Angostura Congress

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The congress building in Ciudad Bolívar, the former Angostura
Greater Colombia

The Angostura Congress took place from February 15, 1819 to July 31, 1821. He was convened by Simón Bolívar in Angostura (today's Ciudad Bolívar ) during the Wars of Independence in Venezuela and Colombia and decided to create Greater Colombia .

Large parts of these countries were still under Spanish control, which is why initially only MPs from the liberated areas of Venezuela participated. From June 1819 three delegates from the province of Casanare from New Granada joined them.

At the first meeting on February 15, 1819, Bolívar gave his well-known "Angostura Speech", in which he called for, among other things, restricted suffrage, a strong executive , a hereditary senate and the creation of a council of moral guards made up of outstanding citizens . He also called for the abolition of slavery, financial compensation for soldiers and the unification of Venezuela and New Granada. Most of the suggestions it made were accepted; the decision on slavery was postponed.

On December 17th, a constitution was passed, the most important result of which was the creation of the Republic of Colombia (historians call it Greater Colombia to distinguish it from today's Colombia) through the unification of Venezuela and New Granada.

Article 1 of the Basic Law stipulated:

"Las Repúblicas de Venezuela y la Nueva Granada quedan desde este día reunidas en una sola, bajo el título glorioso de República de Colombia."

"From today the republics of Venezuela and New Granada will remain united into one under the glorious name of the Republic of Colombia."

The new country was formed from the three departments Venezuela, Cundinamarca (the former New Granada, consisting of today's countries Colombia, Panama and parts of Central America) and Quito (today Ecuador). Simón Bolívar was elected President, Francisco Antonio Zea Vice-President of the Republic, Francisco de Paula Santander was elected government in New Granada, Germán Roscio in Venezuela. After the liberation of Quito, a head of government should also be elected there.

literature

  • Leslie Bethell (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Latin America . tape 3 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK 1984, ISBN 0-521-23224-4 .
  • Simón Bolívar: Angostura speech on February 15, 1819 . With an essay by Ullrich K. Preuss. In: EVA speeches . tape 15 . European Publishing Company (EVA), Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-434-50115-0 .
  • Hans-Joachim König: On the way to the nation. Nationalism in the process of state and nation formation in New Granada 1750–1856 . Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden 1988, ISBN 3-515-04769-7 (also habilitation thesis at the University of Hamburg 1984).
  • Hans J. König: Small History of Latin America (=  Reclams Universal Library . No. 17062 ). Revised and updated edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-15-017062-5 .
  • Norbert Rehrmann: Simón Bolívar . The life story of the man who liberated Latin America. Wagenbach, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-8031-3630-5 .

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Ernst Münch : The story of Columbia. Hilscher, Dresden 1828, Volume 2, p. 23.

Web links