The Liberator: Simon Bolivar

Global History and Geography II Name: ______

E. Napp Date: ______

Questions:

  1. Define mercantilism. ______
  2. List three ways that Spain benefitted from mercantilism:
  • ______
  • ______
  • ______
  1. List three ways mercantilism harmed the colonists of Latin America:
  • ______
  • ______
  • ______
  1. Who held the important political and military jobs in the colonies? ______
  2. Define peninsulares. ______
  3. Who was Simon Bolivar? ______

Simon Bolivar

Simon Bolivar was born in Caracas on July 24, 1783. Bolivar was a Creole or a person born in the Americas of Spanish ancestry. His father died before he wasthree-years-oldand his mother died in 1792. As a result, Simon was raised by various relatives. At the age of fourteen, he received military training and as a young man, he traveled to Spain, married, and returned to Latin America. However, tragedy struck once again when his young bride died. Bolivar returned to Europe but at the end of 1806, he returned to Latin America to participate in the independence movement.

Venezuelans won independence in 1811 but a year later, Spanish forces retook the country. Bolivar escaped to Colombia. During the next few years, he unsuccessfully tried to invade Venezuela. He also widened the revolution to Colombia. In 1819, the Spaniards were driven from Colombia. Bolivar turned his attention once again to Venezuela. Finally, in 1821, independence was won.

Bolivar became known as “The Liberator” because he also aided the struggle against Spanish rule in Ecuador. For a time, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia joined together in one nation called Gran Colombia. Bolivar hoped Gran Colombia would be the beginning of a union of all Latin American states. However, Gran Colombia fell apart in 1830 as each country went its own way. Geographic factors and regional nationalism made it difficult to unite LatinAmericans in a common federation similar to the United States.

Questions:

  1. What tragedies met Bolivar in his youth? ______
  2. Why was Bolivar known as “The Liberator”? ______
  3. What was Gran Colombia? ______
  4. Why was Bolivar’s dream of a united Latin America not realized? ______

Questions:

  1. What country colonized Brazil? ______
  2. Did the British conquer any land in South America? ______
  3. By 1828, what happened to most South American colonies? ______
  4. What happened to British, Dutch and French colonies in South America by 1828? ______
  5. Using evidence from the map, prove that Bolivar’s dream of a united Latin America was not realized in 1828? ______

Excerpt Adapted From: Simón Bolívar, An Address of Bolivar at the Congress of Angostura (February 15, 1819), Reprint Ed., (Washington, D.C.: Press of B. S. Adams, 1919), passim.

(Fordham.edu/halsall)

“We are not Europeans; we are not Indians; we are but a mixed species of aborigines and Spaniards. Americans by birth and Europeans by law, we find ourselves engaged in a dual conflict: we are disputing with the natives for titles of ownership, and at the same time we are struggling to maintain ourselves in the country that gave us birth against the opposition of the invaders. Thus our position is most extraordinary and complicated. But there is more. As our role has always been strictly passive and political existence nil, we find that our quest for liberty is now even more difficult of accomplishment; for we, having been placed in a state lower than slavery, had been robbed not only of our freedom but also of the right to exercise an active domestic tyranny. . .”

~Simon Bolivar

Questions:

  1. How does Bolivar describe the people of Latin America? ______
  2. What is the dual conflict that Bolivar refers to? ______
  3. According to Bolivar, why is the quest for liberty difficult to accomplish in Latin America? ______

Creoles led independence movements in Latin America.

Why did Creoles want independence from Spain?

  1. ______
  2. ______
  3. ______

Do you think Creoles wanted land reform?

______

Explain your answer.

______

How did the Colonial Hierarchy change after independence?

______