What is Simón Bolívar?
[[File:Bolívar en Carabobo.jpg|thumb]] '''Simón Bolívar''' (1783 - 1830) was a [[Venezuelans|Venezuelan]] [[military]] and [[Politician|political leader]]. He was born in [[Caracas]], [[Venezuela]]. He liberated many [[colonies]] from the Spanish Empire in [[South America]]. Those colonies included [[Venezuela]], [[Colombia]], [[Ecuador]], [[Peru]], and [[Bolivia]]. For a few years he was [[president]] of [[Gran Colombia]], a country that no longer exists. The country [[Bolivia]] is named after Simón Bolívar. Independence of these South American countries inspired the independence of [[Central America]] and [[Mexico]] in [[1811]] == Early life == Simón Bolívar was born in Caracas into a very rich family that owned [[plantations]], [[ranch]]es, [[Mining|mines]], and many [[slaves]] who they forced to work in their businesses.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Silva|first=Ricardo|date=1993-09-27|title=An introduction to artificial cavities in Venezuela during the colonial period.|url=https://jorbons.home.xs4all.nl/souterrains/art/venezcol.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022015124/https://jorbons.home.xs4all.nl/souterrains/art/venezcol.html|archive-date=2020-10-22|access-date=2020-10-28|website=Souterrains|quote=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/simonbolivar0000masu_a4j3|title=Simon Bolivar|last=Masur|first=Gerhard|date=1969|publisher=University of New Mexico Press|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-8263-0131-4|location=Albuquerque|pages=33|quote=On the death of Bolivar’s father, the holdings left to his heirs were large and included twelve houses in Caracas and La Guayra, vast herds of cattle scattered on the wide plains of Venezuela, indigo fields in the valley of Suata, rich mines near Aroa, and San Mateo, where rum was distilled from sugar grown on the estate. In addition to his inheritance from his father, Simon controlled another estate with an income of about twenty thousand pesos. He was one of the richest men in Caracas, with the power to direct a large sphere of