Editing The General in His Labyrinth (section)

== Background ==
[[Image:Gran Colombia map.jpg|thumb|left|[[Gran Colombia]], led by Simón Bolívar from 1819 to 1830, encompassed much of northern South America.]]
The initial idea to write a book about [[Simón Bolívar]] came to [[García Márquez]] through his friend and fellow Colombian writer [[Álvaro Mutis]], to whom the book is dedicated.<ref>{{Harvnb|Stavans|1993|p=69.}} Alvaro Mutis is said to be very fond of the book.</ref> Mutis had started writing a book called {{lang|es|El último rostro}} about Bolívar's final voyage along the Magdalena River, but never finished it. At the time, García Márquez was interested in writing about the Magdalena River because he knew the area intimately from his childhood.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bell-Villada|2006|p=170}}</ref> Two years after reading {{lang|es|El Último Rostro}}, García Márquez asked Mutis for his permission to write a book on Bolívar's last voyage.<ref name="garciamarquez271">{{Harvnb|García Márquez|1990|p=271}}</ref>

García Márquez believed that most of the information available on Bolívar was one-dimensional: "No one ever said in Bolívar's biographies that he sang or that he was constipated&nbsp;... but historians don't say these things because they think they are not important."<ref name="plimpton160">{{Harvnb|Plimpton|2003|p=160}}</ref> In the epilogue to the novel, García Márquez writes that he researched the book for two years; the task was difficult, both because of his lack of experience in conducting historical research,<ref>{{Harvnb|García Márquez|1990|p=272}}</ref> and the lack of documentary evidence for the events of the final period of Bolívar's life.<ref name="garciamarquez271" />

García Márquez researched a wide variety of historical documents, including Bolívar's letters, 19th-century newspapers, and [[Daniel Florencio O'Leary]]'s 34 volumes of memoirs. He engaged the help of various experts, among them geographer Gladstone Oliva; historian and fellow Colombian Eugenio Gutiérrez Celys, who had co-written a book called {{lang|es|Bolívar Día a Día}} with historian Fabio Puyo; and astronomer Jorge Perezdoval—García Márquez used an inventory drawn up by Perezdoval to describe which nights Bolívar spent under a full moon. García Márquez also worked closely with Antonio Bolívar Goyanes, a distant relative of Bolívar, during the extensive editing of the book.<ref>{{Harvnb|García Márquez|1990|p=274}}</ref>

=== Historical context ===
The novel is set in 1830, at the tail end of the initial campaign to secure Latin America's independence from Spain. Most of [[Hispanic America|Spanish America]] had gained independence by this date; only [[Cuba]] and [[Puerto Rico]] remained under Spanish rule.

Within a few decades of [[Christopher Columbus]]'s landing on the coast of what is now [[Venezuela]] in 1498, South America had been effectively conquered by Spain and [[Portugal]]. By the beginning of the 19th century, several factors affected Spain's control over its colonies: [[Napoleon]]'s [[Peninsular War|invasion of Spain]] in 1808, the abdication of [[Charles IV of Spain|Charles IV]], [[Ferdinand VII]]'s renouncement of his right to succeed, and the placement of [[Joseph Bonaparte]] on the Spanish throne.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hasbrouck|1928|p=19}}</ref> The colonies were virtually cut off from Spain, and the [[American Revolution|American]] and [[French Revolution|French]] Revolutions inspired many [[Creole peoples|creoles]]—American-born descendants of Spanish settlers—to take advantage of Spanish weakness. As a result, Latin America was run by independent ''[[juntas]]'' and colonial self-governments.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lynch|2006|p=43}}</ref>

The early 19th century saw the first attempts at securing liberation from Spain, which were led in northern South America by Bolívar. He and the independence movements won numerous battles in Venezuela, [[United Provinces of New Granada|New Granada]] and present-day [[Ecuador]] and [[Peru]]. His dream of uniting the Spanish American nations under one central government was almost achieved. However, shortly after the South American colonies became independent of Spain, problems developed in the capitals, and civil wars were sparked in some provinces; Bolívar lost many of his supporters and fell ill. Opposition to his presidency continued to increase, and in 1830, after 11&nbsp;years of rule, he resigned as president of Gran Colombia.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lynch|2006|pp=259–279}}</ref>

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