Hector A. Ruiz

By 1721, the new Viceroyalty of New Grenada was established and given jurisdiction over the territories that today constitute Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Panama, and Venezuela then became a Province.

During this time, trade emerged as one of the main drivers of the Venezuelan economy, being managed by the Guipuzcoan Company, which held a monopoly on all trade. Foreign commerce opened and all of a sudden, Caracas became a powerhouse city in south America, having commercial relations with England, France and the Netherlands. Venezuela’s main advantage was geographical, being close to colonies of those European Kingdoms.

As the 13 North American Colonies declared their independence on July 4, 1776, Venezuela -still under the rule of the Kingdom of Spain- became a Captaincy General, which was an administrative district that gave the territory more autonomy to reorganize its powers. Some scholars consider the Captaincy General of Venezuela as another Viceroyalty, similar to New Granada (Colombia). The new entity had six provinces: Caracas, Maracaibo, Cumana, Guayana, Trinidad and Margarita.

It wouldn’t take too long for the Captaincy General of Venezuela to follow the steps of the North American 13 Colonies, and shortly after being established, the first movements to declare its independence took place.

In my next entry, I will discuss the causes that led to Venezuela’s independence.

Despite Spain being the first ones to establish themselves in Nueva Cadiz, Santa Cruz, Coro and Cumana, it was Germany the first country to establish a structured government colony in Venezuela.

They called the land Kleine-Venedig (Little Venice), after being obtained from the King of Spain Charles I, who gave colonial rights to the Wesler family from Germany. The Weslers governed the region from 1528 to 1546, and their main interest was to find the legendary city “El Dorado”. They sent several expeditions to find it, the first one being led by Ambrosius Ehunger, who founded of Maracaibo in 1529, followed by Georg von Sprayer and Phillip von Hutten. Kleine-Venedig was also the largest German colony during the colonization of America.

After years of absence of the German governors (due to them being away from the city, searching for El Dorado), Spain took action through newly appointed governor Juan De Carvajal to recover the colony, by ordering the aprehension and eventual execution of all the Germans.

In 1507, the German cartographist Martin Waldseemüller drew the first world map that featured the new lands discovered by Columbus, Ojeda, Vespucci and the subsequent expeditions that followed.

Waldseemüller named the new continent as “America”, after Amerigo Vespucci, using a latin variation of his name in female gender, reasoning that the existing continents Asia and Europa (Europe), had female genders.
The name “America” is written on the map over the land that today is known as “South America”, and the map is titled as: Universalis cosmographia secundum Ptholomaei traditionem et Americi Vespuci aliorumque lustrationes (Universal Cosmography according Ptholomei’s tradition and the discoveries of Amerigo Vespucci and others).

The first two cities founded in Venezuela were Nueva Cadiz (1500) and Santa Cruz (1502). Nueva Cadiz was a settlement founded in the island of Cubagua for the new population seeking pearl oyster beds. Santa Cruz was founded by Alonso de Ojeda in the Goajira peninsula, and it was the first city founded on main land.

Both cities were short lived. Due to internal disputes, indian attacks, and poor weather, Santa Cruz was abandoned just three months after it was founded. Nueva Cadiz saw a few years of prosperity, but after depletion of the pearl ouster beds and devastating seaquake in 1541, the city was finally abandoned.

In my following entry, I will give a quick glimpse of the first European organized government settlement in Venezuela, which contrary to what many believe, was not from Spain.