Jul 20, 2019
Colombia Independence Day 2019
This Doodle’s Key Themes
Today’s Doodle celebrates Colombia’s Independence Day, when the South American republic named after Christopher Columbus officially asserted its autonomy and began moving away from Spanish rule.
On this day in 1810, an uprising sparked by a broken flower pot led to demands for a new local council to decide the future of Santa Fe, the city now known as Bogotá. At the time, independence movements were already gaining support across the Spanish Viceroyalty, then known as New Granada, which included modern-day Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Panama. Local patriots in Santa Fe visited prominent Spanish merchant José González Llorente and asked to borrow a vase, which he refused to do. In the ensuing disagreement, the vase was broken, bringing tempers to a boiling point, which led to an open town meeting that empowered the new council. The struggle for independence continued on until 1819, when Simón Bolívar entered Bogotá in 1819 after the Battle of Boyocá.
Día de la Independencia is an occasion for feasts, parties, and parades in most major cities. The tricolor flag, adopted in 1861, flies proudly, and the national anthem, “Himno Nacional de la República de Colombia” is played. Traditional music and dance forms can also be heard, including cumbia, currulao, porro, vallenato, joropo, and indigenous Andean sounds like bambuco. Today is also timely to visit Llorente's house in Bogota, the site of the flower pot episode, open to the public as the Museo de la Independencia.
¡Feliz Día de Independencia!
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