Everything about Gran Colombia totally explained
Gran Colombia (
Spanish for
Great Colombia) is a name used today for the
Republic of Colombia of the period
1819-
1831.
This short-lived republic in
South America encompassed the territories of present-day
Colombia,
Venezuela,
Ecuador and
Panama, as well as smaller parts of
Costa Rica,
Peru,
Brazil and
Guyana. It was counted alongside
Mexico and the
US as one of the three leading powers during the liberation years of the Americas. Its territory corresponded more or less to the jurisdiction of the
Viceroyalty of New Granada.
Origin of the name
The official name at the time was the Republic of Colombia, as it's today; historians have adopted the term "Gran Colombia" to distinguish the Republic before 1831 (with its more extensive land area) from that of the present-day Republic of
Colombia.
The name "Colombia" comes from the name of
Christopher Columbus (
Cristóbal Colón in Spanish,
Cristoforo Colombo in Italian) and was conceived by the revolutionary
Francisco de Miranda as a reference to the New World, especially to all
American territories and colonies under
Spanish and
Portuguese rule.
Geography
The Republic of Gran Colombia comprised more or less the former territories of the
Viceroyalty of New Granada.
History
Simón Bolívar, the Liberator of Spanish South America, and other revolutionaries in the
First Venezuelan Republic occasionally used the term
Colombia as a reference to all of Spanish America, until the proclamation of a republic under that name in 1819 at the
Congress of Angostura.
It was initially conceived at that Congress as a
Federal republic, made up of three departments with capitals in the cities of
Bogotá (Department of Cundinamarca),
Caracas (Department of Venezuela), and
Quito (Department of Quito). In that year, not all the provinces of the former viceroyalty were free yet.
The
constitution of the new republic was drafted in 1821 at the
Congress of Cúcuta, establishing its capital in Bogotá. A great degree of
centralisation was established here, as several convinced federalists now came to believe that it would be necessary in order to better manage a unified war effort, at least for the time being.
A new territorial division (Venezuela, Cundinamarca, and Quito were split into various smaller departments) was conceived.
Simón Bolívar was elected president and
Francisco de Paula Santander vice president.
In the first years of existence, Gran Colombia helped other provinces still at war with Spain to become independent - Panama came to the federation in 1821 and so did the remaining provinces of Quito and Venezuela.
The independence of Peru was consolidated later in 1824 through Gran Colombia's aid. Bolívar and Santander were re-elected in 1826.
Federalists against separatists
As the war against Spain came to an end, federalist and regionalist sentiments began to arise once again. Permanent calls for modifications of the political division (along with related economic and commercial disputes) during the existence of Gran Colombia, as a result of local confrontations between the regions, led to local changes and compromises.
These changes never fully pleased contemporaries and little permanent consolidation was achieved, showing the instability of the state's structure.
Bolívar dreamt of uniting Latin America but was unable to achieve this during the struggle for independence. The Republic of Gran Colombia was his initial attempt at creating a single Latin American state.
Other regional and South American politicians, however, objected to his idea, and Bolívar, disgruntled, resigned from the project in 1828 and from his presidency in early 1830.
Internal political strife between the different regions intensified after Bolívar's resignation and continued even as General
Rafael Urdaneta temporarily took power in Bogotá, attempting to use his authority to ostensibly restore order and give the presidency back to Bolívar.
The federation finally dissolved during the rest of 1830 and was formally abolished in 1831, as Venezuela, Ecuador and New Granada came to exist as independent states.
War with Peru
Dissolution
The dissolution of Gran Colombia characterized the failure of Bolívar's dream. The Department of Cundinamarca (as established in Angostura) became a new country, the Republic of New Granada. In 1863, New Granada changed its name officially to
United States of Colombia, and in 1886 adopted its present day name:
Republic of Colombia. Panama remained as a province of this country until 1903, when with backing from the
United States of America in exchange for allowing the US to build the
Panama Canal it became independent.
With the exception of Panama (which as mentioned only achieved independence later), the countries
that were created have similar flags, reminiscent of the flag of Gran Colombia:
Modern day State flags of nations that were born after the dissolution of Gran Colombia>
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Colombia
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Venezuela |
See
United Provinces of Central America,
Nordic countries, and
Arab nationalism for more examples of regions whose nations possess similar flags because of historical connections.
Government
Under the
Constitution of 1821, the President was the head of the executive power. and its time in office was the lifetime of the incumbent. The executive power had also Vicepresidents that assumed in case of death, demotion or illness of the President. Before the Approval of the
Constitution of 1821 by the
Congress of Villa del Rosario the President de Facto was
Simon Bolívar, and the Vicepresident
Francisco de Paula Santander, because the
Congress of Angostura provisionally gave them that title until the Constitution was written.
Presidents of the Republic of Gran Colombia (1819-1831)
Further Information
Get more info on 'Gran Colombia'.
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