Simón Bolívar

Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Ponte Palacios y Blanco was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Bolivia to independence from the Spanish Empire. He is known colloquially as El Libertador, or the Liberator of America.

Simón Bolívar was born in Caracas in the Captaincy General of Venezuela into a wealthy creole family, but lost both parents before he turned ten and lived in several households. As was common for men of upper-class families in his day, Bolívar was sent to be educated abroad, and lived in Spain. While living in Madrid from 1800 to 1802, he was introduced to Enlightenment philosophy and met María Teresa Rodríguez del Toro y Alaysa.