Creation of Gran Colombia

The Great Columbia was one of the most relevant failed states in history, being an attempt to create a strong united american community, but was never able to progress. Even so, it is interesting to know how this state arose and why it did not work. For this reason, in this lesson from a Teacher we are going to offer you a summary of the creation of Gran Colombia.

Index

1. What motivated the creation of Gran Colombia? Background
2. How was Gran Colombia formed and what was its form of government?
3. Disintegration of La Gran Colombia
4. Countries of the Great Colombia

A late 18th century, some American thinkers began to discuss the possible separation of the Spanish American colonies of the Spanish Empire, analyzing various ways of creating this separation. One of them was Francisco de Miranda, a Venezuelan ideologue who considered necessary the independence of the colonies and the formation of a single great new Hispanic state. Therefore, in 1801 he made a government plan, preparing the mechanisms for the possible creation of this kingdom.

In 1815, Simon Bolivar he took up the ideas of Francisco de Miranda, drafting the Jamaican letter, in which he asked that the different new Spanish American states meet to talk about possible alliances. The first failures of the independence had led Bolívar to consider that a strong alliance so as not to be reconquered by the Spanish.

Over the years, Bolívar was able to achieve enormous victories against the Spanish in Colombia and Venezuela, and began to negotiate with other rulers to see if it was possible unite both territories in a great state, which would be called the Great Columbia.

With the war well advanced, Bolívar and his men began to form the first congresses to seek a series of laws that would protect the new states. The first of these congresses took place in 1818 in Angostura, where representatives of Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. At this meeting, the Republic of Colombia through the union of Venezuela and Colombia, since Ecuador was still largely dominated by the Spanish.

In 1821 they met again at the Constituent Congress, to try to create a Constitution that would establish the bases of the new state. At this meeting took place the creation of the Constitution of 1821, which established the creation of Gran Colombia officially.

Shortly after, the same representatives met at the Ocana Convention, where the Constitution was debated due to the differences between those who defended centralism and those who defended federalism.

Over the years, several nations that wanted to join the Gran Colombiaa, although only a few performed this process:

• The first of these was Panama, which achieved independence due to the few Spanish troops sent to its land, and which joined Gran Colombia in 1821.
• The next nation to join was Quito, which after the war against the Spanish faced Gran Colombia, until finally joining it in 1822.
• On the other hand, there were the nations that wanted to unite, but did not succeed, being the cases of Haiti, Cuba and Puerto Rico.

Although the nations were joining Gran Colombia, the reality is that this new state did not finish working, due to the enormous confrontations between Bolívar's centralism and the federalisms of his detractors. The Federalists believed that Bolívar began to have too much power and that it was not logical for a democratic state to have someone who would centralize so many powers, asking for greater autonomy and for the charges to be periodic.

Bolivar, seeing that he was going to lose power, he decided to become dictator of Gran Colombia, causing an uprising against him and an unsuccessful attempted attack on his person. Although there was no evidence that it was them, Bolívar condemned to death and exile many of the Federalists, getting rid of their main rivals in power.

The tension between Bolívar and the people remained and grew over the years, especially during the war against Quito. In this situation, and with increasing tension, in 1830 Venezuela and Ecuador became independent, ending the dream of Gran Colombia.

To finish this summary of the creation of Gran Colombia, we must talk about the nations that were part of this failed state to understand the power and influence that he could have. The countries that made up Gran Colombia were the following:

• Colombia: The nation that gave name to the state and that was part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. It became part of Gran Colombia since its foundation in 1821.
• Ecuador: Like Colombia, it was part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada, and became part of Gran Colombia in 1821.
• Venezuela: Coming from the Captaincy General of Venezuela, it was one of the first American colonies to become independent from Spain. She was one of the founders of Gran Colombia, and one of the last to leave it.
• Panama: Another of the colonies that became independent from Spain, joining Gran Colombia in 1821, shortly after its formation.
• Guyanese: A small territory that joined Gran Colombia due to its alliances with Venezuela.

If you want to read more articles similar to Creation of Gran Colombia: summary, we recommend that you enter our category of History.

• White, j. b. (2007). From Gran Colombia to New Granada, historical-political context of the constitutional transition. Prolegomena. Rights and values, 10(20), 71-87.
• de Labarca, A. YO. L., & Manzur, J. c. m. (2005). La Gran Colombia: some reintegration attempts after 1830. Magazine of Arts and Humanities UNICA, 6(13), 149-173.
• Gil Fortoul, J. (1930). Constitutional history of Venezuela. I take first, The colony, the independence, The great Colombia. Caracas: Parra Leon Brothers.