Francisco de Miranda
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Francisco de Miranda |
Sebastián Francisco de Miranda y Rodríguez (commonly known as
Francisco de Miranda March 28,
1750 –
July 14,
1816) was a
South American
revolutionary whose own plan for the independence of the
Spanish American colonies failed, but who is regarded as a forerunner of
Simón Bolívar and other more effective American fighters for independence.
Born and raised in
Caracas, Miranda was the son of a wealthy merchant from the
Canary Islands, a region of
Spain. He traveled throughout
Europe, becoming a social sensation and garnering support for the independence of
Spanish America. He had made friends with many important leaders and political figures throughout Europe, such as
British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, and even had an affair with
Catherine the Great of
Russia.
As a general in the
Spanish Army, Miranda took part in military operations in the three continents -Africa, Europe and America- and played an important role in some of the great historical events of the time.
In the
American Revolutionary War, he commanded Spanish troops aiding
American insurgents in
Florida and
Mississippi. While in the United States, he met with, among others,
George Washington,
Thomas Paine,
Alexander Hamilton and
Thomas Jefferson. He had a home in
London where he married a British lady and had two children.
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Statue of Francisco de Miranda in Fitzroy Street, London. |
From
1791, Miranda took active part in the
French Revolution. In
Paris, he befriended the
Girondists
Jacques Pierre Brissot and
Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve, and briefly served as a general in the section of the
French Revolutionary Army commanded by
Charles François Dumouriez, fighting in the
1792 campaign in the
Low Countries.
Arrested several times during the
Reign of Terror, Miranda was threatened with
deportation after the new crackdown of the
Directory on
Royalists and Girondists. His name remains engraved on the
Arc de Triomphe that was built during the
First Empire.
His greatest contribution is probably in the independence struggle for the liberation of the colonies in Spanish America. Miranda envisioned an independent
empire consisting of all the territories which had been under Spanish and
Portuguese rule, stretching from the
Mississippi River to
Cape Horn. The empire would be under the leadership of a hereditary emperor called
"Inca" to appease the
Native Americans and would have a
bicameral legislature. He conceived the name
"Colombia" for this empire, after the explorer
Christopher Columbus.
With British help, Miranda made an invasion attempt of
Venezuela in 1806. He landed at the port of La Vela de
Coro, where the
tricolour Venezuelan flag was raised for the first time. Among the volunteers who served under him in this revolt was
David G. Burnet of the United States, who would later serve as interim president of the
Republic of Texas after its secession from
Mexico in
1836.
After
Venezuela achieved
de facto independence on
April 19,
1810,
Simón Bolívar persuaded Miranda to return to his native land, where he was made a general in the revolutionary army. When the country formally declared independence on
July 5,
1811, he assumed
dictatorial powers.
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Miranda en La Carraca, Arturo Michelena's depiction of Miranda's last days, imprisoned in Cádiz, Spain. (Venezuela, 1896: Oil on canvas – 196.6 x 245.5 cm. Galería de Arte Nacional, Caracas, Venezuela.) |
The Spanish forces counterattacked (
see Venezuelan War of Independence), and Miranda, fearing a brutal and hopeless defeat, signed an
armistice with them in July 1812. Bolivar and other revolutionaries believed his surrender was
treason and thwarted Miranda's attempt to escape; they handed him over to the Spanish Royal Army. He died in a prison in
Cádiz, Spain, in 1816. An oil painting by the Venezuelan artist
Arturo Michelena titled
Miranda en la Carraca (1896) that portrays the hero in the Spanish jail where he died has become a graphic symbol of Venezuelan history and has immortalized the image of Miranda for generations of Venezuelans.
Daniel Florencio O'Leary, aide-de-camp to Simón Bolívar, said of Miranda's death:
"Miranda was a man of the eighteenth century whose genius lay in raising the consciousness and confidence of his fellow Americans. Although he prided himself on being a soldier, his greatest battles were fought with his pen".
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It cites the following references:**
History of Miranda's Attempt in South America, Biggs, (London, 1809)
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El General Miranda, Marqués de Rojas, (Paris, 1884)
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Miranda dans la révolution française, Marqués de Rojas, (Carácas, 1889)
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Francisco de Miranda and the Revolutionizing of Spanish America, W. S. Robertson, (Washington, 1909)
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History Text Archive: Francisco de Miranda*
Another statue: by Lorenzo Gonzalez (1977) in Philadelphia
