United Provinces of New Granada

Infobox Former Country
native_name = Provincias Unidas de Nueva Granada
conventional_long_name = United Provinces of New Granada
common_name = Nueva Granada
continent = South America
region = North South America
country = Colombia
status = Confederation
government_type = Republic
s1 = Viceroyalty of New Granada
p1 = Viceroyalty of New Granada
flag_s1 = Flag of Spain (1785-1873 and 1875-1931).svg
flag_p1 = Flag of Spain (1785-1873 and 1875-1931).svg
event_start = Independence Declared
year_start = 1810
date_start = July 20
event_end =
flag_type = First flag


flag_type = First flag

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symbol = Coat of arms of Colombia
symbol_type = Coat of arms




image_map_caption = United Provinces of New Granada
capital = Tunja
common_languages = Spanish (de facto)
religion = Roman Catholic
currency = Real
title_leader = First President

The United Provinces of New Granada was a country in South America from 1812 to 1816, a period known in Colombian history as the "Patria Boba". It was formed from areas of the New Kingdom of Granada. The government was a federation with a parliamentary system, consisting of a weak executive and strong congress. The country was reconquered by Spain in 1816.

Government

The Triumvirate

After two attempts at establishing a congress, the State of Cundinamarca managed to convene a Congress of the United Provinces, which met in late 1811. It issued an Act of Federation on November 27, 1811, which allowed Congress to establish a separate executive branch, if it felt it was required. An executive, consisting of a triumvirate, was created in 1814 after a royalist army from Pasto and Popayán defeated one from Cundinamarca (which had not accepted the Union and, in fact, had even sent troops against it). Congress nominated Manuel Rodríguez Torices, President of the State of Cartagena; José Manuel Restrepo, Antioquia's Secretary of State; and Custodio García Rovira, Governor of the Province of Socorro. At the time of the nomination, the nominated officials were exercising their jobs, so they were temporarily replaced by members of Congress: Joaquín Camacho, Representative for the Province of Tunja, José María del Castillo y Rada and José Fernández Madrid, both Representatives for the Province of Cartagena ["Democracy in Colombia: Clientelist Politics and Guerrilla Warfare" By Jorge Pablo Osterling [http://books.google.com/books?id=btQNtc6gBnEC&pg=PA53&ots=r440L0nMes&dq=castillo+y+rada+Madrid+Camacho&sig=SijfnxadJqYh2HOchHXR1ah5zu8] ] . The triumvirate was inaugurated on October 5, 1814.

On January 12, 1815, Congress arrived in Santa Fe de Bogotá, after its army, headed by Simón Bolívar, had forced Cundinamarca into the Union in December 1814. The interim triumvirate was replaced on January 21, 1815, by the original nominated members, with the exception of Joaquín Camacho, who had turned down the nomination. The first president of the triumvirate was José Miguel Pey de Andrade, who at the moment was serving as the governor of Bogotá.

On August 17 García Rovira, who had presented his resignation as President of the Triumvirate to Congress on July 11, was replaced by Antonio Villavicencio.

Administrative Divisions

The Act was ratified by the provinces of Antioquia, Cartagena, Neiva, Pamplona and Tunja. Under the Act of Federation each province was free to write its own constitution and form its own government. Other regions of the New Kingdom of Granada established their own governments and confederations (for example, the Confederated Cities of the Cauca Valley,1811-1812) or remained royalist. [ [Zawadzky, Alfonso] , "Las Ciudades Confederadas del Valle del Cauca". (Bogotá: Editorial Librería Voluntad, S.A., 1943).]

At the beginning of the Revolution, the larger Viceroyalty of New Granada consisted of 22 Provinces and a Captaincy General. The Provinces were under the jurisdiction of two "audiencias". The Royal "Audiencia" of Quito, whose president had executive powers, had jurisdiction over the provinces of Quito, Cuenca, Loja, Ibarra, Riobamba, Pasto, Popayán, Buenaventura and parts of the Cauca River Valley. These provinces were located in what are now the Republic of Ecuador and the southern part of Colombia. The Royal "Audiencia" of Santafé de Bogotá, had jurisdiction over the provinces of Panama and Veragua in what is now the Republic of Panama, and the provinces of Antioquia, Cartagena de Indias, Casanare, Citará, Mariquita, Neiva, Nóvita, Pamplona, Ríohacha, Santafé, Santa Marta, El Socorro, and Tunja.

The Audiencia of Quito, despite an attempt at establishing a junta in 1809, remained a royalist stronghold throughout the wars of independence.

The Captaincy General of Venezuela, although nominally part of the viceroyalty, was for all purposes independent from it, and therefore, never became part of the United Provinces. The Captaincy General had jurisdiction over the Provinces of Cumaná, Guayana, Maracaibo, Venezuela (Caracas), and Margarita Island, and it had its own "audiencia" and superintendancy based in Caracas. After the Revolution the captaincy general established itself as a Republic.

ee also

*Bolívar in New Granada
*Spanish Invasion of New Granada

References