Antonio Nariño

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oil painting by Ricardo Acevedo Bernal
Antonio Nariño, watercolor by José María Espinosa

Antonio Amador José de Nariño y Álvarez del Casal (* 1765 in Santa Fé de Bogotá ; † 1824 in Villa de Leyva ) was the ideological pioneer and early military leader in the South American Wars of Independence in what was then the Viceroyalty of New Granada , now Colombia .

Life

In 1794 Antonio Nariño translated the French declaration of human and civil rights into Spanish and distributed it among friends as private print. Copies of it circulated all over South America. He was arrested several times for this, but he also managed to escape from Spanish custody several times and after some time in exile he returned to New Granada.

After the occupation of Spain by Napoleon in 1807, South American Juntas were formed who, despite official loyalty to Spain, pursued a policy of independence from the king who was deposed by Napoleon. As president of the former state of Cundinamarca (around the capital Bogotá ), Nariño achieved some military successes against the loyal Spaniards, but rivalries soon arose between the leaders of the independence movement, which weakened their position.

Nariño was captured by the Spanish in 1814, and when he was released after the revolt of General Rafael del Riego , other leaders had prevailed, in particular Simón Bolívar , who then also became President of Colombia.

Adoration

Nonetheless, Nariño was made a Colombian national hero and mentioned in the last stanza of the Colombian national anthem :

Del hombre los derechos Nariño predicando,
el alma de la lucha profético enseñó.
Ricaurte en San Mateo en átomos volando,
"deber antes que vida" con llamas escribió.

Antonio Nariño as namesake

  • The residence of the Colombian President in Bogotá, the Casa de Nariño , sometimes also known as the Palacio de Nariño , is named after the pioneer of independence.
  • A district of Bogotá , Antonio Nariño , bears his name in his memory.

Antonio Nariño Prize

The Franco-German Antonio Nariño Prize for Human Rights has been named after him since 2010. It honors projects that strengthen and promote human rights in Colombia. The donors are the French and German embassies in Bogotá.

literature

  • Thomas Blossom: Nariño: Hero of Colombian Independence . University of Arizona Press, Tucson 1967.
  • John A. Crow: The Epic of Latin America . University of California Press, Berkeley, 4th, expanded edition 1992, ISBN 0-520-04107-0 .

Footnotes

  1. ^ Bogotá / Localidades / Antonio Nariño bogota.gov.co. Accessed August 26, 2018 (Spanish)
personal data
SURNAME Nariño, Antonio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Casal, Antonio Amador José de Nariño y Álvarez del (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Military leader in the South American Wars of Independence
DATE OF BIRTH 1765
PLACE OF BIRTH Santa Fe de Bogotá
DATE OF DEATH 1824
Place of death Villa de Leyva