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Primary sourceLetter1815

Carta de Jamaica

Simón Bolívar · 1815

A letter written by Simón Bolívar in exile in Kingston in 1815, setting out his diagnosis of Spanish rule and his vision for Spanish America's future.

Bolívar wrote this letter himself during his exile, making it a direct record of his political vision.

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Photograph of an aged, handwritten manuscript page on yellowed paper, lying open in a white book or folder. Dense cursive script fills the page, with a faded blue stamp from the Banco Central del Ecuador in the upper right corner and a stamp in the upper left. The photo carries an Andes news agency watermark.
Simón Bolívar, Carta de Jamaica, 1815. Manuscript held in Ecuador, photographed 2017.

About this source

What it is

This letter was written by Simón Bolívar in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1815, in response to a letter from an English merchant named Henry Cullen. It survives in a Spanish manuscript copy and a contemporary English translation meant for publication.

Why it matters

Written while Bolívar was in exile with little money and few resources, the letter reflects on why Spanish rule in the Americas failed and speculates on the future of the new nations that might emerge from its collapse. It is one of the clearest statements of his political thinking from this period.

Look closer

  • Why might Bolívar have wanted this private-seeming letter to circulate widely?
  • What does his situation in exile tell you about the risks of his cause?
  • What parts of his vision for the Americas does he admit uncertainty about?

This letter is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Simón Bolívar on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Speech of Angostura

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Decree of War to the Death

Simón Bolívar · 15 June 1813

Pen-and-ink drawing of a bedroom with a four-poster canopy bed draped in curtains with tasseled trim, a patterned tiled wall, and a doorway opening onto a window with bars. Signed 'Sánchez Felipe' at lower right. A faint purple library stamp appears at left and a Diputación de Cáceres logo at lower right.Artifact

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Drawing of the Room Where Simón Bolívar Was Born

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