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Colombian War of Independence: A Visual History

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Visual history of a war

From the juntas of 1810 through the 'Foolish Fatherland', Morillo's reconquest and Bolivar's crossing of the Andes to Boyaca, Gran Colombia and the end of Spanish rule.

Fought
1810 to 1825
Duration
15 years
Dates
1810 to 1825
Deaths
Perhaps 100,000 to 250,000 across New Granada and Venezuela
Patriots
Simon Bolivar, Francisco de Paula Santander, Antonio Narino, Camilo Torres; British Legion volunteers
Royalists
Spain; Pablo Morillo, Juan Samano; local royalist forces (Pasto, Santa Marta)
Result
Independence; Republic of Gran Colombia (1819-1831)

The Colombian War of Independence (1810-1825) began with the Bogota junta of 20 July 1810 after Napoleon's overthrow of the Spanish king. The creole provinces of New Granada quarrelled in the Patria Boba, Cartagena declared full independence in 1811, and Bolivar fought his Venezuelan campaigns from Cartagena's territory. Spain's Pablo Morillo reconquered New Granada in 1815-1816 with a siege of Cartagena and executions in Bogota (Policarpa Salavarrieta among the victims). Bolivar's army crossed the flooded llanos and the frozen Paramo de Pisba in 1819 to win at the Vargas Swamp and Boyaca (7 August 1819), entering Bogota; Gran Colombia was created, Cartagena retaken in 1821, and Panama, Venezuela and Quito freed by 1822; the last royalist strongholds fell by 1825.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Colombian War of Independence. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

14001500160017001800190020002100Colombian War of Independence (1810 to 1825)Open: Spanish EmpireSpanish Empire (1492 to 1976)Open: Spanish conquest of New GranadaSpanish conquest of New Granada (1525 to 1540)Open: British EmpireBritish Empire (1583 to 1997)Open: Dutch EmpireDutch Empire (1602 to 1975)Open: Second Portuguese EmpireSecond Portuguese Empire (1663 to 1822)Open: French Revolutionary and Napoleonic WarsFrench Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792 to 1815)Open: Mexican War of IndependenceMexican War of Independence (1810 to 1821)Open: Empire of BrazilEmpire of Brazil (1822 to 1889)Open: Thousand Days' WarThousand Days' War (1899 to 1902)Open: La ViolenciaLa Violencia (1948 to 1958)Open: Colombian conflictColombian conflict (1964 to present)

Bolivar's army on the Andes crossing, 1819

0750150022503000Set out from the llanos: 30003000Set out from the llanosArrived over the Paramo de Pisba: 18001800Arrived over the Paramo de PisbaAt Boyaca after reinforcement: 28502850At Boyaca after reinforcementRoyalists at Boyaca: 26702670Royalists at Boyacamen (approximate)

Timeline of the Colombian War of Independence

  1. 1810
    Bogota junta20 July.
  2. 1811
    Cartagena declares independence
  3. 1815
    Morillo's siege of Cartagena
  4. 1816
    Reconquest; executions in Bogota
  5. 1819
    Crossing of the Andes; Boyaca7 August.
  6. 1821
    Carabobo; Cartagena liberated; Cucuta constitution
  7. 1822
    Pichincha
  8. 1825
    Last royalist strongholds fall

Juntas and the Patria Boba

A quarrel over a flower vase in Bogota on 20 July 1810 triggered the creation of a governing junta; other provinces followed. Federalists (Torres) and centralists (Narino) fought each other, Cartagena declared independence on 11 November 1811, and the United Provinces of New Granada were formed while Bogota stood aloof, a period Colombians call the Foolish Fatherland. Bolivar, exiled after Venezuela's collapse, served New Granada, launched his Admirable Campaign to Caracas in 1813 and, when it failed, took Bogota for the federation in 1814.

Reconquest

Ferdinand VII, restored, sent Morillo with 10,000 veterans in 1815; Cartagena starved through a 106-day siege and fell in December, a third of its people dead. Morillo entered Bogota in 1816 and the Regime of Terror executed some 300 patriots including Torres, Caldas and, in 1817, the young seamstress-spy Policarpa Salavarrieta. Santander's guerrillas held out in the Casanare llanos while Bolivar, in Haiti and then Angostura, rebuilt in Venezuela.

Boyaca and Gran Colombia

In May-July 1819 Bolivar and Santander led 3,000 men through the flooded llanos and over the 4,000-metre Paramo de Pisba, losing many; they beat Barreiro at the Vargas Swamp on 25 July and destroyed his army at Boyaca on 7 August. Viceroy Samano fled Bogota; Bolivar entered on 10 August. The Congress of Angostura proclaimed Gran Colombia; Carabobo (1821) freed Venezuela, Cartagena surrendered in October 1821, Panama joined, and Sucre won Pichincha (1822) for Quito. Royalist Pasto resisted to 1824 and the last garrisons fell in 1825. Gran Colombia broke into Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador in 1830-1831 as Bolivar died.

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8 surprising things about the Colombian War of Independence

  1. Colombia's Independence Day, 20 July, marks a staged quarrel over borrowing a flower vase from a Spanish merchant.
  2. Policarpa Salavarrieta, executed at 22 in 1817, is on Colombian banknotes and honoured every 14 November.
  3. The British Legion of some 6,000 volunteers, many Peninsular War veterans, fought for Bolivar; James Rooke lost his arm at the Vargas Swamp and cheered.
  4. Cartagena's 1815 siege killed about 6,000 of 18,000 inhabitants; the city is called the Heroic City.
  5. Bolivar's crossing of the Paramo de Pisba killed a third of his llanero horsemen, who had never seen snow.
  6. Boyaca was decided in two hours and cost the patriots 13 dead.
  7. Gran Colombia's territory covered modern Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama.
  8. Bolivar died in Santa Marta in 1830, saying America was ungovernable and that he had 'ploughed the sea'.

Sources

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