Francisco De Miranda was the first great advocate of Venezuelan independence and Head of the first Venezuelan Republic.
Background
Francisco De Miranda was born in Caracas into a well-to-do family on 28 May 1750.
Education
He got his education in Caracas.
Career
He went to Spain, where he bought a military commission. He rose to colonel, participating in campaigns in North Africa and the West Indies.
Miranda aroused the enmity of his Spanish military colleagues, perhaps because of his colonial origins. In 1783 he fled to the United States, where he stayed two years, traveling widely and meeting many leaders of the new republic. He then moved to England. In the 1780s he traveled widely on the European continent. In the early 1790s he rose to the rank of general with the French revolutionary armies.