Foolish Fatherland

The period between 1810 and 1816 in the Viceroyalty of New Granada (which included present-day Colombia) was marked by such intense conflicts over the nature of the new government or governments that it became known as la Patria Boba (the Foolish Fatherland). Constant fighting between federalists and centralists gave rise to a prolonged period of instability. Similar developments can be seen at the same time in the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. Each province, and even some cities, set up its own autonomous junta, which declared themselves sovereign from each other.

With the arrival of news in May 1810 that southern Spain had been conquered by Napoleon's forces, that the Spanish Supreme Central Junta had dissolved itself and that juntas had been established in Venezuela, cities in New Granada began to do the same and established their own. Cartagena de Indias established one on May 22, 1810, followed by Cali on July 3, Pamplona the next day, and Socorro on July 10. On July 20 the viceregal capital, Santa Fe de Bogotá, established its own junta. (The day is today celebrated as Colombia's Independence Day.) The viceroy Antonio José Amar y Borbón initially presided over the junta in Bogotá, but due to popular pressure, he was deposed five days later. Although the Bogotá junta called itself a "Supreme Junta of the New Kingdom of Granada," the splintering of political authority continued as even secondary cities set up juntas that claimed to be independent of their provincial capitals, resulting in military conflicts. There were two fruitless attempts at establishing a congress of provinces in the subsequent months.

In the meantime, the province of Bogotá transformed itself into a state called Free and Independent State of Cundinamarca. In March 1811 it convened a "Constituent Electoral College of the State of Cundinamarca," which promulgated a constitution for the state the following month. The constitution established Cundinamarca as a constitutional monarchy under the absent Ferdinand VII. (It would declare full independence only in August 1813.) Cundinamarca invited the other provinces to send delegates to a new "Congress of the United Provinces," which first met in Bogotá, but later moved to Tunja and Leyva to maintain independence from the capital city. The Congress eventually established a confederation called the United Provinces of New Granada on November 27, 1811, with a weak federal government, but Cundinamarca rejected the Union. The Congress and Cundinamarca could not agree on whether the former viceroyalty was to have a centralist government or a federal one. At the same time, popular agitation in Cartagena lead it to declare independence on November 11, 1811, the first province in New Granada to do so. (The day is also today a national holiday in Colombia.) Other regions of the Viceroyalty of New Granada established their own governments and confederations (for example, the Friend Cities of the Cauca Valley, 1811–1812) or remained royalist.

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