Notes of VenezuelaSpanish 2Denver High School (Mrs. Huff)

Location

On the Northern coast of South America, touching the Caribbean Sea

Bordering Guyana (east), Brazil (south) and Colombia (west)

Cities and Urban Areas

Capital: Caracas Other major cities:

Maracaibo & Valencia

Venezuela is the most urbanized South American nation

85% of the total population lives in cities in Northern Venezuela

23 StatesAnd 1 Federal District (Caracas) and 1 zone of dispute with Guyana

People and Population

Population is 29,105,632 Pop. of Texas =

25,000,000

An estimated 1,000,000 illegal immigrants live in Venezuela (mostly from Colombia)

Venezuela does not report information about ethnicity (meaning they don’t gather data on the race of the population)

Best estimates say

60% of the pop. = Mestizo or Mulatto

30% of the pop. = European

10% of the pop. = Various Indian tribes

Languages & Geography

Language: Venezuelan Spanish A different type of

Spanish that comes from the Canary Islands

Over 40 different languages regularly spoken in Venezuela

92% Roman Catholic; 7% Christian

Money and Economy

Currency: Bolivar Fuerte

$1.00 US = $4.967 VEF (Bolivar Fuerte)

Has a profitable oil industry and a lot of corruption 13th highest GDP in the

world but most citizens live on less than $2

Government

President: Hugo Chavéz Took office in 1999 Very controversial

figure; major opposition in 1997

Free, universal health care for everybody

13,000 – 17,000 BCEHunting artifacts, tools and tribal remains in Venezuela

1498

Christopher Columbus lands on the Pearl Islands off the coast of Panama and sends explorers out to discover new land

1499 – Explorers arrive in Venezuela and name it “Venezuela”, which means “Little Venice”

African Slaves brought to Venezuela to work in gold mines1550’s: Slave trade strong in South American/Caribbean (becomes popular in the US)

1770’s

Venezuela’s economy is largely agricultural, thanks to the cocoa industry

1808 Problems over in Spain

French take over Spain

French leader Napoleon appoints his brother, Joseph as King of Spain

South American countries are unhappy with Joseph as their King.

1811: Venezuela begins the War for Independence

1821 Independent Super Country

Revolutionary hero and leader Simon Bolivar creates an independent country called Gran Colombia Consists of all of

today’s present day Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela, parts of Guyana, Brazil & Peru

1830 Venezuela separates and becomes own country

1899-1925 Big Men, Big Guns

Military strongmen operate Venezuela

No one leader

Very poor nation with an unstable and dangerous government and economy

Venezuela Hearts Baseball1941: After a World Baseball exhibition game in Havana, Cuba, baseball becomes popular in Hispanic countries (very much so in Venezuela)

1925 – 1980 Struck it Rich

Discovery and export of oil in Venezuela booms the economy Mixed results for the total

population Country has a lot of

money, some rich people

Citizens still poor and needy

1980: Oil market crashes and Venezuela’s economy is crippled

1992 Here Comes Hugo

Hugo Chavez attempts to overthrown the out of control and unstable government leaders

Thrown in jail; later released

1998: Chavez elected president Attempts to disperse

money to low-class through health care and education

Hugo + FidelHugo and Fidel Castro of Cuba become best friends and allies. Adopt a similar leadership style

2002 Unpopular Leader Chavez is overthrown but

regains control after 2 days

2005: United States FBI and CIA discuss attempts to assassinate Hugo Chavez

2006: Hugo is “re-elected” and changes term limits Largely suspected that

he rigged the election No limit on how long a

leader may serve = Hugo Forever