The Spanish reconquest of New Granada in 1815–1816 was part of the Spanish American wars of independence in South America. Shortly after the Napoleonic Wars ended, Ferdinand VII, recently restored to the throne in Spain, decided to send military forces to retake most of the northern South American colonies, which had established autonomous juntas and independent states. The invaders, with support from loyal colonial troops, completed the reconquest of New Granada by taking Bogotá on 6 May 1816.
Bolívar's campaign to liberate New Granada also known as the Liberation Campaign of 1819 was part of the Colombian and Venezuelan wars of independence and was one of the many military campaigns fought by Simón Bolívar. In 1819 Bolívar led a combined New Granadan and Venezuelan Army in a campaign to liberate New Granada which had been under Spanish control since 1816.
José Camilo Clemente de Torres Tenorio was a Colombian politician. He is credited as being an early founder of the nation due to his role in early struggles for independence from Spain.
The First Republic of New Granada, known despectively as the Foolish Fatherland, is the period in the history of Colombia immediately following the declaration of independence from Spain in 1810 and until the Spanish reconquest in 1816. The period between 1810 and 1816 in the Viceroyalty of New Granada was marked by such intense conflicts over the nature of the new government or governments that it became known as la Patria Boba. Constant fighting between federalists and centralists gave rise to a prolonged period of instability that eventually favored Spanish reconquest. Similar developments can be seen at the same time in the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. Each province, and even some cities, set up its own autonomous junta, which declared themselves sovereign from each other.
The United Provinces of New Granada was a country in South America from 1810 to 1816, a period known in Colombian history as la Patria Boba. It was formed from areas of the New Kingdom of Granada, roughly corresponding to the territory of modern-day Colombia. The government was a federation with a parliamentary system, consisting of a weak executive and strong congress. The country was reconquered by Spain in 1816.
Francisco José de Caldas was a Colombian lawyer, military engineer, self-taught naturalist, mathematician, geographer and inventor, who was executed by orders of Pablo Morillo during the Spanish American Reconquista for being a forerunner of the fight for the independence of New Granada. Arguably the first Colombian scientist, he is often nicknamed "El Sabio".
Juan José Francisco de Sámano y Uribarri de Rebollar y Mazorra, was a Spanish military officer and the last viceroy of New Granada from March 9, 1818 to August 9, 1819, during the Colombian War of Independence.
Liborio Mejía Gutiérrez was a Colombian colonel and politician during the struggle for Independence from Spain, and in 1816 Liborio Mejía became president of the United Provinces of the New Granada making him the youngest person to ever hold the presidency of Colombia at the age of 24. He was executed three months later during the Reconquista led by the Spaniard Pablo Morillo.
José Luis Álvaro Alvino Fernández Madrid was a Neogranadine statesman, physician, scientist and writer, who was President of the interim triumvirate of the United Provinces of New Granada in 1814, and President of the United Provinces of the New Granada in 1816. After the Spanish retook New Granada, he was barred from the country and was exiled in Havana, where he continued his scientific studies and worked as a doctor. He was later pardoned and allowed to come back to Colombia, and was appointed ambassador to France and to the United Kingdom where he died in 1830.
José Custodio Cayetano García Rovira was a Neogranadine general, statesman and painter, who fought for the independence of New Granada from Spain, and became President of the United Provinces of the New Granada in 1816. He was executed a month later during the Reconquista, at the hands of Pablo Morillo.
Manuel Rodríguez Torices was a Neogranadine statesman, lawyer, journalist, and Precursor of the Independence of Colombia. He was part of the Triumvirate of the United Provinces of New Granada in 1815, and served as Vice President of the United Provinces after the triumvirate. He was executed during the Reign of Terror of Pablo Morillo in 1816.
The Colombian War of Independence began on July 20, 1810 when the Junta de Santa Fe was formed in Santa Fe de Bogota, the capital of the Spanish colonial Viceroyalty of New Granada, to govern the territory autonomously from Spain. The event inspired similar independence movements across Latin America, and triggered an almost decade-long rebellion culminating in the founding of the Republic of Colombia, which spanned present-day Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela, along with parts of northern Peru and northwestern Brazil.
Benito Salas Vargas was a military and social leader during Colombia's independence war (1810–1819). He fought against Pablo Morillo during the Spanish reconquest of New Granada.
Toribio Montes y Pérez was a soldier and Spanish colonial governor. He governed Puerto Rico between 1804 and 1809 and presided over the Royal Audience of Quito from 1811 to 1817.
The Battle of Cachirí took place on February 21-22, 1816, during the Spanish Reconquest of New Granada as part of the Colombian War of Independence. The battle is named after the Paramo de Cachirí, which located in the Santander Department in present-day Colombia. It was fought between the Army of the North of the United Provinces of New Granada and the V Division of Spanish Expeditionary Army. The battle came about as an attempt by brigadier general Custodio Garcia Rovira to defend the Socorro Province as well as the interior of the country from the invasion force led by Spanish colonel Sebastian de la Calzada, who was part of general Pablo Morillo’s campaign to reconquer New Granada. Garcia Rovira went on the offensive on February 8, forcing Calzada to retreat from Pamplona to Ocaña. Whilst there, 300 men from Colonel Miguel de la Torre’s column were incorporated into his division. With these reinforcements, he swiftly countermarched south and met the republicans at the Paramo Cachiri. Between February 21 and 22, 1816, fierce fighting occurred. On the first day, the Republicans managed to dominate the situation and occupy a favorable ground for the defense. The next day the fight resumed with greater fury, and the Spanish were able to break the republican line and causing havoc amongst their ranks, which finally resulted in the defeat of the republican forces.
José María Cabal was a Republican military leader from the Colombian War of Independence.
The Siege of Cartagena (1815) was a successful 105-day Spanish siege by combined naval and ground forces under command of General Pablo Morillo, of the Colombian city and fortress of Cartagena de Indias, defended by Republican forces under the leadership of Manuel del Castillo y Rada and José Francisco Bermúdez, between August and December 1815.
The Siege of Cartagena (1820-1821) was a military confrontation fought in the context of the Colombian War of Independence between Patriots and Royalists, with the victory of the former. It was the longest siege experienced by the city in its history.
The Nariño Southern Campaign was a series of military actions between December 1813 and May 1814, under command of Antonio Nariño, leader of the Republican State of Cundinamarca, against Spanish forces in the south of New Granada.
It had the objective of dislodging the Royalist presence in the south after the defeat of the first independence movement in the province of Quito (1812), a fact that put the New Granada provinces, that had retained their early independence, at risk. Nariño's army took the city of Popayán and the surroundings of Pasto, but was decisively defeated in the Battle of Ejidos de Pasto, ending the campaign in total failure.
José María Barreiro Manjón was a Spanish military officer who fought in the Peninsular War and in the Colombian War of Independence. In 1819 at the rank of colonel, he was commander of the III Division of Expeditionary Army of Costa Firme in New Granada during Simon Bolivar's campaign to liberate New Granada. He commanded his army against the Patriot Army at the Battle of Vargas of Swamp, where he would be defeated, and at the Battle of Boyacá, where he would be captured along with remnants of the III Division and the end of Spanish control over New Granada.
United Provinces of New Granada 
Kingdom of Spain