242 years ago today, July 24, 1783 (June 25, 1783 in the lunar calendar), the Latin American national hero Bolívar was born. Simon Bolívar (1783-1830) was one of the most outstanding leaders of the Latin American independence movement in the 19th century. He led the War of Independence in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and other places from 1810 to 1830, and established the Greater Colombia Republic and Peru, Bolivia and other countries that united Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. He was the founder of the South American republic system. Bolívar was born on July 24, 1783 in a wealthy Creole (of Spanish descent) landlord and businessman family in Caracas, Venezuela. The era he lived in was an era when Spanish feudal autocracy was decadent and declining, and class and ethnic contradictions in the American colonies were very acute. Bolívar lost his father at the age of 3 and his mother at the age of 9. Raised by relatives, he spent his boyhood in Caracas and received a good education. Under the influence of his tutor Simon Rodriguez, he read a large number of works by French Enlightenment thinkers Rousseau, Diderot, Voltaire and other progressive scholars in Europe, studied the history of Europe and Spain, and learned about various social trends and the French Revolution. Bolivar went to Spain to study philosophy, history and literature between 1799 and 1803. He traveled to many places in France and Italy. He was deeply inspired to see with his own eyes the reforms and changes of European society after the French Revolution. In Europe, Bolívar met his teacher, Rodriguez. The teacher encouraged him to actively participate in the revolution for the liberation of America and said to him,"It's time to drive the Spaniards out of America. You should finish this." Bolívar immediately told the teacher: "I am ready to devote my life to this cause. I swear on my humanity and life that until I break the shackles that Spain binds my motherland, my hands will continue to strike against the enemy, and my heart will not be quiet." These vows have become Bolívar's unswerving goals. From then on, he returned to his motherland and devoted himself to the struggle for independence and freedom.