Ted Cohen, age 13, of Mesa, Ariz., for his question:
WHO WAS SIMON BOLIVAR?
Simon Bolivar is called the George Washington of South America. He was one of South America's greatest generals and it was his victories over the Spanish that won independence for Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
Bolivar was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1783. He inherited a fortune from his parents and as a young man he traveled extensively in Europe.
While in Rome, Bolivar made a vow to liberate Venezuela. Back in South America, he joined a group of patriots that had seized Caracas in 1810 and proclaimed independence from Spain. But the patriots had lost the city back to the Spanish.
Bolivar took command of a patriot army and recaptured Caracas in 1813. His troops also regained control of all of Venezuela and Bolivar became dictator of the country. In 1814, Bolivar captured Bogota in what is now Colombia, but Spanish troops forced him to flee to Jamaica.
In 1816, Bolivar gathered new forces in Haiti and captured Venezuela again. In 1819 he marched into what is now Colombia and again defeated the Spanish.
Bolivar led the congress that organized the original republic of Colombia, which is now Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Venezuela. Bolivar became its first president in 1819.
Bolivar crushed the Spanish army at Carabobo in Venezuela in 1821 and next marched into Ecuador, and added that country to the new Colombian republic.
Bolivar became dictator of Peru in 1823.
Armies led by Bolivar won a victory over the Spanish at Ayacucho in 1824, which ended Spanish power in South America. Upper Peru became a separate state, named Bolivia in Bolivar's honor, in 1828.
The constitution that Bolivar drew up for Bolivia is one of his most important political pronouncements.
Bolivar hoped to form a union of the new South American nations against Spain, and to establish close relations between these nations and the United States. But the achievement fell short of his hopes.
One by one, the South American states withdrew from the Colombian Union. In 1828, Bolivar ruled only what is now Colombia.
Feeling against Bolivar grew strong. He narrowly escaped assassination in Bogota. He resigned as president of Colombia in 1830.
Bolivar died in 1830 at the age of 47.
Today the standard coin of Venezuela is called the Bolivar. It is made up of 100 centimos, and in many ways corresponds to the dollar of the United States.