José de San Martín — Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru

José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras was born at the Jesuit mission settlement of Yapeyú on the Uruguay River, in what is now Corrientes, Argentina. His father was a Spanish colonial administrator. The family relocated to Spain in 1786, where San Martín received his education and entered the Spanish army at age eleven.

Location: Yapeyú, Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata

San Martín served over two decades in the Spanish army, including campaigns in North Africa and against Portugal. Fighting against Napoleon's invasion of Spain, he participated in the Battle of Bailén, one of the first major defeats inflicted on a French Napoleonic army in open battle. The Peninsular War exposed him to Enlightenment ideas and contact with South American independence supporters in London, and in 1812 he sailed to Buenos Aires to offer his services to the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata.

Location: Bailén, Spain

Commanding the recently formed Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers, San Martín won the Battle of San Lorenzo, defeating a Spanish royalist landing party on the Paraná River. It was the first land victory of the revolutionaries against Spain in the region and made San Martín a national figure.

Location: San Lorenzo, Argentina

After commanding the Army of the North, San Martín took office as Governor of Cuyo Province in Mendoza. Concluding that the revolution could not be secured while the royalist stronghold of Peru remained intact, and that a direct northern route was impassable, he devised an alternative: build a new army in Mendoza, cross the Andes, liberate Chile, and attack Peru by sea. He spent two years recruiting, training, and equipping the Army of the Andes.

Location: Mendoza, Argentina

The Army of the Andes, roughly 4,000 soldiers and 1,600 support personnel including a significant share of Afro-Argentine, indigenous, and Chilean recruits, began one of the great military marches in history. Crossing about 500 kilometers (310 miles) of the highest Andean passes at altitudes above 4,000 meters (13,000 feet), with artillery and mule trains, the army lost many men to cold and altitude but achieved complete strategic surprise.

Location: Andes mountains, Argentina-Chile

Within weeks of crossing, the Army of the Andes defeated the royalist force under Rafael Maroto at Chacabuco, opening the road to Santiago. San Martín was offered supreme rule of liberated Chile but declined in favor of a joint command with the Chilean patriot leader Bernardo O'Higgins, who became the country's Supreme Director.

Location: Chacabuco, Chile

After a costly reverse at Cancha Rayada in March 1818, San Martín's army decisively defeated the last major royalist army in Chile at Maipú. The victory ended Spanish military power in central Chile and secured the independence proclaimed earlier that year, freeing San Martín to prepare the next phase of his plan.

Location: Maipú, near Santiago, Chile

Rather than march north overland, San Martín moved by sea. An expedition of about 4,500 soldiers sailed from Valparaíso aboard a fleet purchased or seized by the Chilean navy under Thomas Cochrane. The force landed at Pisco and advanced on Lima, placing the seat of Spanish power in South America under pressure while royalist armies remained in the interior.

Location: Valparaíso to Peru

With the royalist viceroy evacuated from Lima, San Martín entered the capital and proclaimed Peru's independence before a public assembly on 28 July 1821. As Protector of Peru, he established a government, decreed the end of indigenous tribute and of the enslavement of Black Peruvians, and opened schools, while lacking the military strength to finish off the royalist armies still holding the highlands.

Location: Lima, Peru

San Martín met Simón Bolívar in Guayaquil to decide the fate of the independence struggle. The two liberators conferred privately for several hours; no minutes were kept and historians have debated the exchange ever since. San Martín sought Bolívar's full military support for finishing the campaign in Peru and favored a constitutional monarchy; Bolívar refused to share command and stood for republicanism. San Martín concluded the struggle would best be completed under Bolívar.

Location: Guayaquil, Peru (now Ecuador)

Weeks after Guayaquil, San Martín resigned the Protectorship of Peru before the constituent congress, declined the honors offered him, and left the country, stating that the presence of a fortunate soldier, however disinterested, was dangerous to a newly founded state. He settled in Europe, made one brief return to Buenos Aires in 1829 without disembarking amid civil conflict, and died in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, on 17 August 1850.

Location: Lima, Peru

Thirty years after his death, San Martín's remains were repatriated to Argentina and interred in the Buenos Aires Cathedral. He had become the national hero of Argentina and an honored figure in Chile and Peru alike, memorialized across the continent as the Liberator of the South.

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina