History of Venezuela

Venezuela was the site of one of the first permanent Spanish settlements in South America in 1522, and most of the territory eventually became part of the viceroyalty of New Granada. Parts of what is now eastern Venezuela became New Andalusia. After several unsuccessful uprisings, the country declared independence from Spain on July 5th 1811 under the leadership of its most famous son, Simon Bolivar.

Nevertheless, the full control over Venezuelan territory was achieved after Bolivar, with the help of General Jose Antonio Paez and especially the then General Grand Marshall Antonio Jose de Sucre, whose battle plan Bolivar chose to follow, won the Battle of Carabobo in June 24th 1821, and after Jose Prudencio Padilla won the Naval Battle of Lake Maracaibo on July 24th 1823. New Granada’s congress gave Bolivar control of the Granadian army who then led several countries to freedom and created a new republic called Colombia (also known as Great Colombia to differentiate it to the actual Republic of Colombia) conformed by what are now Colombia, Panama, Ecuador and Venezuela. He then led the army towards the south liberating Peru, and Bolivia (whose name comes after the Libertador) from the Spaniards.

Antonio Jose de Sucre, who won many battles for Bolivar, was to become his natural successor until he was murdered. Venezuela became, after the war of independence, along with Colombia and Ecuador part of the Republic of Gran Colombia (Republica de Gran Colombia) until 1830, when the country separated through a rebellion led by the aforementioned Jose Antonio Paez and declared itself as a sovereign republic. Paez became the first president of Venezuela.

Much of Venezuela’s 19th and early 20th century history was characterized by political instability, political struggle, and dictatorial rule. Following the death of Juan Vicente Gomez in 1935 and the demise of caudillismo (authoritarian oligarchical rule), democratic struggles eventually forced the military to withdraw from direct involvement in national politics in 1958. Since that year, Venezuela has enjoyed an unbroken tradition of democratic civilian rule, though not without conflict.Venezuela is member of the South American Community of Nations (SACN)

Spanish period

At the time of the Spanish arrival, the indigenous people were mainly agriculturists and hunters living in groups along the coast, the Andean mountain range, and along the Orinoco River. Nueva Toledo, the first permanent Spanish settlement in South America, was established in Venezuela in 1522.

An abortive plan for German settlement from German Habsburg lands, to be financed through the Fugger bankers, never came to fruition. By the middle of the 1500s there were still little more than 2,000 Europeans in what is now Venezuela. The opening of gold mines at Yaracuy led to the introduction of slavery, at first with the indigenous population, then with imported Africans.

The first real success of the colony was the raising of livestock, much helped by the grassy plains known as llanos. The society that developed as a result - a handful of Spanish landowners and widely-dispersed Indian herdsmen on Spanish-introduced horses - was so primitive that it recalls feudalism, certainly a powerful concept in the 16th-century Spanish imagination, and perhaps more fruitful economic comparison to the latifundia of Antiquity.