Abstract
Present-day Venezuela was inhabited by hunter-gatherers from at least 3000 BC. The Arawaks and Carib lived mainly in the north and around the Orinoco river system. Christopher Columbus landed at Macuro with three Spanish ships on 5 Aug. 1498. A year later the area was explored by Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci. They named it Venezuela (Little Venice) after the indigenous villages built on stilts over water. Spanish settlements were established on the Caribbean coast from the early 16th century and ruled from Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic). Santiago de León de Caracas, founded in 1567, became the seat of the government of the province of Venezuela in 1578. Cocoa plantations developed slowly and much of the forested interior remained unexplored.
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Further Reading
Dirección General de Estadistica, Ministerio de Fomento, Boletin Mensual de Estadistica.—Anuario Estadistico de Venezuela. Caracas, Annual
Canache, D., Venezuela: Public Opinion and Protest in a Fragile Democracy. Univ. of Miami, 2002
Rudolph, D. K. and Rudolph, G. A., Historical Dictionary of Venezuela. 2nd ed. Scarecrow Press, Metuchen (NJ), 1995
Wilpert, Gre., Changing Venezuela by Taking Power: the History and Policies of the Chavez Government. Verso Books, London, 2006
National Statistical Office: Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, Avenida Boyacá Edificio Fundación La Salle, Piso 4, Maripérez, Caracas.
Website (Spanish only): http://www.ine.gov.ve
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© 2009 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Turner, B. (2009). Venezuela. In: Turner, B. (eds) The Statesman’s Yearbook 2010. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-58632-5_298
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-58632-5_298
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