Libertadores

Libertadores (, "Liberators") refers to the principal leaders of the Latin American wars of independence from Spain and Portugal. They are named that way in contrast with the Conquistadors, who were so far the only Spanish/Portuguese peoples recorded in the South American history.

They were largely bourgeois, criollos (local-born people of European, mostly of Spanish or Portuguese, ancestry) influenced by liberalism and in most cases with military training in the metropole (mother country).

Liberators identified as among the most prominent by historians such as Felipe Pigna are:

  • Simón Bolívar
  • José de San Martín
  • José Gervasio Artigas
  • Antonio José de Sucre
  • Bernardo O'Higgins
  • Francisco de Miranda

Read more about Libertadores:  List of Libertadores, Legacy