Venezuela- History

By Ekaterina Zhdanova-Redman

¹     Venezuela is a beautiful country in South America with an ironic history. It is a country that interested Europeans who took it over, then became a country that no one wanted. Throughout its history, Venezuela's fortune has gone back and forth from good to bad.

 
²     Venezuela's human history dates back thousands of years. Long before Europeans arrived in South America, there were native groups already living on the land that is modern-day Venezuela. The native groups were the Caraban, Arawak, and Chibcha. These groups ruled the land when the first European arrived. You've probably heard this European's name. He was an Italian named Christopher Columbus.

 
³     Columbus is said to have discovered America in 1492, but it wasn't for another six years before Columbus would set foot on American mainland. Columbus landed on the Venezuelan shores on August 1, 1498. He didn't have any idea how big the South American continent was. In fact, he thought it was just an island. He also thought Venezuela was so beautiful, that it must be the Garden of Eden.

 
⁴     More Europeans followed Columbus, and by 1521, there was a permanent Spanish settlement in Venezuela. This settlement was at Cumana. The native people in Venezuela fought hard against the Europeans who settled there, but lost much of their land, their people, and their culture to the Europeans. Disease was especially hard on the natives. The Europeans brought with them smallpox, which killed more than two-thirds of the population of the Caracas Valley.

 
⁵     The Europeans who settled in Venezuela weren't satisfied with the country's natural beauty. They wanted to get rich, and Venezuela didn't have gold or silver. Because of this, the Europeans soon ignored Venezuela while searching for riches elsewhere in South America. This neglect began the road toward independence. The man leading this drive was named Simon Bolivar.

 
⁶     Bolivar was born in Venezuela. As a young man, he came to despise Spanish rule of Venezuela. With the help of local and British forces, Bolivar fought and conquered the Spanish. The deciding battle was at Campo Carabobo in 1821. Before he liberated Venezuela, he had already liberated Colombia. He left Venezuela to liberate Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru. He is known and celebrated in South America as "El Libertador."