Simon Bolivar

Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Blanco (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830), commonly known as Simón Bolívar (Spanish pronunciation: [siˈmomboˈliβar]), was a Venezuelan military and political leader. Bolívar played a key role in Hispanic America's successful struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire, and is today considered one of the mostinfluential politicians in the history of the Americas.
Following the triumph over the Spanish Monarchy, Bolívar participated in the foundation of the first union of independent nations inHispanic-America, a republic, which was named Gran Colombia, of which he was president from 1819 to 1830. Bolívar remains regarded in Hispanic-America as a hero, visionary, revolutionary, and liberator. Duringhis lifetime, he led Venezuela, Colombia (including Panama at the time), Ecuador, Peru (together with Don José de San Martín), and Bolivia to independence, and helped lay the foundations fordemocratic ideology in much of Latin America.
The surname Bolívar derives from the Bolívar aristocrats who came from a small village in the Basque Country, Spain, called La Puebla de Bolívar.[1] His fathercame from the male line of the de Ardanza family.[2][3] His maternal grandmother, however, was descended from some families from the Canary Islands that settled in the country.[a]
The Bolívars settledin Venezuela in the sixteenth century. His first South American Bolívar ancestor was Simón de Bolívar (or Simon de Bolibar; the spelling was not standardized until the nineteenth century), who livedand worked with the governor of the Santo Domingo from 1550 to 1570. When the governor of Santo Domingo was reassigned to Venezuela in 1589, Simón de Bolívar came with him. As an early settler inCaracas Province, he became prominent in the local society and he and his descendants were granted estates, encomiendas, and positions in the Caracas cabildo.[4]
The social position of the family is...