May 8th 1815

• Bolívar is exiled from Cartagena due to the out break of civil war among patriots.

 

May 13th 1815

• Bolívar arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, having abandoned Cartagena.

 

July 1815

• Since July, with the arrival of Brion in Haiti, Bolívar continually kept in touch with patriots there.

 

December 19th 1815

• Bolívar writes to Pétion. He decides to travel to Haiti to meet with Brion and Durán, who were in Les Cayes waiting with the schooner “Dardo,” loaded with weapons. Bolívar will leave shortly for Haiti in the ship “Popa”.

 

December 24th 1815

• Bolívar arrives at Les Cayes, Haiti. On his way to Les Cayes, Bolívar finds out about the loss of Cartagena to the Spanish forces.

 

December 26th 1815

• Bolívar writes to Hyslop regarding his arrival to Les Cayes and about the news pertaining to the loss of Cartagena. 

 

December 31st 1815

• Bolívar arrives in Port-au-Prince. Bolívar spens about twenty days in Port-au-Prince. He meets with Pétion, Inginac and Sutherland.

 

January 2nd 1816

• Bolívar meets with Petion and later that day writes to Brion about his meeting with the Hatian President.

 

January 21st 1816

• Bolívar returns to Les Cayes and writes Pétion regarding the “Aury case”, captain of naval forces in Cartagena.

 

January 26th 1816

• Pétion sends the first orders for Marion to deliver 2000 rifles to Bolívar.

 

February 11th 1816

• Bolívar’s letter to Sutherland—Bolívar expresses his concerns about Aury.

 

February 13th 1816

• Bolívar’s letter to Sutherland.

 

Last few days of March 1816

• The first Haitian expedition was ready to sail for Margarita.

 

March 31st 1816

• The expedition sets off from Les Cayes.

 

September 3rd 1816

• Bolívar returns to Haiti after the failure of the first expedition to mainland South America. He writes to Pétion from Jacmel on 4 September 1816, giving a detailed description of the failed expedition.

 

December 18th 1816

• Bolívar's second expedition from Haiti leaves Jacmel.

 

December 28th 1816

• Bolívar arrives in Margarita.

 

December 31st 1816

• Bolívar lands in Barcelona (mainland), and starts five years of campaigns in which he will liberate Colombia (Boyacá, 1819) and Venezuela (Carabobo, 1821).

 

Important figures mentioned in the timeline 

 

• Luis Brion: son of Dutch parents, born in Curaçao. Becomes one of the trusted men fighting with Bolivar.

 

• Maxwell Hyslop – British subject who in Jamaica acted as an agent for plantation proprietors, is one of the persons to whom Bolívar wrote for money during his stay in Jamaica.​

• General Marion - Commander of the Province of Les Cayes.

 

• Joseph Balthazar Inginac – Pétion’s Secretary General.

 

• Alexandre Pétion – President (1807-1818) of the Republic of Haiti.

 

• Robert Sutherland— Important English merchant who lived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Sutherland befriends Bolívar and provides financial assistance for military expeditions. 

 

Sources:

Gómez B., Carlos. “Alejandro Petión, Robert Sutherland y Luis Brión: tres artesanos de nuestra

          independencia,” Boletín de Historia y Antigüedades 87.811 (2000): 959-987.

 

Verna, Paul. Petión y Bolívar. Cuarenta años (1790 – 1830) de relaciones haitiano-venezolanas y

su aporte a la emancipación de Hispanoamérica. Caracas: Oficina Central de Información, 1969.