The 16 th century was a time of exploration and discovery throughout the South American continent. Nueva Cadiz, on the Island of Cubagua, founded in 1516 and later destroyed by an earthquake, was the first Spanish city in South America. Soon afterwards the cities of Coro and Cumana were founded on the mainland and from there, expeditions for the discovery of the territory were conducted under the guidance of the Spanish Crown. Later, in 1567, Caracas were founded by Diego de Losada.

Venezuela's present patterns of settlement were shaped during the process of colonization that characterized the 17 th century. Venezuela consisted of various provinces that depended upon the Spanish Crown but also maintained a certain degree of autonomy. In 1777 Venezuela was made the Captaincy-General and thereby began governing the provinces Margarita, Trinidad, Guyana, Mérida-La Grita and Cumaná or New Andalusia. By 1786 Caracas became the administrative center of the province and of the ecclesiastical, judicial, military and educational institutions.

In the beginning of the over three centuries of Spanish rule Venezuela did not attain the very significant economic and political importance of the major vice-royalties upon which Spain relied for the administration of its American provinces. Its mineral riches had not yet been discovered and its agricultural conditions and climate were less attractive than those of other colonized lands. Venezuela's population remained small, with an economy based mainly on a few agricultural crops, extensive cattle raising and a relatively small share of colonial trade. But this status slowly began to change and at the end of the 18 th century Venezuela had turned into Spain’s most important agricultural colony, mainly because of its production of coffee and cacao.

The Independence War
By the late 18 th century, the strong ideological influence of the European "Enlightenment" and of the American and French Revolutions, combined with widespread discontent with the Spanish economic and political regime, gave rise to the independence movement. In Venezuela two of the most important leaders of the independent movement in Latin America were born: Francisco de Miranda y Simón Bolívar. Indeed, Venezuela was one of the first provinces in the New World to declare itself independent. When Venezuela on April 19 th, 1810 officially declared its independence it meant the beginning of the independence war. Miranda was the leader of the army but he was captured by the Spaniards in 1811 and died in prison in Carraca de Cádiz in 1816.

However, Bolívar continued the battle and after having been forced to flee the country and getting to Haiti in 1815 he began several military campaigns in the northern part of the South American continent and founded Bolivia. In 1819 the Congress of Angostura created the Republic of Gran Columbia, which united Columbia, Panama (which still was part of Columbia), Ecuador and Venezuela. Finally, in 1821, Venezuela achieved full independence from Spain. During this period Venezuela also contributed in a major way to the independence of neighboring countries, but in the wars Venezuela lost nearly one third of its population.

Controversies between Bolívar and another military leader, José Antonio Páez, forced Bolívar into exile where he died (in San Pedro Elejandrino, Columbia) in 1830 and also led to the dissolution of Great Columbia the same year. Páez became the first president of Venezuela as an independent republic.

The remainder of the 19 th century and the early part of the 20 th century were an era of political unrest and strife, known as ”El Caudillismo” and characterized by rivalry between the two principal parties, the Conservatives (los Conservadores) and the Liberals (los Liberales). In 1863 the Liberals won the Federal War, (1859-63), and consolidated a number of democratic principles in the Constitution of 1864. Between 1863 and 1908 political instability dominated the country.

The 20 th century
In 1908 Juan Vicente Gómez took the power after a military coup and so began the longest dictatorship in the history of Venezuela, lasting until the death of Gómez in 1935. During this period the country was unified under a central government and the economy opened towards industrialization. The most dramatic and influential change in this regard, as it later became the basis for Venezuela's modern economy, was the emergence and development of the oil industry. The earliest oil concessions were granted in the 1910's with the first substantial quantities of oil being exported in the early 1920's.

Venezuela ’s transition to a modern democracy was long and difficult. It was not until 1947 that the first direct popular election of a Venezuelan president, Romulo Gallegos, a renowned novelist and candidate of the Democratic Action Party (Accion Democratica), took place, thereby leaving behind for good the system of indirect elections that had prevailed since the beginning of the Republic.

The Gallegos government, however, was short-lived. In November 1948, only nine months after he had taken office, a military coup overthrew Gallegos in what, again, can be characterized as a strong resistance by certain sectors of the Venezuelan society of the time to the imperatives of political modernization.

A period of repressive military rule followed until 1958, when a widespread popular revolt reinstated democracy. The overthrow of the lieutenant colonel Marcos Pérez Jiménez’ dictatorship and the popular election of Romulo Betancourt as President turned a new leaf in Venezuela's history and politics, ushering a period of democratic rule which continues to this day.

Inspired by the publication Venezuelan Arts and Literature, published by the Embassy of Venezuela, Washington DC. Reproduction for commercial purposes is prohibited