Memory of the World - Latin America and the Caribbean
Colombeia: Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda’s Archives
The archive of Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda has been recognised as one of the most authentic documentary sources regarding the formation of the SpanishAmerican emancipation process This value is due to two particular characteristics first because it is a closed archive that is to say no additions have been made since Miranda himself assembled his personal papers and systematically organised them in different volumes and second because of the high level of exchange that Miranda maintained in correspondence with the most important political figures of his time especially in Great Britain the United States France and Russia as well as with agents of the independence cause from Cuba Ecuador Argentina and Chile This gives his papers the character of a veritable map on which one can follow the main lines interests and political proposals that circulated among such prominent figures both concerning how Europe and the United States saw the political future of South America as well as the shared plans that Miranda had in common with his fellow countrymen in Latin America If we consider the archive section concerning his travels in Europe and North America between 17711789 Miranda´s ability to observe and systematically record the most detailed data on the events that surrounded him becomes clear allowing us to appreciate a wealth of information on European and North American life at that time including such important matters as highlevel politics culture in its broadest sense the behavior of the social groups in which he took part as well as data on the economic and commercial life of those societies All this makes it clear that the dissemination of his archive would among other attributes serve as a source of great value for researchers including nonHispanic American researchers who have made the study of everyday life a discipline of contemporary historiography These papers have a doubly transcendental historical character first because of the universality of the figure of Miranda himself who was both actor and spectator of many notable events including having witnessed the three most important revolutions of his time the American French and SpanishAmerican and second because the firsthand documents reflect the eventful life of the man who was a valuable compiler of the major trends that inform the study and understanding of the socalled Age of Enlightenment
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) -