# The Chronicle of Venezuela: From the indigenous peoples of the Orinoco and the coast Columbus reached in 1498, through the Spanish 'little Venice' and the Captaincy General of Caracas, to the cradle of South American independence, the petro-state built on Lake Maracaibo oil, and the Bolivarian Revolution and crisis of the present. History of Venezuela: From the indigenous peoples of the Orinoco and the coast Columbus reached in 1498, through the Spanish 'little Venice' and the… Canonical: https://terralore.co/country/VEN/chronicle Updated: 2026-06-15 Founding: Declaration of independence from Spain — 5 July 1811. On 5 July 1811 a congress at Caracas declared Venezuela independent of Spain, the first formal declaration of independence in Spanish America, establishing the short-lived First Republic. The break followed the deposition of the Spanish captain general in April 1810 after Napoleon's occupation of Spain shattered royal authority, and the return of the revolutionary Francisco de Miranda, who took command of the new state. The First Republic soon collapsed, and independence had to be won over a decade of war; it was finally secured by Simon Bolivar's decisive victory at the Battle of Carabobo on 24 June 1821. Venezuela's history begins with the indigenous Carib, Arawak and Timoto-Cuica peoples and with Christopher Columbus's third voyage of 1498, when he reached the Gulf of Paria and the Orinoco delta, the only South American mainland he ever touched. The following year navigators of the Ojeda expedition, struck by stilt dwellings on Lake Maracaibo, named the land 'Venezuela', or 'little Venice'; Caracas was founded in 1567 and the Captaincy General of Venezuela created in 1777. Venezuela became the cradle of Spanish American independence: Francisco de Miranda's movement led to the first declaration of independence in the region on 5 July 1811, and Simon Bolivar's campaigns, sealed at the Battle of Carabobo in 1821, freed the country, which formed part of Gran Colombia until it separated in 1830 under Jose Antonio Paez. A century of caudillos and the Federal War gave way to transformation by oil from the 1920s, a democratic era after 1958, and then the Bolivarian Revolution of Hugo Chavez from 1999 and a deep economic and humanitarian crisis under Nicolas Maduro that, by United Nations estimates, has driven millions abroad. This file carries the chronicle's sourced event record — every event with its year, summary and source keys (resolved under References below). The full reading narrative lives on the canonical page. ## Indigenous Peoples and the Encounter of 1498 — Before 1498 - 1527 For thousands of years the land was home to Carib, Arawak and Timoto-Cuica peoples, until Christopher Columbus reached the Gulf of Paria in 1498, the only South American mainland he set foot on, and Spanish navigators named the coast 'little Venice'. - by c. 1000 BCE: **Indigenous peoples of coast, plains and Andes** — Carib and Arawak peoples settle the Caribbean coast and the Orinoco basin, while the Timoto-Cuica farm the western Andes, long before European contact. [loc-venezuela, britannica-venezuela] - Aug 1498: **Columbus reaches the Gulf of Paria** — On his third voyage Christopher Columbus enters the Gulf of Paria near the Orinoco, the only South American mainland he ever set foot on. [loc-venezuela, britannica-venezuela] - 1499 CE: **The naming of 'little Venice'** — Navigators of the Ojeda expedition, on which Amerigo Vespucci sailed, name the coast around Lake Maracaibo 'Venezuela', or 'little Venice', after its stilt dwellings. [britannica-venezuela] - 1527 CE: **Founding of Coro** — Coro is founded as one of the first lasting Spanish towns on the mainland; its earthen colonial quarter is later inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. [unesco-coro, britannica-venezuela] ## Colonial Venezuela and the Captaincy General — 1527 - 1810 For nearly three centuries Venezuela was a peripheral province of Spanish America; Caracas was founded in 1567, a cacao-and-slave economy took root along the coast, and in 1777 the scattered provinces were united into the Captaincy General of Venezuela. - 1567 CE: **Founding of Caracas** — Diego de Losada founds Santiago de Leon de Caracas, which grows into the colony's principal city and the future national capital. [britannica-venezuela, loc-venezuela] - 17th-18th c.: **A cacao-and-slave economy** — Coastal plantations growing cacao, worked by enslaved Africans, enrich a creole planter elite, the mantuanos, and shape colonial society. [loc-venezuela, britannica-venezuela] - 8 Sept 1777: **Captaincy General of Venezuela created** — A royal decree unites the scattered provinces into the Captaincy General of Venezuela, with Caracas as capital, giving the territory the outline of the future nation. [britannica-venezuela, loc-venezuela] ## The Cradle of Independence and Simon Bolivar — 1810 - 1830 Venezuela led Spanish America into independence: Francisco de Miranda's movement produced the first declaration of independence in the region in 1811, and Simon Bolivar's long campaigns, sealed at Carabobo in 1821, liberated the country within the union of Gran Colombia, from which it separated in 1830. - 19 Apr 1810: **Junta deposes the captain general** — The cabildo of Caracas removes the Spanish captain general and forms a governing junta, the opening act of the independence movement. [britannica-independence, britannica-miranda] - 5 July 1811: **First declaration of independence in Spanish America** — A congress at Caracas declares Venezuela independent of Spain and founds the First Republic, the first such declaration in the region. [britannica-independence, britannica-venezuela] - 14 July 1816: **Death of Francisco de Miranda** — The 'Precursor' of independence, handed to the Spanish after the fall of the First Republic, dies a prisoner in a fortress at Cadiz. [britannica-miranda] - 24 June 1821: **Battle of Carabobo** — Bolivar's victory over the Spanish army at Carabobo, won with Paez's llaneros and foreign volunteers, virtually secures Venezuelan independence. [britannica-carabobo, britannica-bolivar] - 1830 CE: **Separation from Gran Colombia** — As Gran Colombia dissolves and Bolivar dies, Jose Antonio Paez leads Venezuela to declare itself a separate republic and becomes its first president. [britannica-paez, britannica-venezuela] Figures: - Francisco de Miranda (1750-1816) — Precursor of independence. Caracas-born revolutionary known as El Precursor, who spent decades seeking foreign support for Spanish American independence, led the First Republic in 1811-1812, and died a Spanish prisoner in Cadiz. - Simon Bolivar (1783-1830) — El Libertador, liberator and statesman. The towering figure of South American independence, born to a Caracas aristocratic family, who liberated Venezuela, New Granada, Quito, Peru and Bolivia and founded the union of Gran Colombia before dying disillusioned in 1830. - Jose Antonio Paez (1790-1873) — Llanero general and first president. Commander of the llanero plainsmen whose cavalry helped win Carabobo, he led Venezuela's separation from Gran Colombia in 1830 and became its first president and a dominant caudillo of the early republic. ## Caudillos, the Federal War and the Rise of Oil — 1830 - 1935 The nineteenth century was an age of caudillos and civil strife, above all the Federal War of 1859 to 1863; near its close the discovery of oil on Lake Maracaibo, exploited under the long dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gomez, began to remake Venezuela into a petro-state. - 1859-1863: **The Federal War** — A devastating civil war between Liberal federalists and Conservative centralists ravages the country and ends with the Treaty of Coche and a federal constitution. [encyclopedia-federal-war, britannica-venezuela] - 1870-1888: **The era of Guzman Blanco** — The Liberal caudillo Antonio Guzman Blanco dominates Venezuela, modernising Caracas and centralising power while ruling through personal authority. [britannica-venezuela, loc-venezuela] - 1908-1935: **The dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gomez** — Gomez seizes power in 1908 and rules until 1935, presiding over the rise of the oil industry while suppressing opposition. [loc-venezuela, britannica-venezuela] - 1922 CE: **Oil gusher at Lake Maracaibo** — A massive blowout at La Rosa on Lake Maracaibo reveals vast reserves; foreign companies pour in and by 1929 Venezuela is a leading oil exporter. [cfr-petrostate, loc-venezuela] Figures: - Juan Vicente Gomez (1857-1935) — Dictator. Ruler of Venezuela from 1908 until his death in 1935, whose harsh dictatorship coincided with the rise of the oil industry that he opened to foreign companies, transforming the nation's economy. ## The Petro-State and the Democratic Era — 1935 - 1998 Oil wealth and dictatorship gave way after 1958 to a durable democracy founded on the Punto Fijo power-sharing pact; for a generation Venezuela was a prosperous, stable exception in the region, until the collapse of oil prices and a debt crisis discredited its political order. - 23 Jan 1958: **Fall of Perez Jimenez and the Punto Fijo pact** — A civil-military uprising ousts the dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez; party leaders sign the Punto Fijo pact, founding four decades of power-sharing democracy. [britannica-venezuela, loc-venezuela] - 1 Jan 1976: **Nationalisation of the oil industry** — Venezuela nationalises its oil industry and creates the state company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the financial engine of the petro-state. [cfr-petrostate, britannica-venezuela] - 27 Feb 1989: **The Caracazo** — Austerity measures amid economic crisis trigger days of rioting in Caracas that are violently suppressed, with heavy loss of life, shaking the political order. [britannica-venezuela, cfr-petrostate] - Feb 1992: **Chavez's failed coup** — Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Chavez leads a failed military coup against the government; jailed and later pardoned, he becomes a national political figure. [britannica-chavez, britannica-venezuela] Figures: - Romulo Betancourt (1908-1981) — President, father of Venezuelan democracy. Founder of Accion Democratica and central architect of the post-1958 democratic order, elected president in the wake of the Punto Fijo pact and remembered as the father of Venezuelan democracy. ## The Bolivarian Revolution and the Crisis — 1999 - present Hugo Chavez's election in 1998 launched the Bolivarian Revolution, a socialist project financed by oil; after his death in 2013 his successor Nicolas Maduro presided over an economic collapse and, by United Nations estimates, the largest exodus of people in the recent history of the Americas. - Dec 1998: **Chavez elected president** — Hugo Chavez wins the presidency promising to sweep aside the old two-party order, launching the Bolivarian project. [britannica-chavez, britannica-venezuela] - Dec 1999: **The Bolivarian Constitution** — A new constitution, approved by referendum, renames the country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and enlarges presidential and state power. [britannica-chavez, britannica-venezuela] - Mar-Apr 2013: **Death of Chavez; Maduro elected** — Hugo Chavez dies of cancer in March 2013, and his chosen successor Nicolas Maduro narrowly wins the ensuing election. [britannica-chavez, crs-venezuela] - from c. 2016: **Economic collapse and exodus** — A deep contraction, hyperinflation and shortages drive a mass emigration that, by UN estimates, exceeds 7.7 million people by late 2024. [unhcr-venezuela, crs-venezuela] - Jan 2019: **Disputed interim presidency** — Opposition leader Juan Guaido declares himself interim president and is recognised by dozens of states, while Maduro retains control of the government. [crs-venezuela, history-state-venezuela] - 28 July 2024: **Disputed presidential election** — The electoral authority declares Maduro re-elected; the opposition rejects the result and the United States and many governments dispute it. [crs-venezuela, history-state-venezuela] Figures: - Hugo Chavez (1954-2013) — President, founder of the Bolivarian Revolution. Army officer who led a failed 1992 coup, won the presidency in 1998, and reshaped Venezuela through the Bolivarian Revolution, a polarising oil-funded socialist project, until his death from cancer in 2013. - Nicolas Maduro (born 1962) — President. Chavez's chosen successor, narrowly elected in 2013, under whom Venezuela suffered a severe economic collapse and mass emigration, and whose 2024 re-election was widely disputed. Machine-readable claims — every event above as an addressable claim ID (TL:VEN:event::) with its sources and a ready citation string: https://terralore.co/country/VEN/chronicle.claims.json ## References - [britannica-venezuela] Venezuela — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Venezuela - [britannica-independence] Venezuela: The independence movement — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Venezuela/The-independence-movement - [britannica-bolivar] Simon Bolivar — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Simon-Bolivar - [britannica-miranda] Francisco de Miranda — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francisco-de-Miranda - [britannica-carabobo] Battle of Carabobo — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Carabobo - [britannica-paez] Jose Antonio Paez — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jose-Antonio-Paez - [britannica-chavez] Hugo Chavez — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hugo-Chavez - [loc-venezuela] Venezuela: A Country Study — U.S. Library of Congress, Federal Research Division · https://www.loc.gov/resource/frdcstdy.venezuelacountry00hagg/ - [history-state-venezuela] A Guide to the History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations: Venezuela — U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian · https://history.state.gov/countries/venezuela - [crs-venezuela] Venezuela: Background and U.S. Relations (CRS Report R44841) — Congressional Research Service, U.S. Library of Congress · https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R44841 - [unhcr-venezuela] Venezuela Situation — United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) · https://www.unhcr.org/emergencies/venezuela-situation - [unesco-coro] Coro and its Port — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/658/ - [cfr-petrostate] Venezuela: The Rise and Fall of a Petrostate — Council on Foreign Relations · https://www.cfr.org/backgrounders/venezuela-crisis - [encyclopedia-federal-war] Federal War (Venezuela, 1859-1863) — Encyclopedia.com (Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture) · https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/federal-war-venezuela-1859-1863 Citation template: Terralore, "The Chronicle of Venezuela: From the indigenous peoples of the Orinoco and the coast Columbus reached in 1498, through the Spanish 'little Venice' and the Captaincy General of Caracas, to the cradle of South American independence, the petro-state built on Lake Maracaibo oil, and the Bolivarian Revolution and crisis of the present.", terralore.co/country/VEN/chronicle, retrieved .