A curiosity that I would like to share with you from my town in Colombia is that the central square is named after an Irish mercenary who fought for independence named James Rook and the region where I live (Boyacá) has a cultural link with potatoes.

13 comments

  1. Interesting, not 100% sure he’s an Irishman we want to claim. He was a general in the British army in the 1800s. Seems likely he only joined Bolivars crew because you’s were fighting the Spanish Empire.

    There was however a General Devereaux who’s legion flew the flag of Leinster (green background with gold harp). Devereaux claims to have taken part in the Irish Rebellion against the British in 1798.

    Anyway it’s interesting. I would need to read more on it. Rook seems more like an Imperialist for the Brit’s however he may have changed his tune as he got older.

  4. Daniel Florence O’Leary and Francisco Burdett O’Connor were two other feens who were wandering around Colombia/Venezuela at the time.

  5. Most people know admiral William brown, and Bernardo o higgins, but there’s a lot of other Irish who fought in South America, mostly for Bolívar, Paisano’s by Tim fanning gives a lot of accounts of these

  6. The potato is native to the Peruvian-Bolivian Andes. So although in modern world they’re a very Irish thing we actually have them due to Birtish colonialism, and they aren’t from here.

  10. Considering moving to Colombia to teach (either in a language school or international school). In which city would you suggest looking for employment? They all seem to be equally appealing.

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