Bernardo O’Higgins was born on August 20th, 1778, in the city of Chillan.
Son of Isabel Riquelme Meza and Ambrosio O’Higgins, he had to deal with the burden of being an illegitimate child his entire life.
Despite this situation and the distance he felt from his father, the latter kept a watchful eye on every detail of his upbringing. For said upbringing, he instructed Portuguese merchant Juan Albano Pereira to watch over him, taking him to his home in Talca, where he stayed until the age of 10. Then, he returned to his mother’s home in Chillan, where he received his first education at the Colegio de Naturales of the Franciscan priests, in the section for Spanish nobles.
At the age of twelve, when his father held the position of governor, he was sent to Lima to continue his studies.
In 1795 he was sent to Europe to continue his education at the Richmond Catholic Academy, where he met important people, like Francisco de Miranda, who instilled in him the vital need for an independent nation.
Back in the country in 1802, he heard his father had died a year earlier and had bequeathed him some of the possessions he had in the territory: a house in Santiago and the San Jose de las Canteras hacienda, located a few kilometers from the city of Los Angeles.
Beginnings in politics
Despite the fact that Bernardo O’Higgins concerned himself almost exclusively to managing the hacienda (ranch) left to him by his father during the first years of his return to the country, his interest for political issues did not decrease and his need to spread the ideals of independence drove him to bring together groups of young people in order to pass on his knowledge to them.
One the first government junta (assembly) was constituted on September 18th, 1810, Bernardo O’Higgins was elected deputy for the forthcoming Congress, representing the city of Los Angeles.
However, since the organizations were still sub-par and control of the country had no set course, after the arrival to power of Jose Miguel Carrera (due to a coup), O’Higgins retuned to his work needed to upkeep his hacienda at Las Canteras.
In 1813, he was once again tempted by the liberation forces to join the struggle for the country’s independence. He joined the army and participated in several military actions, which ultimately granted him command of the patriot army in 1815.
Amends in Argentina
After the disaster of Rancagua, O’Higgins began his retreat towards the other side of the Andes. There he would prepare the patriot offensive to overthrow the royalist authorities that had settled in the country. Along with Argentine Jose de San Martin, he began preparing the Chilean troops that would later make up the Andes Army or Liberation Army.
In 1817, the Liberation Army began its march and crossed the Andes, facing the royalist troops at the battle of Chacabuco. He was proclaimed supreme director of the nation on February 17th, 1817, ensuring national emancipation at the battle of Maipu on April 5th, 1818.
After his controversial government, which on many occasions was considered excessively authoritarian, and after trying to reform the constitutional regulations he himself had put forth to remain in power longer, he abdicated in 1823. He continued his life in Peru, country he moved to with his mother, his sister Rosa and his son. He lived in the Montalban hacienda in charge of agricultural work; however, he never neglected the continent’s emancipation.
When he was given the chance to return to the country in 1842, he began to prepare his trip. However, he dies before he could leave, on October 24th, 1869. His remains were repatriated in 1869 and today they rest in the Altar de la Patria (Altar of the Nation), located in front of the La Moneda palace.
