1520-1556 1830-1870





Venezuela Spanish, 1556-1819



A.) Spanish administration, 1556-1810

In 1556 the Spanish crown again took over the administration of Venezuela. The city of Valencia was founded in 1555, Caracas in 1567, the latter by Diego de Losada. The area, called Captaincy of Venezuela, was now placed under the Audiencia of Santa Fe de Bogota, which again was subject to the Viceroyalty of Peru.
A diocesis was established with seat in Caro in 1531; in 1637 it was transferred to Caracas. It was placed under the authority of the archbishop of Santa Fe de Bogota.

Venezuela's economy was based on agriculture. From the 1620es onward, the export of the Cocoa Bean, from which chocolate is made, was the most profitable export product. Both Spanish immigration and the import of slaves picked up, into a region hitherto rather neglected by the Spanish administration.
In 1728, the exclusive rights to trade with Venezuela were given to the Caracas Company (full name : Real Compana Guizpocoana de Caracas), a monopoly harming the economic development of the colony. The monopoly placed Venezuelan cacao plantation owners at a disadvantage; they revolted in 1749. Spain's administration regarded Venezuela (as the other colonies) as a supplementary economy, supplementary to that of the motherland. In 1777, the seat of the Captaincy of Venezuela was moved to Caracas, in 1786 the captaincy was elevated to Audiencia of Caracas.
In 1803, the diocesis of Caracas was elevated into an archdiocesis.


B.) Struggle for Independence, 1810-1819

Forced to deal only with the Caracas Company, the cocoa growers had become dissatisfied with the political situation and with the treatment the colony was given by Spain. When Spain lived through a popular war against a French-imposed king and government, Caracas and all of Venezuela emerged as a center of the independence movement. Independence was declared in 1810, and when a Spanish expedition arrived in 1814, much of the fighting took place here. In Simon Bolivar and Antonio Jose de Sucre, Venezuela produced two of the leading figures of South America's independence movement. Independence, as part of Great Colombia (capital Bogota) was achieved in 1819.



EXTERNAL
FILES 		Article from Infoplease : Venezuela
Links on Venezuelan History from MIT
Library of Congress, Country Studies : Venezuela
Article from Catholic Encyclopedia : Venezuela
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Tucacas, pp.261-268 in : Mordechai Arbell, The Jewish Nation of the Caribbean, Jerusalem : Gefen 2002
John Charles Chasteen, Born in Blood and Fire. A Concise History of Latin America, N.Y. : W.W. Norton 2002



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on October 30th 2005

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