Andrés Bello

Abstract

Andrés Bello (b. 1781–d. 1865) is widely recognized as a leading Latin American intellectual whose life spanned the late colonial period, the independence process, and the postindependence building of new nations. He lived in three cities, all of which had a major impact in his life, career, and thought: Caracas (1781–1810), London (1810–1829), and Santiago de Chile (1829–1865). During the first period, he received his university education, joined the colonial administration as a minor official, and was recruited by the new provisional junta established in 1810 in response to the Spanish imperial crisis. In London he was commissioned, along with Simón Bolívar and Luis López Méndez, to secure the support of Great Britain in case of a French invasion or retaliation on the part of the recently established Spanish Council of Regency. The diplomatic mission failed in these objectives, and Venezuela soon collapsed before a royalist assault. Bello remained in England for nineteen years, initially barely making ends meet and eventually representing Chile and Colombia as legation secretary. He was recruited by the government of Chile in 1828 to join its fledgling nation-state in an administrative capacity, first in the ministry of finance and then in the ministry of foreign relations. Chile proved to be a congenial place for Bello’s impressive level of activity. He was editor of the official newspaper El Araucano, prolific contributor to other journals, teacher, senator for twenty-seven years, founder and rector of the University of Chile, and author of works that, once collected, numbered twenty-six volumes. He is best known for his Principles of International Law (1832, 1844, 1864), Grammar of the Spanish Language (1847, 1850, 1853, 1857, 1860), and Civil Code of the Republic of Chile (1855), but a fuller assessment must consider the wide range of his interdisciplinary concerns, including philosophy, poetry, education, literary criticism, and science. In political terms he was first a loyal member of the imperial government, then a supporter of constitutional monarchy when independence seemed imminent, and eventually a committed republican once independence was secured. His main concern became providing the new republican systems with enough authority and legitimacy to become self-sustaining. It is for this reason that he contributed to the writing of the constitution of 1833, a highly centralist constitution with strong executive powers, and then he devoted over twenty years to reforming civil legislation to provide a stable environment for the rule of law to prosper. He became influential far beyond Chile and his native Venezuela. In the early twenty-first century virtually no country in Latin America is without some university, street, or monument to commemorate his life and works. He is certainly one of the most studied intellectuals in Latin America. This article provides guidance on how to locate the central and most informative sources to understand Bello’s variegated work.