Republic of Gran Colombia
From Wikinfo
The Republic of Gran Colombia, or Greater Colombia, was a short-lived republic in South America and consisted of present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama.
The republic was founded in 1819 at the Congress of Angostura. It was a federal republic, made up of three departments with capitals in the cities of [[Bogot�]], Caracas, and Quito.
The only president of the country was the famous general [[Sim�n Bol�var]] and he ruled the country in an autocratic but just way.
Bol�var dreamt of uniting South America but was unable to achieve this during the struggle for independence. The Republic of Gran Colombia was Bol�var's attempt of creating one single South American state. Other Latin American presidents objected to his idea and Bol�var, disgruntled, resigned in 1828.
The federation was dissolved in 1830 due to internal strife between the different regions which arose after Bol�var's resignation. The dissolution of Gran Colombia characterized the failure of Bol�var's dream. Only Panama and Colombia remained united until 1903.
Another state on the American continent that underwent a similar fate was the United States of Central America.
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Repulic of Gran Columbia" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Gran_Colombia December 20, 2003
