HISTORYMAKERS Simón Bolívar A.K.A the Liberator

HISTORYMAKERS Simón Bolívar a.k.a The Liberator

“The bonds that united us to Spain have been severed.”—Bolívar, The Letter from Jamaica (1814)

From 1815 to 1817, neither side won any decisive battles. However, Bolívar began to build the foundation of victory. He declared Simón Bolívar led his people’s the end of slavery to be one of his goals, thus fight for independence from Spain. He winning wider support. He made alliances envisioned the formation of a single country with two groups of extending from present-day Venezuela to modern Bolivia. However, his plans clashed with those of his followers, and the grand nation he dreamed of creating fell apart. guerrilla soldiers, who harassed the Spanish Bolívar was born in 1783 to a wealthy family army. He also hired veteran European troops. from the colony of Venezuela. His education Then in 1819, he devised a daring plan to included several years of study in Europe. cross the Andes Mountains and surprise the While there, he married, but soon after the Spanish. His army of 2,000 first had to cross couple reached South America his wife died of the hot jungles of the Orinoco River and then yellow fever. the freezing mountain passes. Many died, but Bolívar then returned to Europe and met Bolívar’s army was strong enough to defeat with several important thinkers and politicians. the Spanish in four different battles. One of them told Bolívar that the Spanish- Bolívar returned to the city of Angostura, American colonies had vast resources that Venezuela, and joined a congress working on could make them powerful—if only they could forming the new government. With his become free of Spanish control. Bolívar urging, members voted to create the republic returned to South America and joined the of Gran Colombia, which would include movement for independence. modern Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. In 1810, a group of rebels in Venezuela “The lessons of experience should not be lost removed the Spanish governor from office and on us,” he said. Europe had too many took control. The next year Venezuela declared countries that constantly fought each other. itself independent. By 1813, Bolívar “A single government,” he argued, “may use commanded the army. In 1814, however, the its great resources [to] lift us to the summit of Spanish fought back and defeated his troops, power and prosperity.” Bolívar was named forcing him to flee the country. During president and military dictator of the new Bolívar’s exile, he called for all Spanish colonies republic. to rise against European rule to “avenge three Bolívar won independence for Venezuela centuries of shame.” In 1814, he wrote a famous in 1821 and Ecuador in 1822. He freed Peru call to arms, The Letter from Jamaica, which from Spain in 1824 and Upper Peru in 1825, outlined a plan to create republics reaching which renamed itself Bolivia. He was from Mexico to Argentina and Chile. Unable to president of Gran Colombia, Peru, and win British or American support, he turned to Bolivia. Haiti. With money and guns from this newly Bolívar hoped that these nations would unite independent republic, he returned to Venezuela and thus become stronger. to face the largest army Spain had ever sent across the Atlantic. Others did not share this vision. Even his palace and tried to assassinate him. The Bolívar’s closest allies in the fight for Liberator was now seen as an enemy of the independence believed that there should be state. Venezuela withdrew from Gran several countries, not one large one. By 1826, Colombia, and Ecuador followed. Finally, civil war had broken out. Two years later, with his body wracked by tuberculosis and his Bolívar reacted to the crisis by declaring heart sick over the conflict, Bolívar retired in himself military dictator. Opponents attacked 1830. He died later that year.

HISTORYMAKERS Toussaint L’Ouverture

“I was born a slave, but nature gave me a soul of a free man.” —Toussaint L’Ouverture

François Dominique general. Because of his lightning-fast strikes against the French, he became known as Toussaint was born a slave in Saint “L’Ouverture,” which means “the opening.” Domingue (now Haiti), a French colony on the Toussaint officially adopted the name. island of Hispaniola (present-day it is made up Meanwhile, France declared an end to of 2 nations: Haiti and also the Dominican slavery in all its colonies in 1794. When Spain Republic). As a youth, he worked his way up refused to do the same, Toussaint switched from livestock handler to household steward on sides and began fighting for France. Eventually, a plantation, and he was granted his freedom in Toussaint helped France defeat the Spanish 1777. forces. In 1791, a slave revolt broke out on the Toussaint then took control of Saint island, triggered in part by the French Domingue. He encouraged reconciliation Revolution and its promises of freedom and between landowners and former slaves. He also equality. Toussaint joined the rebellion. When worked to restore the island’s economy. Newly he saw how unprepared the leaders were, he freed slaves returned to work in the fields, but formed his own army. with the promise of sharing in the plantations’ When France and Spain entered into war in profits. 1793, Toussaint fought on the side of the Spanish. For his service, he was promoted to Although Toussaint swore allegiance to and his troops defeated Toussaint’s forces. France and its revolutionary leader, Napoleon Toussaint surrendered on the condition that Bonaparte, his priority was his own people. the government would not re-establish slavery Saint Domingue was still officially a French on the island. At first, Toussaint was treated colony, but Toussaint often acted with honor. Later, however, he was tricked, independently of the ruling government. He captured, and taken to a prison in the ignored commands by his superiors and even mountains of France where he died. Napoleon. In 1801, Toussaint invaded the Inhabitants of Saint Domingue continued eastern part of Hispaniola, which was under the fight against France after Toussaint’s British rule and where slavery was still legal. capture and death. In 1804 one of Toussaint’s He intended to free all the slaves on the island. most trusted lieutenants, Jean-Jacques When he finally achieved control over all of Dessalines, established an independent Hispaniola, Toussaint named himself governor republic on the island, declared it the nation of general for life. “Haiti”, and it became the first black colony in Napoleon saw Toussaint as an obstacle to Latin America to declare independence from returning Saint Domingue to French control, European control. France finally accepted which would reinstate slavery. The French Haitian independence in 1825. emperor ordered an invasion in January 1802,