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General Knowledge :: HISTORICAL EVENTS BY COUNTRY :: VENEZUELA

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Venezuela

Venezuela: Historical Dates

AD 1498	Christopher Columbus became the first European to visit what is now Venezuela.
1500s	Spanish settlers began arriving in Venezuela. They brought diseases that killed many native Caribs and Arawaks.
1811	Venezuela became the first Spanish colony to declare its independence, but Spanish forces still occupied much of the colony.
1819	Simón Bolívar became president of the Republic of Gran Colombia (Great Colombia), which came to include what are now Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama.
1821	Bolívar decisively defeated Spanish forces at the Battle of Carabobo near Valencia.
1829	Venezuela broke away from Gran Colombia. The following year a new constitution established Venezuela as a republic. The new country was marked by political instability.
1870-1888	Antonio Guzmán Blanco brought stability to the Venezuelan government and encouraged foreign investment.
1908-1935	Juan Vicente Gómez held total control of Venezuela. He helped develop the country's petroleum industry after large reserves of petroleum were discovered near Maracaibo in 1917.
1945-1958	Venezuela experienced another period of political upheaval as the country alternated between dictatorship, civilian rule, and military rule. Civilian rule was reestablished in 1958.
1961	Venezuela adopted its present constitution, which provides for democratic civilian rule.
1969	The ruling party peacefully handed over power to the opposition for the first time in Venezuela's history.
1973	Venezuela joined the Andean Group, a cooperative economic and political association of South American countries.
1976	The government nationalized the petroleum industry. Earnings soared as oil prices rose.
1980s	The Venezuelan economy suffered as oil prices fell, but the country's standard of living remained one of the highest in Latin America.
1992	Military forces twice tried to seize power, but each time were defeated by troops loyal to the government. Popular demonstrations and bombings occurred to protest economic austerity measures.
1994	A banking crisis worsened Venezuela's already slumping economy. Civil and economic rights were suspended as President Caldera began to implement his economic recovery plan.
1995	Caldera reinstated suspended civil liberties. Steps were taken to privatize the oil and mining industries, and government subsidies on petrol were drastically reduced.
1999	Voters approved a new constitution, which expanded the presidential term from five years to six and allowed the president to seek consecutive terms. Congress was changed from a bicameral structure to a unicameral National Assembly.