Policarpa Salavarrieta executed - November 14, 1817

On this day in 1817, revolutionary spy Policarpa Salavarrieta was executed for treason. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hi everyone, welcome to the show. I'm Eves
and you're listening to This Day in History Class, a
show that uncovers a little bit more about history every day.
Today is November nineteen. The day was November four, eighteen seventeen.

(00:27):
Seamstress inspired Polycarpa Salavarieta was executed for high treason. Salavati
Atta was born somewhere in the Vice Royalty of New Granada,
which included present day of Columbia, sometime in the early
to mid seventeen nineties. Because her birth certificate has never
been found, exactly when she was born and what her

(00:47):
legal given name was is unclear. Apollonia, Apollinaria, and La
Pola are all names that have been used to refer
to her, but Polycarpa is the name she used later
in life and that he's best remembered by today. When
she was young, her family lived in Guaduas and Bogota.
Little is known about her early life, but it's likely

(01:10):
that the family was well off, considering the appearance of
her childhood home in Guaduas in eighteen o two. While
the family was living in Bogota, a smallpox epidemic caused
the death of her parents and two of her siblings.
The tragedy caused the family to break apart. As the
oldest child, Katarina went back to Guaduas with Polycarpa and

(01:31):
their brother. They lived with relatives there until Katarina got
married and took Polycarpa and their brother with her. Polycarpa
lived in the Vice Royalty of New Granada during a
time known as La Patria Boba, which means the foolish fatherland.
The period from eighteen ten to eighteen sixteen was marked
by conflict over government and instability. Though many details of

(01:54):
this time in her life remained unconfirmed, it's known that
she was a seamstress and also may have been a teacher.
When the family she worked for moved to Bogota, she
went along with them. But the time she got to
Bogota in eighteen seventeen, Polycarpa was taking part in revolutionary activities.
Bogota was a stronghold in the Spanish reconquest of New Granada,

(02:16):
and Royalist agents and soldiers abounded in the city. Polycarpa
was daring, and she began spying for the revolutionary forces.
She stayed with Andrea Riquarte de Losano, who provided her
home as a base of intelligence gathering and resistance. She
and other women in her circle would gather information in
drawing rooms and taverns. They would urge patriots forced into

(02:40):
joining the royalist army to dessert. They sold uniforms and
collected money, and they organized wagon transportation. Bibiano, Polycarpa's brother,
also assisted her in revolutionary activities. They recruited more people
to join the revolutionary cause, but Polycarpa was under suspicion
by the royal bureaucracy, and she was soon captured and questioned.

(03:04):
Authorities found documents that incriminated Polycarpa, including letters that she
had signed and given to soldiers urging them to join
the patriots. One man reportedly her lover, was arrested with
a list of royalists and patriots that she had given him.
After a court martial was held in Bogota in November,
Polycarpa and several other defendants were sentenced to be executed

(03:26):
by firing squad. Her execution was set for the morning
of November four, eighteen seventeen. She has since been honored
as a heroine in Columbia's fight for independence. In nineteen
sixty seven, Colombia declared November fourteenth the Day of the
Colombian Woman, in honor of Polycarpa Salavaietta. I'm Eves Jeffcote

(03:48):
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(04:16):
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