Venezuela

F

Defense

All Venezuelan males between the ages of 18 and 45 are liable for 30 months of military service. In 2004 Venezuela maintained combined armed forces, made up of the army, navy, air force, and national guard, of 82,300 people.

G

Health and Welfare

The Venezuelan government sponsors a limited program of health, accident, and retirement insurance. The average life expectancy at birth in 2007 was 78 years for women and 72 for men.+

VI

History

Christopher Columbus first sighted the coast of Venezuela in 1498. In 1499 Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda followed the coast to Lake Maracaibo. He named the region Venezuela, or Little Venice, because the Native American buildings constructed on stilts along the lake’s edge reminded him of the Italian city of Venice, which was built on a series of islands in a lagoon.

A

Spanish Colony

The Spanish began settling Venezuela in 1520. In 1528 Charles V of Spain granted to the Welsers, Bavarian bankers to whom he was in debt, the part of Venezuela lying between Cape Vela and Maracapana. As part of the arrangement, the Welsers were to develop the region and establish settlements. Instead, their representatives enslaved the Native Americans and so demoralized the European settlers that in 1546 the Spanish government revoked the grant and reassumed control.The city of Caracas was founded in 1567.

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Economic activities in the colonial period centered on agriculture, particularly cacao and tobacco farming and some livestock raising. Venezuela became a center of piracy and smuggling, activities in which the English and the Dutch were the most notorious participants.

During the colonial period, Venezuela operated under a number of administrative jurisdictions. Originally, the Spanish authorities divided what is now Venezuelan territory between the Viceroyalty of Peru and the Audiencia of Santo Domingo (located in what is now the Dominican Republic). The Superintendency of Venezuela, more or less the present territory, was created in 1783.

In 1728 the Spanish government chartered the Guipuzcoana Company and gave it a monopoly of trade in Venezuela, with the additional duties of patrolling the coast to prevent smuggling. The company was very unpopular and did much to stir up political discontent in the colony. In addition, the Spanish policy of appointing peninsulares (individuals born in Spain) to the major administrative positions in their American colonies caused much resentment among Creoles (Spaniards born in the colonies), who were excluded from positions of power.

B

Independence

The first decisive attempt by a Spanish American colony to gain independence from Spain was made by Venezuela. In 1808 the armies of French emperor Napoleon I overran Spain and Portugal. They deposed Ferdinand VII of Spain. In 1810 the Creoles in the cabildo, or town council, of Caracas overthrew the Spanish authorities and formed a junta, or governing body, to rule in the name of the king. However, the junta soon threw aside all pretense of loyalty to the Spanish crown and issued a formal declaration of independence on July 5, 1811.

This first attempt to gain independence faltered after 1812, when Spanish troops began reconquering the colony. Francisco de Miranda, the commander in chief of the revolutionary forces, tried to negotiate peace with the Spanish commander but was taken to Spain, where he died in prison. Leadership in the movement for independence passed to one of his lieutenants, Simón Bolívar, who recovered control of Caracas briefly in 1813, only to be driven out by the Spanish a year later.

Spanish rule was solidified in Venezuela after the arrival of a large force of Spanish troops in 1815. Bolívar, whose forces were too weak to oppose the Spanish army, withdrew to Haiti. In 1816, however, he returned to the mainland with a reinforced army and seized control of the lower Orinoco Valley. Over the next few years Bolívar gathered his forces. In 1819 Bolívar’s position was further strengthened when a congress, convened by him at Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar), proclaimed a union of New Granada (now Colombia and Panama), Venezuela, and Ecuador under the name of the Republic of Colombia (also known as Gran Colombia), with Bolívar as president. On June 24, 1821, the Spanish army was decisively beaten in Venezuela at the Battle of Carabobo, assuring the independence of the new nation.

Venezuela seceded from the union in 1829 and formed an independent republic with its capital at Caracas. José Antonio Páez, a hero of the revolution, served as president and remained the dominant political figure until 1846. He was tolerant toward the Roman Catholic Church and fostered a few measures for the stimulation of trade, agriculture, and education.

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