de Lozada– Carlos Mesa– Eduardo Rodrguez– Evo Morales

v – d – e Presidents of Peru San Martn – Luna Pizarro – La Mar – Bernardo de Tagle – Riva Agero – Sucre – Bernardo de Tagle – Bolvar – Santa Cruz – Salazar y Baqujano – La Mar – Gutirrez de la Fuente – Gamarra – Luna Pizarro – Orbegoso – Bermdez – Salaverry – Santa Cruz – Gamarra – Menndez – Torrico – Vidal – Figuerola – Vivanco – Nieto – Castilla – Elas – Menndez – Figuerola – Menndez – Castilla – Echenique – Castilla – San Rom¡n – Castilla – P. Diez Canseco – Pezet – Prado– Pezet – P. Diez Canseco – Prado – P. Diez Canseco – Balta – Gutirrez – F. Diez Canseco – Zevallos – Pardo – Prado – Pirola – Garca Caldern – Montero – C¡ceres – Iglesias – Arenas – C¡ceres – Morales Bermdez – Borgoo – C¡ceres – Candamo – Pirola – Romaa – Candamo – S. Caldern – Pardo y Barreda – Legua  – Billinghurst – Benavides – Pardo y Barreda – Legua  – Ponce – S¡nchez Cerro – Elas Arias – Jimnez – Samanez Ocampo – S¡nchez Cerro – Benavides – Prado Ugarteche – Bustamante y Rivero – Odra – Noriega – Odra – Prado Ugarteche – Prez Godoy – Lindley – Belande – Velasco – Morales Bermdez – Belande – Garca – Fujimori – Paniagua – Toledo – Garca