Posted
on August 20, 2014
Chile
is in South America, and back in the day, it was a colony of Spain.
So
I expected the “Liberator of Chile” to have a Spanish name. Or
maybe a Mapuche or other indigenous name.
But
O'Higgins? Surely that's an Irish name!
Bernardo
O'Higgins, born on this date in 1778, had both Spanish and Irish
ancestry, but he was born and raised in Chile. His father—who
supported him financially but never actually met him—ended up
rising in his own career until he became Viceroy of Peru. Viceroy O'Higgins sent Bernardo to Lima, Peru, at age 15 and to London, England, at
age 17—so that he could become well educated.
The
young O'Higgins became educated, all right. He learned about the
American ideas of independence, and he met a Venezuelan patriot who
talked of independence from Spain. The French Revolution occurred while O'Higgins was still there in Europe, and since O'Higgins was
delayed in coming back to Chile, he traveled to Spain.
With all this hubbub about independence, it was only natural that O'Higgins began to dream of independence from Spain for Chile, too.
O'Higgins learned of
his father's death in 1801. His father had left him a large chunk of
land, so O'Higgins returned to Chile and became a gentleman farmer.
When
Napoleon took control of Spain, in 1808, all of the Spanish colonies
became embroiled in disagreements about whether to support the new
French king of Spain, or to support the old Spanish king, or to fight
for independence. O'Higgins joined with other leaders to fight
against the French-dominated Spanish government.
O'Higgins
lacked the military training of several other rebel leaders, and he
had ill health. He was definitely not in charge of the rebel forces
from the get-go. However, he was so brave—even reckless—that he
ended up gaining command of the army. He was an inspirational
commander, urging his soldiers into battle with words such as, “Lads! Live with honor, or die with glory! He who is brave, follow me!”
The
royalist forces won some of the key battles, and O'Higgins and other
rebels retreated to Argentina to lay low for a few years. There
O'Higgins met Jose de San Martin, an Argentinean general. San Martin accompanied O'Higgins when he returned to Chile in 1817 to defeat the royalists. San Martin was
offered the position of power in the new, independent nation of
Chile, but he declined. After all, there were other colonies in South
America that had not yet shaken off Spanish rule! The position was
offered to O'Higgins, and he accepted—and he received the title
Supreme Director, and all the powers of a dictator!
O'Higgins
was a pretty good leader. He established markets, courts, colleges,
libraries, hospitals, and cemeteries. He began improvements in
farming practices and reforms in the military, establishing a
military academy and a navy. But this dictator wanted “too much
democracy.” He wanted to establish elections and to abolish titles
of nobility, and he ended up angering all the powerful forces of the
nation: the nobility, of course, and the church, and later even the
business people. So O'Higgins left power and Chile and moved to Lima
with his family.
These
days, O'Higgins is commemorated as the Libertador,
and everything from avenues to ships to awards have been named for
him.
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| I never think of Easter Island as being a part of Chile, but this South Pacific island does, indeed, belong to the South American nation. |
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| Chile has some beautiful natural places! |
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