At the time of the Spanish Conquest of Venezuela, the region was inhabited by some 500,000 indigenous peoples belonging to three principal ethnolinguistic groups - the Cariban, Arawak and Chibcha. Columbus was the first European to set foot on the soil of what is now Venezuela, and the country was given its name (meaning 'Little Venice') a year later by the explorer Alonso de Ojeda.
The city of Caracas dates back to 1560, when intrepid Francisco Fajardo headed south from the Spanish colony on Isla de Margarita, 40km (25mi) offshore, and discovered the verdant valley that is today entirely taken up by the massive metropolis. Fajardo founded a settlement called San Francisco, but the Toromaima Indians who lived in the valley objected to the Spaniards' incursions. For six years the Indians launched a series of attacks against the settlement, and the governor of the province responded by ordering the complete conquest of the valley. On July 25, 1567, the governor's expeditionary troop decisively overcame Indian resistance and reestablished the settlement, naming it Santiago de León de Caracas: 'Santiago' after the patron saint of Spain, 'León' after the provincial governor, and 'Caracas' after the coastal region's least troublesome Indian group.
Caracas was elected as the administrative seat of the colony in 1577, becoming the third and final capital of Venezuela (Coro was first in 1527-46, followed by El Tocuyo in 1547-77). Twenty years after its establishment, Caracas consisted of 60 families and ranged for 25 blocks surrounding the Plaza Mayor. Development was hindered by constant setbacks: pirate attacks left the city sacked and razed, and subsequent reconstruction was destroyed by earthquake.
However, the lack of material wealth in Venezuela soon led to colonial neglect, which in turn prompted dissatisfaction and resentment among the American-born Spanish elites. The Spanish rulers were eventually thrown out by the young Simón Bolívar, known locally as 'El Libertador'. He seized Venezuela from Spain in 1821 with a decisive victory at Campo Carabobo, near Valencia, aided by British mercenaries and an army of horsemen from Los Llanos. Bolívar had already brought independence to Colombia, and went on, with his lieutenant Antonio José de Sucre, to liberate Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. His dream of a united state of Gran Colombia, which would unify Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, did not survive his death in 1830, when Venezuela declared full independence under a new constitution.
The post-independence period was marked by a succession of military dictators, political coups and economic instability, until the discovery of huge oil reserves in the Maracaibo basin in the 1910s brought some degree of prosperity to the country. By the late 1920s Venezuela had become the world's largest oil exporter, but little of this newfound wealth found its way to the common people. With poverty rife and educational and health facilities in a deplorable state, a series of popular uprisings took place, culminating in the country's first democratic elections in 1947.
Despite recent political stability, Venezuela's political climate continues to be marred by corruption scandals and the threat of a military coup. The country's economy, which was hit hard by the 1988 drop in world oil prices, remains shaky. Then-president Caldera's unconstitutional crackdown on economic speculation and civic freedoms in 1994 incensed civil libertarians, but it took until early 1996 for popular opinion to swing against him. The government's tough measures were designed to bring Venezuela's rampant inflation and alarming currency slump under control, but the bloated public service has resisted attempts to put it on a lo-cal diet. It remains to be seen whether Venezuela's ingrained anachronistic economic culture will be nudged toward a brave new world.
In December 1998 Venezuelans signaled their impatience with the government's impotence, electing a fierce populist, Hugo Chávez, to the presidency with the largest vote margin in 40 years. Just six years earlier, Chávez had attempted a coup against the government and had spent two years in jail for his troubles. Chávez was reelected for a six-year term by a comfortable margin again in 2000.
http://www.interknowledge.com/venezuela/history.htm
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