Venezuela - the Age of Exploration

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

1. Venezuela

2. Located on the continent of South America

3. 25,017,387 (estimated as of July 2004)

4. Size- 912,050 sq km (land/water)

5. Petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, bauxite, other minerals, hydropower, diamonds

6. 96% Roman Catholic, 2% Protestant, 2% Other Religions

The Venezuelans were tracked back to about 13,000 BC. The settlers of that time came from three different directions. Present day Guyana, present day Brazil, and present day Antilles were the three directions. At the time there are about 500,000 indigenous peoples living in Venezuela. There was much diversity in the different tribes that settled there during this time. Religion has always been dominated by the Catholic faith. Some Venezuelans of the time had been farmers, hunters, and fishermen. The name "Venezuela" was given and the literal translation is "Little Venice."

Venezuela was rich with grasslands and had six navigable rivers. There were many streams that also ran through the country. Mountainous areas also were abundant in the Venezuelan countryside. Venezuela has a very tropical climate. It is also rich in mineral resources. The country's most important resource is petroleum. They are also known for their abundance of diamonds and gold which are found in the mountains.

Christopher Columbus first sighted the coast of Venezuela in 1498. In 1499 Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda followed that same coast to Lake Maracaibo. He was the one who named the region Venezuela because it reminded him of the buildings in Venice. The Spanish had started to settle in Venezuela in 1520. In 1528, Charles V of Spain gave the part of Venezuela that lied between Cape Vela and Maracapana to the Weslers, Bavarian bankers to whom he owed money to. The Weslers were to fill and develop the region as part of the arrangement with Charles V. They were also to set up establishments to live. Instead, their representatives enslaved the Native Americans of the area and so demoralized the European settlers that in 1546 the Spanish government revoked the grant and reassumed control. The first important settlement in Venezuela was that of Caracas which later the capital of this country became. It was settled in 1567.

The economy and its activities in the colonial period centered on agriculture, mainly tobacco and cacao. Some livestock were also traded amongst the people. Venezuela became the center of piracy and illegal smuggling, things both of which the English and the Dutch were the most notorious participants in. Venezuela at the time of colonization operated under a number of administrative jurisdictions. Originally, the Spanish authorities divided the territories of what is now Venezuelan territory between the Viceroyalty of Peru and the Audiencia of Santo Domingo. The Superintendency of Venezuela, more or less the present territory, was created in the year 1783.

In 1728, the Spanish government chartered the Guipuzcoana Company and gave it a monopoly of trade in Venezuela, with of course the additional duties of patrolling the coasts to prevent smuggling of goods between countries. The company was very unpopular and it did a lot of things to stir up political discontent in the Venezuelan colony. To add, the Spanish policy of appointing peninsulares to major administrative positions in their American colonies caused much resentment among the Creoles, who had been excluded from seats of power.

The first decisive attempt by a Spanish American colony to gain independence from Spain had been set off by Venezuela. In 1808, the armies of French emperor Napoleon I overran Spain and Portugal at the same time. They disposed of Ferdinand VII of Spain. In 1810, the Creoles in the cabildo, or town of council, of Caracas overthrew the Spanish authorities and formed the junta, or governing body, to rule in the name of their king. However, the junta soon threw aside all the pretense of loyalty to the Spanish crown and issued a formal declaration of independence