José de San Martín

Who is José de San Martín?

José de San Martín was born on 25 February 1778 in Yapeyú, in what is now Corrientes Province, Argentina, and died in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, on 17 August 1850. Trained as a soldier in Spain, he returned to South America to join the independence movement and became the principal military leader of the southern liberation campaigns. He is best remembered for his daring 1817 crossing of the Andes with the Army of the Andes, a logistical feat that allowed him to liberate Chile alongside Bernardo O'Higgins. He then led a maritime and land campaign that secured the independence of Peru, where he was proclaimed Protector in 1821. In 1822 he held a famous private meeting with Simón Bolívar at Guayaquil, after which he withdrew from public life to avoid civil conflict, eventually settling in Europe. Revered as the 'Father of the Nation,' he is the foremost national hero of Argentina.

Sources: Bartolomé Mitre, 'Historia de San Martín y de la emancipación sudamericana' (1887–1888) · John Lynch, 'San Martín: Argentine Soldier, American Hero' (Yale University Press, 2009)