Background
Francisco de Miranda was born in Caracas, Venezuela on March 28, 1750. He was the son of a Spaniard from the Canary Islands.
Francisco de Miranda was born in Caracas, Venezuela on March 28, 1750. He was the son of a Spaniard from the Canary Islands.
Early in life he entered the Spanish army and went to Madrid supplied with ample funds and letters of introduction.
He bought a captaincy and began to keep the diary which in time became the nucleus of an immense archive.
Accused of neglect of duty, he was eventually cleared and was sent to Cuba, where he again fell out with the authorities.
Among his friends in the United States were such men as Washington, Hamilton, and Thomas Paine.
Constantly hounded by Spanish agents, he visited England, Prussia, Austria, Italy, Turkey, and Russia.
He was unsuccessful, but not discouraged, and offered his services to France.
He fought in its wars, and his name was later inscribed at the Arch of Triumph, but France had as little use for his schemes as England.
He survived imprisonment and the Terror and, in 1797, fled to England, where he found more encouragement for his projects.
In 1806 he attempted to invade Venezuela, but the authorities had been forewarned and he was repulsed.
Defeated but undaunted, he awaited his hour in London. Two years later, rebellion in the Spanish Empire seemed to improve Miranda's chances.
In 1810 he met the envoy of revolutionary Venezuela, Simón Bolívar, who had gone to Great Britain in an effort to win support for the colonies.
Rather than plunge Venezuela into civil war, he concluded an armistice with the Spanish counterrevolutionary Monteverde.
Quotes from others about the person
"El Precursor"