Latin American independence · 1810-1830

Simón Bolívar, the Liberator

Born rich in Caracas, Simón Bolívar loses battle after battle, crosses the Andes and helps free five future nations from Spain. Then he watches his dream of one great republic fall apart. Students follow his campaigns and weigh his legacy.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1800 to AD 1880
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Born rich in Caracas, Simón Bolívar loses battle after battle, crosses the Andes and helps free five future nations from Spain. Then he watches his dream of one great republic fall apart. Students follow his campaigns and weigh his legacy.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Trace Bolívar's main campaigns from Caracas across the Andes to Peru on the map.
  • Explain what Gran Colombia was and why it broke apart in 1830.
  • Discuss who gained freedom through independence and who did not.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1800

Spanish South America

Open the map in 1800 and zoom out over South America. Name the Spanish vice-royalties you see, and the large colony that belonged to Portugal.

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1819

Over the Andes

Open the map in 1819 and zoom in on the mountains of New Granada. Find the plains east of the Andes and Bogotá on its high plateau. Bolívar's army crossed between them in the rainy season. Why was that so dangerous?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1880

New nations

Drag the slider from 1815 to 1880. Which countries now stand where the vice-royalties of New Granada and Peru were?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Bolívar lost his first two republics in Venezuela. What made him keep going?
  2. In 1816 Haiti gave Bolívar ships and weapons and asked him to free enslaved people. Why does that matter?
  3. Bolívar's armies included llaneros (plainsmen), enslaved men promised freedom and British volunteers. Why did such different people fight for him?
  4. Bolívar dreamed of one large republic, but it split into several countries. Why is it hard to hold a big new state together?
  5. At the end Bolívar ruled as a dictator. Does that change how we should see "the Liberator"?
4

Game round

10 min

No Rule History ruler fought in South America. Play Napoleon Bonaparte, Bolívar's older contemporary, and his 1804 coronation round. Discuss: Bolívar took dictatorial powers but never took a crown. Why might he have refused to become a king?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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