For centuries peoples of Venezuela lived peacefully and survived by farming, hunting and fishing. Then in 1499 after Christopher Columbus discovered Latin America, a Spaniard named Alonso de Ojeda led another expedition to the coast of Venezuela. Alonso de Ojeda named the country Venezuela (meaning “little Venice”) after seeing huts on stilts. Soon, Spanish began bringing in African slaves. After several years, in 1821 Simon Bolivar finally liberated Venezuela. At first Venezuela joined Colombia and Ecuador to make a country called Gran Colombia. However Gran Colombia soon broke apart and Venezuela became a completely independent country in 1830. During the 19th century military dictators called Caudillos ruled Venezuela. The first was José Antonio Paez, who ruled Venezuela until 1848. Later then, Venezuela suffered civil wars, after which General Antonio Guzmán Blanco was a caudillo from 1870-1888. Though in 1902 Venezuela chose not to pay interest on loans from Britain, Germany and Italy, which later led to a blockade in the Venezuelan ports. Then, in 1914 oil was discovered in Venezuela, …show more content…
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