Simón Bolívar was one of South America's most famous figures, spearheading the independence of several nations from Spain in the 19th Century.

He was born on July 24, 1783, in Caracas, in what is now Venezuela but then was in the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Grenada. In his family were people who owned a large sugar plantation and gold, silver, and copper mines, and so young Simón didn't struggle with insufficient wealth or means.

His father, Col. Don Juan Vicente Bolívar y Ponte, died when the boy was 2. Seven years later, his mother, María de la Concepción Palacios y Blanco, died. He lived with a grandfather and an uncle and got an education from the finest tutors available, including Don Simón Rodríguez, a well-known teacher and philosopher. When Simón turned 16, he went to Spain to live. He lived with another uncle and also trained at the military academy in Madrid, continuing studies that he had begun at the Venezuelan military academy.

Bolívar married María Teresa Rodríguez in 1802. They enjoyed several happy months, but she died of yellow fever while on a visit to Venezuela. A grieving Simón vowed never to marry again and returned to Spain, staying there for a few years and finding favor with Napoleon Bonaparte, by then Emperor of the French.

Bolívar, thinking that Bonaparte had betrayed the ideals of republicanism, went back to the New World in 1807, visiting the United States briefly before returning home. The following year, French troops invaded Spain, triggering the Peninsular War. Bonaparte's decision to name his brother Joseph King of Spain, deposing King Ferdinand VII, alienated Bolívar, who joined the growing resistance movement to Spanish rule in his homeland.

The people of Caracas issued a declaration of independence in 1810. They made it clear that they still supported Ferdinand VII but would oppose Spanish rule as long as Bonaparte or anyone else viewed as a usurper was on the throne. Bolívar spoke out in favor of full independence but agreed to support the efforts of his people and traveled to Great Britain as part of a delegation to angle for support from the British Crown. They succeeded in getting that aid and also convinced an early revolutionary, Francisco de Miranda, to return to Venezuela to continue the fight that he had helped start a few years earlier.

Taking Bolívar's stance, the First Venezuelan Republic voted for full independence in July 1811. Spanish forces regained control of the area the following year, in part because Spanish priests convinced the indigenous population that a large earthquake in March 1812 was a sign that the rebellion was being divinely punished. Miranda, thinking the cause doomed, agreed to surrender. Bolívar fled capture but not before turning over Miranda to the victorious Spanish. Miranda died in prison.

Bolívar became leader of the Colombian independence movement and joined the invasion of what is now Venezuela in May 1813. The Campaña Admirable was more and more successful and resulted in the Venezuelan Second Republic. Many in the movement began referring to Bolívar as El Libertador (The Liberator).

Even though Bolívar and others had secured a Venezuelan republic, they couldn't maintain the momentum against a determined Spanish army. Spanish forces retook Valencia and Caracas, forcing Venezuelan forces to surrender and Bolívar again to flee. He went to Jamaica to seek aid there, and it was there that he wrote the "Letter from Jamaica," in which he laid out a vision of a parliamentary government. Fearing for his life, he left Jamaica and went to Haiti, where he gained support for his cause in the form of men, ships, and weapons–all gifts from President Alexander Pétion, leader of the newly independent country. Thus armed, Bolévar returned to the fray and fought to maintain the liberations that his movement had triggered.

In the meantime, though, Ferdinand VII had regined the Spanish throne and Spain in 1815 sent a 10,000-man-strong army to prop up an ailing New World force. It wasn't long until Spain again controlled New Granada and Venezuela.

Bolívar led a daring crossing of the frigid Andes Mountains in May 1819, losing a large part of his force along the way but putting the survivors–along with fresh recruits on the other side–in position to seize Bogotá, the Spanish base of power. Bolívar and his men defeated a surprised Spanish force under General José María Barreiro at the Boyacá River on Aug. 7, 1819. Three days later. Bolívar and his men took Bogotá with no further fight.

The momentum swing gave Bolívar and his movement credibility, and volunteers and money and weapons poured in to the rebellion. Victories by independence proponents piled up, and the Battle of Carabobo, on June 4, 1821, was Spain's last hurrah, in the north.

Later that same year, Bolívar and others crafted the Gran Colombia, a federation that brought together large parts of what is now Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. His dream was to form a large union along the lines of the United States. He was named the first president, with Francisco de Paula Santander as his vice-president. The latter was a military leader who had had great success and who had initially embraced Bolívar's cause and methods.

Further south, an army under Antonio José de Sucre defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Pichincha, on May 24, 1822, ensuring the liberation of what is now Ecuador. Meanwhile, José de San Martín had led an army in defeating the Spanish at Guayaquil, liberating what is now Argentina. Bolívar and Martín teamed up to fight against the Spanish in what is now Peru, winning at the Battle of Junin on Aug. 6, 1824, and then cementing the freedom of what is now Peru with a victory at the Battle of Ayacucho, on Dec. 9, 1824. The very next year, the Congress of Upper Peru created a new nation named after Bolívar. This was Bolivia.

Now that Spain was all but gone, the leaders of the independence movement jockeyed for position. Disdaining Bolívar's call for a union of states, they strove to win or keep their own power, preferring separate countries. Bolívar got himself declared dictator and tried to keep his dream of a union alive, but he faced too much opposition and survived several assassination attempts. (One in 1828 came very close to succeeding and was thwarted largely through the efforts of Manuela Sáenz, with whom Bolívar was in love. One of those convicted in the plot was Santander, with whom Bolívar had quarreled.)

Eventually, disgusted beyond his willingness to persevere, he resigned. This was in 1830. He died later that year, on Dec. 17, 1830, in Santa Marta, Colombia, after battling tuberculosis. He was 47.

Simón Bolívar is still regarded as a liberator in several South American countries, most tellingly in Bolivia, the one named after him. The Venezuelan national currency is named after him. Colombia and Venezuela have many cities containing a Plaza Bolívar. Monuments to him stand in the capitals of several countries in the New World, and statues depicting him stand in cities around the world. People in the U.S. have named streets, parks, and entire towns after him.