Venezuela History

Three principal ethnolinguistic groups - the Cariban, Arawak and Chibcha were the first inhabitants of Venezuela. Columbus was the first to discover this area. Alonso de Ojeda gave the country its name (“Little Venice”). The Spanish and the Germans had a constant fight because of the territory. The young Simón Bolívar (El Libertador) seized Venezuela from Spain in 1821. He dreamt to create a united state of Gran Colombia, which included Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. Venezuela declared its independence in 1830. The economy of the country was very depressive until huge oil reserves in the Maracaibo basin were discovered. It gave some prosperity to the country. The first democratic elections in Venezuela took place in 1947. The drop in world oil prices in 1988 resulted in the stagnation of the country’s economy. Venezuela needed a lot of time to overcome this situation. In December 1998 Venezuelans electing a populist Hugo Chavez, who was reelected in 2000.