![]() ![]() He had turned the territories into one big republic called Gran Colombia. The second dramatic attempt happened when Simon had already freed the colonies. And one of Simon’s officers had decided to sleep on Simon’s empty hammock. The general had taken him up on the offer. Except the victim was not Simon.Įarlier that night, Simon had run into a friend who offered him better accommodations. And he thrust his knife twice into the neck of the man sleeping there, killing him. So in the middle of the night, Pio approached Simon’s hammock -Simon loved hammocks. (…)”Ī royalist bribed Simon’s slave, Pio, to kill him. Those born in America have been despoiled of their constitutional rights. We were never viceroys or governors except by very extraordinary reasons archbishops and bishops, seldom ambassadors, never military men, only as subordinates nobles, without privileges lastly, we were neither magistrates nor financiers, and hardly merchants. So negative was our existence that I can find nothing comparable in any other civilized society. In short, do you want to know what was our lot? The fields, in which to cultivate crops (…) the solitary plains, to breed cattle the deserts, to hunt the wild beasts the bosom of the earth, to extract gold, with which that avaricious country was never satisfied. Simon bitterly complains about it in a famous letter he wrote from Jamaica in 1819: “Americans, under the Spanish system now in vigor, have in society no other place than that of serfs fit for work, and, at the most, that of simple consumers. And they could own land and trade some products. The Criollos, also called “Americans,” could only be appointed to middle positions like mayor or colonel. Those positions were reserved for men born in Spain. For example, the Criollos were banned from high appointments in the government, the military, and the Church. So the legal system kept them from having too much power. Bate/Public domain)ĭespite how wealthy his family was, Simon was a second-class citizen in Venezuela because he was a Criollo.Ī Criollo, in the Spanish system, was a full-blooded European who had the bad luck of being born in the colonies.Īnd the Spanish crown did not trust the Criollos because it believed that the Criollos could revolt. That year he wrote in a letter: “Americans who live within the Spanish system (…) occupy a position in society no better than that of serfs.” Portrait by MN Bate, 1819. Humboldt just never imagined he was planting a seed and that the party-loving young man he was speaking to would be that leader. And he told Simon that a strong leader could free the colonies from Spain. Humboldt had traveled extensively through South America. And he also mingled with prominent people like German explorer Alexander von Humboldt. This time, he lived in Italy and in sophisticated Paris, France, where he attended one party after another and picked up revolutionary ideas.ĭuring that second trip, Simon paid more attention to politics. But within a year, he was back in Europe for four more years. There he learned languages, humanistic subjects, and military strategy. Most of that time, he lived in Madrid, Spain. Most Venezuelan boys of his status did, but perhaps his uncle also wanted to get rid of Simon. When Simon was 15, his uncle sent him to study abroad in Europe. Portrait of 21-year-old Simon painted in Paris, c. In Europe, Simon paid attention to the political systems and picked up revolutionary ideas. ![]()
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