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Vargas Swamp Battle was an armed conflict that occurred near
PaipaPaipa is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the Tundama Province a subregion of Boyaca.- Location :Paipa is located to 15 km of Duitama...
, on July 25, 1819. The joint
VenezuelanVenezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
and
NeogranadanThe Republic of New Granada was a centralist republic consisting primarily of present-day Colombia and Panama with smaller portions of today's Ecuador, and Venezuela. It was created after the dissolution in 1830 of Gran Colombia. It was later abolished in 1858 when the Granadine Confederation was...
army commanded by
Simón BolívarSimón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
was trying to prevent the Spanish forces from arriving at
Santafe de BogotáBogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
, which was lightly defended, before they did. Bolívar's army successfully bested the royalist army in spite of the exhaustion of the troops after climbing the
PáramoThe term páramo can refer to a variety of ecosystems. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as “all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline”. A more narrow term classifies the páramo according to its regional placement - specifically located in “the northern Andes...
de
PisbaPisba is a town and municipality in Boyacá Department, Colombia, part of the subregion of La Libertad Province....
, and crossing the
swampA swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
. This battle and the
next victoryThe Battle of Boyacá in Colombia, then known as New Granada, was the battle in which Colombia acquired its definitive independence from Spanish Monarchy, although fighting with royalist forces would continue for years....
over the Spanish by the
Boyacá BridgePuente de Boyacá is a small bridge located at the Bogota-Tunja highway, 110 km east of Bogotá and 14 km west from Tunja in a valley, crossing Teatinos river...
secured the independence of
ColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
.
During the action the left flank of the Patriot army was outflanked and withdrew in disorder. The
British LegionsThe British Legion or British Legions were foreign volunteer units that fought under Simón Bolívar against Spain for the independence of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru. The Venezuelans called them the Albion Legion...
played a decisive role in recovering the situation when their commander
James RookeJames Rooke was a British career soldier in the Napoleonic wars. He became commander under Simon Bolivar of the British Legions during the South American wars of independence....
led the 2nd Rifles in a bayonet charge against the Spanish defenses on the hills, gaining the position at great cost. A cavalry attack by the Venezuelan Lancers then decided the outcome of the battle, turning defeat into victory.
The battle is commemorated in the
Vargas Swamp LancersVargas Swamp Lancers or Monumento a los Lanceros is a large sculptural complex realized by colombian artist Rodrigo Arenas Betancur in the department of Boyacá as a memorial for Vargas Swamp Battle. It is the largest monument in Colombia....
memorial.