David Bushnell

David Bushnell (May 14, 1923 – September 3, 2010) was an American academic and Latin American historian who has been called "The Father of the Colombianists." was considered one of the world's leading experts on the history of Colombia. He regarded it as one of the least studied countries in Latin America by academic scholars in the United States and Europe, and was considered the first American historian to study and introduce Colombian history as an academic field in the United States.

Early life and career Bushnell was born on May 14, 1923, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University. He completed his doctorate at Harvard University in 1951 by writing his thesis on the government of Francisco de Paula Santander. He also served as the editor-in-chief of the Hispanic American Historical Review from 1986 to 1991.

Besides works on Colombian history, he co-authored with Neill W. Macaulay, Jr. The Emergence of Latin America in the Nineteenth Century (1988, 2nd: 1994, ).

Colombia historian In 1993, Bushnell published his most widely read work on Colombian history, "The Making of Modern Colombia: A Nation in Spite of Itself", which was published in Spanish and then translated into English.

His other major works included The Santander Regime in Gran Colombia, The Emergence of Latin America, and Eduardo Santos and the good neighbor. His books dealt with such subjects as the Colombian electoral system during the 19th century and foreign relations during the government of former President Eduardo Santos, who ruled from 1938 to 1942. He published his last article, "Philatelic Feminism: The Portrayal of Women on Stamps of Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, and the United States", shortly before his death in 2010.

Bushnell made his last visit to Colombia in April 2010, where he took part in the Alfonso López Pumarejo Forum held at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Bushnell died of cancer in Gainesville, FL on September 3, 2010, at age 87. He had been scheduled to receive an honorary degree from National University of Colombia on September 24, 2010, at the time of his death.