Who is Simón Bolívar?
Simón Bolívar, born Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios on 24 July 1783, came from a wealthy Venezuelan family and came to be known as “The Liberator.” He led several different independent movements in South America. Together, these movements are referred to as “Bolívar’s War.” Simón Bolívar left Venezuela to study in Europe, where he wed María Teresa Rodríguez del Toro y Alaysa, the daughter of a prominent Spaniard. His wife died within the first year of their marriage, and he never remarried. Bolívar began to imagine what South America would be like if it was free from Spanish colonialism when he was a young man. Upon returning to Venezuela in 1807, Simón Bolívar found that Spain had become weak from all of Napoleon’s invasions. Beginning in 1808 he started leading independence movements, or resistance juntas in Latin America. In 1813, his forces had their first success, taking over Caracas and declaring that Venezuela was now free from Spanish rule. Simón
