The concept of independence existed in the Andean region prior to the historical period we ordinarily associate to it. At the end of the XVIII century, it was bound up with the absolute liberty of the king when confronting human sentiment. However, the concept designated more frequently the disobedience of common people before God and the monarchist order. Qualified as "imaginary", independence referred to a kind of heresy or philosophical uneasiness. In New Granada, the concept took on a marked political significance as soon as the North American insurgence became known and, a few years later, when the communal rebellion broke out in 1781. During the time of the Juntas (1810-1815), the semantics of the term was enhanced with new significances according to the type of separation was sought with the peninsular Spain who, at the time was actively fighting with furious energy for its independence from Napoleon. Once the Republic became firmly established, the concept gradually became a kind of icon that referred more to an era than to an actual phenomenon.