Other Definitions
venezuela (dest)
venezuela (enc)
venezuela (dict)
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VenezuelaThe first aboriginals are believed to have reached what is today Venezuela 15,000 years ago - and the three main Indian influences are the Caribs from the Orinoco basin (credited with the invention of the hammock), the Arawaks from the Amazon and the Otomaks. These nomadic peoples relied on hunting for their livelihood because of the difficulties involved with agriculture. The coastal area where Columbus landed in 1498, on his third voyage to the Americas was then inhabited by tribes of Carib and Arawak Indians, whose houses thatched with palm fronds and built on stilts over the water were vaguely reminiscent of Venice - and so the name Venezuela, or 'little Venice'. The first of the conquistadors was Diego de Ordaz, who landed in 1531, but neither he nor subsequent expeditions managed at first to establish permanent settlements because of the fierce resistance put up by the Indians, whose last uprising (led by chief Chiparapa) was put down in 1652. The first fort was at Cumaná, founded in 1650 by Aragon monks and French Jesuits, but the capital was later established at Coro; Caracas was only founded in 1567, in the hills above the port of La Guaira, and the capital transferred there in 1576. The main method of conquest thereafter was through missionary zeal. Venezuela was Spain's most successful agricultural colony, first with cacao and then, towards the end of the 18th century, coffee. The battles for Independence were fought between 1749 and 1830, during which Simón Bolívar became a national hero and built his dream of Gran Colombia (from what is today Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, northern Peru and Venezuela), only to have it broken again in 1830, when General Paez declared Venezuela a republic. Much of the decay in the old colonial forts took place after this time, as they were considered anti-republican. Further growth was slow until 1914, when oil was discovered near Maracaibo. This transformed the economy, and today Venezuela is the third largest producer in OPEC, with particularly large reserves of heavy bitumen in the south-eastern Orinoco belt. The extra revenue meant that the road system could be developed to become the envy of South America, and Caracas and other central cities virtually rebuilt. After a string of dictators, democracy was established in 1958 and has continued to the present day with elections every five years. The dependence on oil revenues has meant that other sectors such as agriculture and tourism have been under-developed and with the late 1970's fall in oil prices inflation has risen somewhat from the previous 10% levels, as successive governments realised they must diversify. The discovery of very rich iron ore deposits (more than 60%), as well as gold, diamonds and nickel, has meant that the mining sector has been the most buoyant part of the economy since about 1984. There was an attempted coup d'état in February 1992, and again later in the year, when some members of the parachute regiment tried unsuccessfully to oust the president, Carlos Andrés Pérez. While he was undoubtedly unpopular at the time, public and international opinion was outraged and the net result has been to continue the necessary austerity measures, but with more attention to the feelings of the people! In May 1993 the High Court ruled that the President could be tried on corruption charges (misuse of a secret Government fund), and Pérez was suspended from office until his position could be clarified, and the correct constitutional procedure decided to fill the gap until Presidential elections in December 1993. In a way he brought this on himself by his appointment of non-political judges in a policy of more openness. Congress appointed Ramón Velásquez as interim president until the next elections, in December 1993, when Dr Rafael Caldera was elected president. After that, despite the so far successful attempts by other South American countries (such as Brazil and Argentina) to control inflation, the economy has entered a severe recession and annual inflation has increased. Several banks collapsed and foreign investors have shown little interest. Hugo Chávez, leader of the unsuccessful 1992 coup, was elected president in 1999 with a large popular majority.
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