This article compares how nineteenth-century Romantic literature in Colombia and Venezuela treated the figure of the Indian. Its principal aim isto contrast the image of the Indian in this literature to that created during the wars of Independence. The article argues that Romantic literaturere introduced the idea of the difference between civilized and wild Indians that had been intentionally de-emphasized during the wars. Moreover,the article suggests that the idea of the “civilized” Indian, more common in Colombia than Venezuela, implied different approaches to notions ofprogress, Positivism and evolution.