An exploration of women's involvement in the Latin American Wars of Independence

Antonio Nariño (Enrique Sotomayor)

Gender:Male

Ethnic origen: White

Events:

Connections:

Biography:
Lawyer and writer born in Santafé, Bogotá, on 9 April 1765. He edited the political newspaper La Bagatela. He created a public school for women in New Granada after Independence. (Sánchez López, 501.)

He used the term Stepmother Patria (Madrastra Patria) as opposed to the Mother Patria (Madre Patria), when referring to Spain. (Earle, 131.)

He was alcalde of Bogotá in 1789. He was the first who dared to speak of liberty in front of the Spaniards and this later earned him the title of “Precursor de la Independencia”. Ardila describes his life as plagued by tragic destiny, earning him the name “El Edipo” He was a man of serious intellectual discipline, of a revolutionary unquiet, and great daring. By a cruel twist, almost all his undertakings were failures, he never achieved the glory of definitive triumph. He translated the Rights of Man in 1794 from French into Spanish and was charged with being a traitor and imprisoned in Cadiz, Spain. He founded La Bagatela and Los Toros de Fucha that was established to counter General Santander’s newspaper El Patriota. His most important work is listed as his political speech, “Defensa ante el Senado”. (Ardila, 15-16)

His literary circle is connected with the Theatre of Independence that emerged around 1792. Members of his family performed sketches at his house. He supported the national theatre after independence. (Arciniegas, 687, 690.)

He opposed the absolutism of Carlos III and IV, and discussed this at his tertulias. This led to his arrest and imprisonment on 29 August 1794. Forero claims he was held in the Cartagena fort. He returned to Bogotá on 8 December 1810. (Forero, 25-29; 118-132)

He married Magdalena Ortega, who may have been involved in the Colegio de Enseñanza. (Knaster, 484.)

He read Feijóo. (Rodríguez, 37) His work reveals evidence of enlightenment ideas. (Griffin, 248)

A liberal republican, he became president of Bolívar's Cúcuta Congress in 1821. (Lynch, xix)

In 1794 he was sentenced to 10 years labour in Africa and ordered never to return to America for translating and publishing The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of trying to establish the Philadelphia Constitution. But he escaped in Cadiz and returned to New Granada via Paris and London. All his copies of Los derechos del hombre were burned. (Liss, 270, Lynch, ed., 278, Rojas, xxvii)

His ideas are said to have echoed Rousseau. (Nariño, 278)

He was a mason. (Racine, 538)

An account of his capture in Caracas is reported in Gaceta de Caracas, 18 de dic de 1811, pp.2-3.

Monsalve gives his date of birth as 12 March 1760. His parents were Vicente Nariño and Catalina Alvarez. He translated The Rights of Man into Spanish. This led to his banishment to Africa for 10 years, and imprisonment. José Antonio Ricaurte defended him and for this Ricaurte was imprisoned in Cartagena (and died there). Nariño returned in disguise arriving in Bogotá on 13 June 1797. His wife was away visiting a sick relative so he hid at his sister Dolores's house for over three weeks. He then went to Magdalena Cabrera's house whose spies helped him to avoid recapture. (Monsalve, 14-16)

He attended the pro-independence meetings at Camilo Torres's home. (Monsalve, 36)

He died at Villa de Leiva, Boyacá, on 13 December 1823.

He was part of the González Manrique, Alvarez, Ricaurte, París, Pardo, Nariño clan. (Monsalve, 139)

He used the pseudonym Enrique Sotomayor.

References:

Dore, Elizabeth, and Molyneux, Maxine (editor). (2000) Hidden Histories of Gender and the State in Latin America
Lynch, John (editor). (1994) Latin American Revolutions
Pérez Vila, Manuel (editor). (1983) Gaceta de Caracas
Werner, Michael S. (editor). (1997) Encyclopedia of Mexico
Arciniegas, Germán (1988) Manuel de literatura colombiana
Ardila A, Hector M. (1984) Hombres y letras de Colombia
Forero, Manuel José (1970) Grandes heroinas de Colombia, Doña Magdalena Ortega de Nariño, La Precursora
Knaster, Meri (1977) Women in Spanish America: An Annotated Bibliography from Pre-Conquest to Contemporary Times
Lynch, John (1986) The Spanish American Revolutions 1808-1826
Monsalve, José D (1926) Mujeres de la independencia
Rodríguez O., Jaime E. (1998) The Independence of Spanish America
Sánchez López, Luis María (1985) Diccionario de escritores colombianos