Can
anyone distinguish himself as a poet, jurist, philologist, and a
beautiful person?
FAMILY
Andres was the first born child of Bartolome Bello and Ana Antonia
Lopez. He was first married to Mary Ann Boyland, fathered three
children and then lost his wife. In his second marriage to Elizabeth
Antonia Dunn he had thirteen children. |
A poet,
legislator, educator, jurist, diplomat, philologist, and especially
a humanist and creator, Andres Bello (beautiful in Spanish) was
born in Caracas, Venezuela on November 29, 1781.
He
was educated in his hometown and graduated as a Bachelor of Arts
from the Royal and Pontifical University of Caracas where he later
studied Philosophy, Law and Medicine.
Restless
as a young man, he joined Alexander von Humboldt in his travels
around Venezuela. In addition to speaking Latin and Spanish, he
learned English and French on his own. He started and then excelled
in writing poetry. He was also a private tutor with Simon Bolivar
as one of his students. He became interested in politics when the
demand for freedom was heard among the people.
TRIVIA
The middle names of both wives coincide with the names of his
mother. |
In
June 1810, the Government Board sent him on a mission to address
the British Government. He was joined by Simon Bolivar and Luis
Lopez Mendez. In London, he would consolidate his intellectual,
diplomatic and political education for 19 years.
In
1829, Bello went to Chile where he was appointed as Chief Administrator
of the Ministry of the Treasury. The following year, he started
editing El Araucano the most influential newspaper of
the time and became its Head Editor.
By
1831, he began private tutoring at home. He was then able to finish
and publish his Principios del Derecho de Gentes (Principles
of the Peoples Law) that over time became Principios
de Derecho International (Principles of International Law).
Those
who do not bridle their passions are dragged down to terrible
falls.
|
In
1832, Congress made him a Chilean citizen and he then became a member
of the Education Board.
In
1837, he was elected Senator and joined the group in charge of writing
the Civil Code. Virtually alone, in 1840 he started
his masterpiece, passed in 1855 and used as a model by nearly every
legislation in the Americas.
In
1842, he founded the University of Chile becoming its Dean for the
rest of his life.
THE
POET
His place in the Hispanic Parnassus is assured by Silvas
Americanas (American Jungles), two beautiful poems depicting
the majesty of Latin American landscape. |
When
he was about 70 years old, he was the Dean of the University, Undersecretary
of Foreign Affairs, Senator, editor of El Araucano,
he wrote the Civil Code, and still had the time to write and publish
books about the law, philology and poetry in a beautiful neoclassic
style.
In
1847, he published the work known for over a century among all students
in elementary and secondary schools in Hispanic America and all
Spanish students, his Grammar of the Spanish Language,
a basic book to preserve the integrity of Spanish in the Americas.
Andres
Bello, a citizen of Hispanic America, was an energetic promoter
of a project of greatness through education and the law, for the
countries recently granted their freedom.
Andres Bello,
an example of the best of the latin spirit.
|