History

Pre-History

Human habitation of Venezuela is estimated to have commenced at least 15,000 years ago, from which period leaf-shaped flake tools, together with chopping and plano-convex scraping implements, have been found exposed on the high riverine terraces of the Rio Pedregal in western Venezuela. Late Pleistocene hunting artefacts, including spear tips, have been found at a similar series of sites in north-western Venezuela known as 'El Jobo'; according to radiocarbon dating, these date from 13,000 to 7,000 BC.

Spanish Colonisation

Venezuela was colonised by Spain in 1522, when Nueva Toledo, the first permanent South American settlement, was established in what is now the city of Cumaná. 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.

By the middle of the 16th century, there were still few 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.

During the 16th and 17th century, the provinces that constitute today's Venezuela were relatively neglected. The Viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru (located on the sites formerly occupied by the capital cities of the Aztecs and Incas) were more interested in their nearby gold and silver mines than in the agricultural societies of Venezuela. Responsibility for the Venezuelan territories shifted between the two Viceroyalties.

In the 18th century, a second Venezuelan society formed along the coast when cocoa plantations were established, this time manned by much larger importations of African slaves. Quite a number of black slaves were also to be found in the haciendas of the grassy llanos.

The Province of Venezuela was under the jurisdiction of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (created in 1717). The Province was then transformed into the Captaincy General of Venezuela in 1777. The Compañía Guipuzcoana de Caracas held a close monopoly on trade with Europe.

19th Century: Independence

The Venezuelans began to grow restive under colonial control toward the end of the eighteenth century. The Napoleonic Wars in Europe weakened Spain's imperial power and the Venezuelans achieved home rule after a coup on April 19, 1810, and later declared independence from Spain on July 5, 1811. The war for independence ensued. On December 17, 1819 the Congress of Angostura established Gran Colombia's independence from Spain. After several more years of war, which killed half of Venezuela's white population, the country achieved independence from Spain in 1821 under the leadership of its most famous son, Simón Bolívar. Venezuela, along with what are now Colombia, Panama and Ecuador, was part of the Republic of Gran Colombia until 1830, when Venezuela separated and became a sovereign country.

Much of Venezuela's 19th century history was characterised by periods of political instability, dictatorial rule of the caudillos, and revolutionary turbulence.

Starting in 1870, Venezuela experienced increasing economic and political centralisation. Antonio Guzmán Blanco (1870-1888) took control over customs revenues through an alliance with regional caudillos and the financial sector. Cipriano Castro (1899-1908) and Juan Vicente Gómez (1908-1935) founded a professionalized army with a centralised command structure. These institutions were vital in ensuring that, in contrast to other oil abundant countries, Venezuela would experience growing political stability as a result of the influx of oil revenues that occurred after 1921.

20th Century Venezuela

The first half of the 20th century was marked by periods of authoritarianism, including dictatorships by General Juan Vicente Gómez from 1908 to 1935, when Venezuela became a major oil exporter. A military junta ruled after his death. Leftist Dr. Rómulo Betancourt and the Acción Democrática (AD, 'Democratic Action party') won a majority of seats in a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution in 1946. A well-known writer, Rómulo Gallegos, candidate of Betancourt's party, became Venezuela's first democratically elected president in 1947. Within eight months, Gallegos was overthrown by a military-backed coup led by Marcos Pérez Jiménez, who was himself ousted in 1958.

Since the overthrow of Pérez Jiménez and the military's withdrawal from direct involvement in national politics, Venezuela has enjoyed an unbroken tradition of civilian democratic rule, of which Rómulo Betancourt, president from 1958 to 1964, laid the foundation. In the 1960s, the AD and the Christian Democratic Comité de Organización Política Electoral Independiente (COPEI) parties agreed to limit Venezuela's elections to an exclusive competition between these two parties, a system known as puntofijismo.

February 27, 1989 saw a wave of protests, riots and looting known as the Caracazo, where it is estimated that thousands of Venezuelans were killed after the then-president Carlos Andrés Pérez, a member of the AD political party, decided to suspend the constitutional rights of the citizens, thus allowing the armed forces to confront the rioters by violent means. This led to the failed coup attempts of 1992. In 1998, Hugo Chávez, a leader of the February 1992 coup attempt, was elected President, ending the era of political domination by the AD and COPEI.

1998 to Present: Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution

Hugo Chávez, a former paratroop lieutenant-colonel who led an unsuccessful coup d'état in 1992, was elected President in December 1998 on a platform that called for the creation of a 'Fifth Republic', a new constitution, a new name ('the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela'), and a new set of social relations between socioeconomic classes. In 1999, voters approved a referendum on a new constitution, and in 2000, re-elected Chávez, also placing many members of his Fifth Republic Movement political party in the National Assembly. Supporters of Chávez call the process symbolised by him the Bolivarian Revolution, and organise themselves in open, local, participatory assemblies called Bolivarian Circles.

Opposition

Chávez has faced strong opposition to his policies. A business-labour general work stoppage was called in December 2001, followed by an attempted coup in April 2002, and another general work stoppage in December 2002, shutting down the state oil company PDVSA for two months and crippling the Venezuelan economy.

In August, 2004, Chávez faced a recall referendum, but 59% of the voters voted to allow Chávez to remain in office. During the run-up to the election, government deputy Luis Tascón published on his web page the list and identity card numbers of those who had signed the petition to hold the referendum against Chávez. A statistical study by Roberto Rigobón (MIT) and Ricardo Hausmann (Harvard University) said they had found statistical evidence that the electoral council had manipulated the electoral audit. The Organisation of American States and the Carter Centre certified the voting results as representative of the votes cast, and Jimmy Carter stated that in his opinion it was fairer than the voting process in Florida during the 2000 US Presidential election.

Hugo Chávez won the presidential elections in on 3 December 2006. There were observers from different organizations, among them from the European Union.