The United Provinces of New Granada was a country in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

from 1810 to 1816, a period known in Colombian history as '' la Patria Boba'' ("the Foolish Fatherland"). It was formed from areas of the

New Kingdom of Granada The New Kingdom of Granada ( es, Nuevo Reino de Granada), or Kingdom of the New Granada, was the name given to a group of 16th-century Spanish colonial provinces in northern South America governed by the president of the Royal Audience of Santa ...

, roughly corresponding to the territory of modern-day Colombia. The government was a

federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

with a

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...

, consisting of a weak executive and strong congress. The country was reconquered by Spain in 1816.

Government

The Triumvirate

After two attempts at establishing a congress, the State of Cundinamarca managed to convene a Congress of the United Provinces, which met in late 1811. It issued an Act of Federation on November 27, 1811, which allowed Congress to establish a separate executive branch, if it felt it was required. An executive, consisting of a triumvirate, was created in 1814 after a royalist army from Pasto and Popayán defeated one from Cundinamarca (which had not accepted the Union and, in fact, had even sent troops against it). Congress nominated Manuel Rodríguez Torices, President of the State of Cartagena; José Manuel Restrepo, Antioquia's Secretary of State; and

Custodio García Rovira José Custodio Cayetano García Rovira (March 2, 1780 – August 8, 1816) was a Neogranadine general, statesman and painter, who fought for the independence of New Granada from Spain, and became President of the United Provinces of the New Gran ...

, Governor of the Province of Socorro. At the time of the nomination, the nominated officials were exercising their jobs, so they were temporarily replaced by members of Congress: Joaquín Camacho, Representative for the

Tunja Province Tunja Province was one of the provinces of Gran Colombia. It belonged to the Boyacá Department Boyacá () is one of the thirty-two departments of Colombia, and the remnant of Boyacá State, one of the original nine states of the " United ...

José María del Castillo y Rada José María del Castillo y Rada (December 20, 1776 in Cartagena de Indias – June 5, 1833 in Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) du ...

and

José Fernández Madrid José Luis Álvaro Alvino Fernández Madrid (February 19, 1789 – June 28, 1830) was a Neogranadine statesman, physician, scientist and writer, who was President of the interim triumvirate of the United Provinces of New Granada in 1814, and Pr ...

, both Representatives for the

Cartagena Province Cartagena Province ( es, Provincia de Cartagena), also called ''Gobierno de Cartagena'' (Government of Cartagena) during the Spanish imperial era, was an administrative and territorial division of New Granada in the Viceroyalty of Peru. It was o ...

. The triumvirate was inaugurated on October 5, 1814. On January 12, 1815, Congress arrived in

Santa Fe de Bogotá Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...

, after its army, headed by

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and B ...

, had forced Cundinamarca into the Union in December 1814. The interim triumvirate was replaced on January 21, 1815, by the original nominated members, with the exception of Joaquín Camacho, who had turned down the nomination. The first president of the triumvirate was

José Miguel Pey de Andrade José Miguel Pey y García de Andrade (March 11, 1763 – August 17, 1838) was a Colombian statesman and soldier and a leader of the independence movement from Spain. He is considered the first vice president and first president of Colombia ...

, who at the moment was serving as the governor of Bogotá. On August 17, García Rovira, who had presented his resignation as President of the Triumvirate to Congress on July 11, was replaced by

Antonio Villavicencio Antonio Villavicencio y Verástegui (January 9, 1775 – June 6, 1816) was a statesman and soldier of New Granada, born in Quito, and educated in Spain. He served in the Battle of Trafalgar as an officer in the Spanish Navy with the rank of Se ...

Administrative divisions

The Act was ratified by the provinces of Antioquia, Cartagena, Neiva,

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

and

Tunja Tunja () is a city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 it had a population of 172,548 inhabitants. It is the capital of Boyacá departmen ...

. Under the Act of Federation each province was free to write its own constitution and form its own government. Other regions of the

established their own governments and confederations (for example, the Confederated Cities of the Cauca Valley, 1811–1812) or remained royalist. awadzky, Alfonso ''Las Ciudades Confederadas del Valle del Cauca''. (Bogotá: Editorial Librería Voluntad, S.A., 1943). At the beginning of the revolution, the larger Viceroyalty of New Granada consisted of 22 provinces. The provinces were under the jurisdiction of two '' audiencias''. The Royal Audiencia of Quito, whose president had executive powers, had jurisdiction over the provinces of

Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley on ...

, Cuenca, Loja, Ibarra, Riobamba, Pasto, Popayán, Buenaventura and parts of the Cauca River Valley. These provinces were located in what are now the

Republic of Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Ekua ...

and the southern part of

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

. The Royal Audiencia of Santa Fe de Bogotá, had jurisdiction over the provinces of Panamá and Veragua in what is now the Republic of Panama, and the provinces of Antioquia,

Cartagena de Indias Cartagena ( , also ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region, bordering the Caribbean sea. Cartagena's past role as a link ...

, Casanare, Citará, Mariquita, Neiva,

Nóvita Nóvita is a municipality and town in the Chocó Department, Colombia. It was the first capital of Chocó Province. It was a traditional center for gold mining, Many of its residents are Afro-Colombians. In the 1850s, supplies, and possibly eve ...

, Riohacha, Santafé,

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta ("Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta"), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena ...

, El Socorro, and

. The Audiencia of Quito, despite an attempt at establishing a junta in 1809, remained a royalist stronghold throughout the wars of independence. The territory of the

Captaincy General of Venezuela The Captaincy General of Venezuela ( es, Capitanía General de Venezuela), also known as the Kingdom of Venezuela (), was an administrative district of colonial Spain, created on September 8, 1777, through the Royal Decree of Graces of 1777, t ...

had been part of the viceroyalty, but had become independent of it when the captaincy general was established in 1776, and therefore, never became part of the United Provinces. The Captaincy General had jurisdiction over the provinces of Coro,

Cumaná Cumaná () is the capital city of Venezuela's Sucre State. It is located east of Caracas. Cumaná was one of the first cities founded by Spain in the mainland Americas and is the oldest continuously-inhabited Hispanic-established city in South ...

, Guayana,

Maracaibo ) , motto = "''Muy noble y leal''"(English: "Very noble and loyal") , anthem = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_alt = ...

, Venezuela or Caracas (central Venezuela), and Margarita Island, and it had its own ''audiencia'' and superintendency based in Caracas. After the Revolution the captaincy general established itself as a

republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

References

Bibliography

Government

The Triumvirate

Administrative divisions

See also

References

Bibliography