📅 31 March 1816
The expedition sailed from Los Cayos, Haiti, on 31 March 1816 to renew the independence struggle in Spanish America. Haitian authorities and communities provided refuge, logistical support, and...
📅 2 January 1816
President Alexandre Pétion received Simón Bolívar in Haiti after the independence struggle in Venezuela had suffered setbacks. Haiti offered refuge and promised material support for a renewed...
📅 2 June 1816
Following Haitian assistance, Bolívar issued an emancipation decree in Carúpano, Venezuela, on 2 June 1816. The decree did not immediately end slavery throughout the region, but it reflected the...
📅 2 June 1816
Bolívar declared freedom for enslaved people in Río Caribe, Carúpano, and Cariaco, but men aged 14–60 had to enlist within 24 hours. Refusal could return a man and his family to servitude; women,...
📅 6 July 1816
A month after the Carúpano decree, Bolívar issued a broader proclamation at Ocumare de la Costa promising freedom to enslaved people who joined the republican cause. Like other wartime emancipation...
📅 15 February 1819
In his inaugural address to the Congress of Angostura, Bolívar argued for the abolition of slavery and the proscription of privileges. The speech placed emancipation within the design of a new...
📅 11 January 1820
Responding to Bolívar’s appeal, the Congress of Angostura adopted a gradual abolition measure. The measure framed emancipation as a process and accommodated owners’ claims to compensation. The gap...
📅 21 July 1821
The Congress of Cúcuta, governing Gran Colombia including Venezuela, declared children born to enslaved mothers free at birth. They were nevertheless required to serve their mothers’ enslavers until...
📅 14 March 1818
A bando dated at El Consejo on 14 March 1818 called residents of the Tuy valleys to organize for the Republic. It stated that slavery had been abolished and directed men formerly enslaved to serve...
📅 14 July 1821
Writing from Valencia after Carabobo, Bolívar asked the Congress of Colombia to make children born to enslaved mothers free from birth. He argued that children belonged to their parents and to God,...
📅 28 June 1827
Bolívar’s decree of 28 June 1827 sought to make the 1821 manumission law work by improving the finances and operation of provincial manumission boards. Fundación Empresas Polar reports that only about...
