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 Spanish expeditionary army under the command of Lieutenant General Pablo Morillo, with support from loyal colonial troops, completed the reconquest of New Granada by taking Bogotá on 6 May 1816.

[3] Leaving the port of Cádiz on 17 February 1815, the force initially landed at Carupano and the island of Margarita in April, where no resistance was encountered.

The republicans were victorious however Calzada's troops were able to escape destruction as Ricaurte's cavalry did not press their attack but instead focused on looting their defeated enemy.

[7] Despite escaping total destruction Calzada's forces had suffered 200 dead and around 300 captured and missing as a result of the battle, nevertheless he continued his invasion pivoting northward and crossed the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes through the Chita Pass into the Tunja Province with aims of marching towards Cúcuta.

[8] By early 1816, the combined efforts of Spanish and colonial forces, marching south from Cartagena and north from Royalist strongholds in Quito and Pasto completed the reconquest of New Granada.

Finally, several notable individuals, whose leadership would have been useful, decided to exile themselves, although other republican leaders remained in the region and tried to reorganize their military and political activities in order to face the new threat.

As a result of the internal conflicts in New Granada, Simón Bolívar, who had been acting under the authority of the United Provinces, left his command on 8 May 1815, after failing to subdue Cartagena in March in retaliation for its refusal to give him arms and men.

Eventually, the growing exile community received money, volunteers and weapons from Haitian president Alexandre Pétion, and resumed the struggle for independence in the remote border areas of both New Granada and Venezuela, where they established irregular guerrilla bands with the locals.