INTRODUCTION 

     

       This website was created as a class project for SPAN 4P04 Translation Applications: Spanish to English, a course in the department of Modern Languages Literatures and Cultures at Brock University. Guided and supervised by Prof. Ruan, the students have translated a number of letters exchanged between Simón Bolívar and Alexandre Pétion. These important primary texts document the military aid Pétion provided Bolívar in order for the Libertador to return to Tierra Firme in 1816, to continue his independence campaigns in South America. To our knowledge, the translations provided here are the first, full English language translations of these documents.

 

       Although we have worked with the Spanish language source documents, it bears noting that the original source language of much of the Bolívar-Pétion corresponcence is French. Most of the French language texts can be found in:

 

Ortega Ricaurte, Enrique. “Haití y el Libertador – Cartas inéditas del Libertador” Bolívar. Órgano del

      Ministerio de Educación Nacional de Colombia 3 (Septiembre 1951): 376-389. 

 

The Spanish language source texts that we have translated are found in:

 

Verna, Paul. Petión y Bolívar. Cuarenta años de relaciones haitiano-venezolanas y su aporte a la

      emancipación de Hispanoamérica. Caracas: Oficina Central de Información, 1969. 517-543. 

 

Both the French language and the Spanish language source documents are also found at the Archivo del Libertador:     http://www.archivodellibertador.gob.ve/escritos/inicio.php

 

For our translations we have consulted the French language texts.