Bolívar's 1819 Campaign: Across the Andes to Boyacá

The Congress of Angostura opened on 15 February 1819, and four days later Bolívar gave his famous Address at Angostura. Bolívar reasoned that if he could liberate New Granada, he would gain a whole new base from which to operate against General Pablo Morillo and end the stalemate in Venezuela. The city of Angostura is today Ciudad Bolívar, whose well-preserved historic centre still gathers around the Plaza Bolívar. The march that grew from this plan began months later, far to the west.

Location precision: The pin marks the centre of today's Ciudad Bolívar; the sources do not name the building where the Congress met.

The crossing of the flooded Llanos cost a considerable number of horses and pack mules, which drowned. At Tame, reached on 12 June, Bolívar organised the combined army of 2,500 men with himself as commander-in-chief. Here a war meeting chose the road: Santander argued for the Páramo de Pisba, and Bolívar eventually agreed. It was the shortest and least defended route, and the most treacherous. The army set off on 17 June.

Location precision: The pin marks the town of Tame; the meeting place is not recorded in the sources.

On 27 June the vanguard approached Paya and found a Spanish garrison of two companies, around 300 men, guarding the road. The battle was short: the Spanish commander withdrew toward Labranzagrande and had the bridge toward that town cut, believing it was the Patriots' intended route. From Paya the army would begin its climb to Pisba, the last town before the páramo.

Location precision: The pin marks the municipal centre of Paya; the exact ground of the skirmish is not given.

The army climbed from the flood-swept plains into an icy pass that reached 3,960 metres. The mostly llanero troops were poorly clothed for the cold and altitude. Bolívar wrote that they lost all beasts of saddle and burden. About 100 men perished in the crossing. Yet the route was entirely unguarded because it was thought impassable, which gave Bolívar a quick advance. Today the area lies inside Pisba National Natural Park, established in 1977.

Location precision: The pass has no single marked point; the pin sits in the Pisba páramo area.

Bolívar's vanguard moved on Gámeza, strategic because of a bridge over the river, swollen at that time of year. On 11 July Barreiro sent around 900 infantry and 180 cavalry to take it. Both armies took defensive positions on either bank and tried repeatedly to cross; the fight lasted between five and eight hours and neither side could. The Patriots lost 180 men, the Royalists 74. Both sides expended a large amount of ammunition.

Location precision: The pin marks the town of Gámeza; the sources do not locate the bridge precisely.

On 25 July the Patriots met the Royalists at a chokepoint near Vargas Swamp. For five hours they tried to dislodge the Spanish, and around 5 pm they began to fall back. Bolívar then sent Colonel Rondón, who led an uphill charge with 14 lancers that broke the Spanish line on Cangrejo Hill. The result was close and indecisive. A bronze, steel and concrete monument of the lancers now stands on top of Cangrejo hill, where Rondón led his charge.

Visitor guidance: The monument stands on Cangrejo hill, where the charge took place.

Bolívar's army took Tunja on 5 August, capturing 600 muskets. On 7 August the Patriots intercepted the Royalist march at the bridge over the Teatinos River. The battle lasted two hours: 66 Patriot casualties, 250 Royalist, and Barreiro captured with 37 of his officers. The bridge, built in the early 18th century, was rebuilt in stone in 1939. Nearby monuments include a chapel and the Liberty Fire, a perpetual gas-ignited flame.

Visitor guidance: A memorial site beside the Teatinos River, about 14 km west of Tunja.

News of the defeat reached Santa Fe on the night of 8 August. The viceroy and his government fled the next morning, leaving behind the treasury. On the afternoon of 10 August Bolívar's army entered the capital without any royalist resistance, ending the campaign. In December he returned to Angostura, where the Republic of Colombia was proclaimed on 17 December and he was elected its president. Bogotá's main square, Plaza de Bolívar, holds a Bolívar statue from 1846, the city's first public monument.

Location precision: The pin marks Bogotá's main square as a symbol of the capital; the sources do not say where the army marched in.

Visitor guidance: A central square in Bogotá.