Front

Back

Front: Francisco de Paula Santander (1792-1840), military and political leader of independence

Santander began his military career at the age of 18 as a soldier in the federalist faction of New Granada's independence movement. He later became a centralist.

Santander received the rank of colonel in 1812. After the Spanish Invasion of New Granada, Santander retreated to the border near the modern Venezuelan, where he was promoted to Brigadier General in 1817 under Simón Bolívar.

Simón Bolívar appointed him commander of the republican army's vanguard in the invasion of New Grenada 1819. Santander was one of the battlefield commanders during the republican victory at the Battle of Boyacá in August 7 of that same year. After the battle, he was promoted to Division General, the equivalent of Major General.

Santander was elected vice president of Gran Colombia in 1821 by the newly gathered Congress. Santender became acting president when Bolívar, the president of the new republic, decided to continue leading the republican forces against Ecuador and Peru.

Santander and Bolívar were initially close friends and allies. However, political and ideological differences soon separated them. In 1828 Bolívar abolished the office of the vice president and declared himself dictator. Santander was blamed for an assassination attempt against Bolivar and exiled.

After Bolívar died in 1830, Santander returned from exile and served as President of New Granada 1832 to 1836.

Back: Capitol at Bogota

Front

Back

Front: Antonio Narino (1765-1823), Colombian revolutionary

A liberal intellectual, Nariño was one of the first to foment revolution against Spain in South America. He secretly translated and distributed copies of The Declaration of the Rights of Man. He was imprisoned several times for his revolutionary activities.

In 1811 he became the president of Cundinamarca, one of the independent states formed after the dissolution of the vice-royalty of New Granada. Nariño favored strong central government as the only way to preserve independence. He opposed loose federation desired by the military juntas of other states.

He was involved in civil wars with the federalists until he was granted dictatorial powers and succeeded in uniting the patriot forces to repel a royalist invasion. He drove the Spanish from Popayán, but was defeated in 1814 at Pasto.

Simón Bolívar made him vice president of the greater republic of Colombia 1821, but he resigned two months later. Often vilified for being opinionated, Nariño was not recognized until many years later as one of the greatest and most self-sacrificing of the early advocates of independence.

Back: Villa de Leyva

Front

Back

Front: José Celestino Mutis y Bosio (1732-1808), botanist

José Mutis was born in Cádiz, Spain. He was trained as a physician in Madrid, and in 1757 became physician to the royal household of Ferdinand VI.

Mutis studied botany in his spare time. In 1760 he was appointed physician to the viceroy of New Granada in South America. In 1766 he took up residence in the Andes at Pamplona, where he reorganized the teaching of medicine, developed modern mining methods, and investigated the curative powers of quinine. He also taught botany and botanical drawing and cultivated plants for medicinal and agricultural uses.

In 1782 Mutis was named first botanist and astronomer of the botanical expedition of northern South America. He built a botanical garden in the town of Mariquita and assembled one of the finest botanical libraries in the New World. Along with his staff of artists, zoologists, and botanists, he assembled thousands of drawings, a collection of bird and animal skins, and a herbarium containing more than 24,000 plants. He wrote hundreds of botanical papers, but his Flora de Bogotá o de Nueva Granada, containing more than 6,000 illustrations, was so massive that the Spanish government could not afford to print it.

Back: National Astronomical Observatory in Bogota