Simón Bolívar

Known as the Liberator, Simon Bolivar with the help of soldiers who shared his dream of being free from Spain, gave the countries of his native Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Panama, Peru and Bolivia their independence. His dream of Venezuelan independence came from his time in Europe where he studied history, philosophy and literature and when he was back in Venezuela, he told his old teachers what it meant to be free. After all the fighting that included going through the Andes mountains, swamp, jungle and dry plains, Simon Bolivar was made president of the first union of South American countries with Bolivia being named after him. His birthday (24 July) is a national holiday in the countries he liberated. Oddly enough, Bolivar's surname comes from Ziortza-Bolibar in the Basque region in Spain where his father came from.