Background
Venezuelan was born on 29 November in 1781 in Caracas.
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Andrésandres Bello
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From an early age he assiduously studied the humanities and the Spanish classics and at this time dedicated himself to education, being later the teacher of SimónSimon Bolívar.Bolivar. In 1804, because of his knowledge of languages, Bello was given a position as translator of the correspondence of the Spanish government of Caracas, and his interests now became increasingly political. He actively participated in the first efforts to win independence for what is today Venezuela and in 1810 went to London as a delegate of the Junta de Caracas. When the Junta was overthrown shortly afterward, Bello remained in England, where he supported himself by teaching Spanish. He also met at this time the English philosophers James Mill and Jeremy Bentham. Meanwhile he contributed regularly to the periodicals published by the exiled Spaniards and Spanish Americans in London. In 1823 he himself founded a journal, Biblioteca Americana, and in 1826 a review, El Repertorio Americano, publishing in the latter his famous Silva áa la agricultura de la zona tórridatorrida (1826). For a modern reader this poem, a vivid description of Chile and a eulogy of political independence, seems cold and conventional. But although Bello may not survive today as a great poet, his scholarly reputation is secure by virtue of his GramáticaGramatica de la lengua castellana, dedicada al uso de los Americanos (1847), "Grammar of the Castilian Language," a masterful work in which, for the first time, the Spanish language was studied according to sound, scientific principles. In 1829 the Chilean president, General Pinto, named Bello secretary of the ministry of foreign affairs, and from this time on Bello lived in Chile. In 1842 he founded the University of Chile, of which he was the first rector.
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