A Brief History of the Republic of New Granada
Nearly two centuries after the establishment of the New Kingdom of Granada in the 16th century, whose governor was loosely dependent upon the Viceroy of Peru at Lima, and an audiencia at Santa Fé de Bogotá, the slowness of communications between the two capitals led to the creation of an independent Viceroyalty of New Granada in 1717. Other provinces corresponding to modern Ecuador, the eastern and southern parts of today's Venezuela, and Panama came together in a political unit under the jurisdiction of Bogotá, confirming that city as one of the principal administrative centers of the Spanish possessions in the New World, along with Lima and Mexico City. Sporadic attempts at reform were directed at increasing efficiency and centralizing authority, but control from Spain was never very effective.
The Kingdom of New Granada was left without effective rule when the royal line died out in 1810. While many of the nobility scrambled to place their own upon the throne, the people showed greater initiative and formed political parties and elected a president, the first for the newly formed Republic of New Granada, Presidente Andrés Peréz. By the time the news reached the old world, Spain had to choose between a war or acceptance. The new republic, though independent of Spain, maintained good relations and was essential to the maintenance of their colonial holdings in the New World, economically especially, by establishing themselves as a major point of convergence for trade and shipping. The Republic of New Granada tended to side politically and diplomatically against the periodic appearance of dictators and would-be monarchs who would attempt to lead their colonial nations to independence from Spain and even provided military assistance to the colonial powers of Spanish Peru in their fight against the ousting of Spanish powers from Chile by dictatorial powers (with only limited success). There were much more silent, though never worse than neutral in popular uprisings for independence such as those seen in the colony of Gran Florida (which failed). Ultimately this behavior made the new republic an asset to the Spanish emperor it rathered cooperate with then to wage war against.
In 1817, a coup was attempted by allied noble factions within the Captaincy General of Venezuela (then an administrative district of the nascent republic) who wished to establish a new monarchy within the entirety of the New Republic. Some say that United Kingdom of Great Britain may have been involved and certainly English cannon was found amongst the armies of the Venezuelan coup. A long war, now called the ‘Colombian-Venezuelan Wars’ lasting from 1817 to 1818 and 1819 to 1828 saw a see-saw exchange of territory and the loss of hundreds of tobacco, coffee and cocoa plantations on both sides. The battle was won for Colombia in 1817 when a precision strike by Spanish-trained Colombian commandoes ended the lives of the Venezuelan nobility. The next year, a new enemy, a popular dictator, rose to lead the Venezuelans to new wars of independence. The Venezuelan dictator was as aggressive and murderous with his own population as he was with the Colombians he sought to battle for control of the Republic. Eventually however, after nearly 12 years of war, an unofficial peace was agreed to whereby the Venezuelans would be governed by their dictatorial ‘presendente’, though he was never actually elected and the Colombia would be free from their attacks and raids, though lose much of their eastern territory. Amongst Colombians, the issue continues to haunt politicians and the politicians as the 'civil war' has never come to a satisfactory conclusion- many 'East Colombians' continue to be abused or killed by their dictatorial "president" and yet it takes a brave politician to suggest a military solution after 12 years of blood and violence and only 2 of rebuilding and 'peace'.