Emparán, Vicente (1747–1820)

Vicente Emparán (b. January 1747; d. 3 October 1820), the last Spanish general of Venezuela. With the rank of rear admiral, Emparán left the Spanish Royal Navy for his first major appointment in America as naval commander at Puerto Cabello, on the Venezuelan coast. In 1792 he was appointed governor of Cumaná, a post he held for twelve years. Emparán returned to Spain briefly in 1808 and was appointed captain-general of Venezuela. When he returned to Venezuela in May 1809, he was confronted with the conspiratorial movements of late 1809 and early 1810. News of French advances in Spain prompted the agitators to convoke a meeting with Emparán on 19 April 1810. By popular demand, Spanish authority was renounced and the Junta Suprema de Caracas was formed to take over the government, thereby effectively declaring Venezuela's independence. Emparán was taken prisoner and later exiled to Philadelphia. He returned to Spain in 1810.

See alsoVenezuela: The Colonial Period.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Héctor García Chuecos, La capitanía general de Venezuela (1955).

Instituto Panamericano De Geografía E Historia, El 19 de abril de 1810 (1957).

Angel Grisanti, Emparán y el golpe de estado de 1810 (1960).

Additional Bibliography

Archer, Christon. The Wars of Independence in Spanish America. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2000.

Armas Chitty, José Antonio de. La independencia de Venezuela. Madrid: Editorial MAPFRE, 1992.

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