Independence

After a series of unsuccessful uprisings, Venezuela — under the leadership of Francisco de Miranda, a Venezuelan marshal who had fought in the American Revolution and the French Revolution — declared independence on 5 July 1811.

This began the Venezuelan War of Independence. However, a devastating earthquake that struck Caracas in 1812 — together with the rebellion of the Venezuelan llaneros — helped bring down the first Venezuelan republic. A second Venezuelan republic, proclaimed on 7 August 1813, lasted several months before being crushed as well.

Gran Colombia 1819-1831

Sovereignty was only attained after Simón Bolívar, aided by José Antonio Páez and Antonio José de Sucre, won the Battle of Carabobo on 24 June 1821.

José Prudencio Padilla and Rafael Urdaneta’s victory in the Battle of Lake Maracaibo on 24 July 1823, helped seal Venezuelan independence. New Granada’s congress gave Bolívar control of the Granadian army; leading it, he liberated several countries and founded Gran Colombia.

Sucre, who won many battles for Bolívar, went on to liberate Ecuador and later become the second president of Bolivia. Venezuela remained part of Gran Colombia until 1830, when a rebellion led by Páez allowed the proclamation of a newly independent Venezuela; Páez became the first president of the new republic.

Between one-fourth and one-third of Venezuela’s population was lost during these two decades of warfare (including perhaps one-half of the white population), which by 1830 was estimated at about 800,000.

The colors of the Venezuelan flag are yellow, blue and red, in that order: the yellow stands for land wealth, the blue for the sea that separates Venezuela from Spain and the red for the blood shed by the heroes of independence.

19th Century

Much of Venezuela’s 19th century history was characterized by political turmoil and dictatorial rule, including Independence leader José Antonio Páez, who gained the presidency three times and served a total of eleven years between 1830 and 1863. This culminated in the Federal War (1859–1863), a civil war in which hundreds of thousands died, in a country with a population of not much more than a million people.

In the latter half of the century Antonio Guzmán Blanco, another caudillo, served a total of thirteen years between 1870 and 1887, with three other presidents interspersed.

In 1895 a longstanding dispute with Great Britain about the territory of Guayana Esequiba, which Britain claimed as part of British Guiana and Venezuela saw as Venezuelan territory, erupted into the Venezuela Crisis of 1895.

The dispute became a diplomatic crisis when Venezuela’s lobbyist William L. Scruggs sought to argue that British behaviour over the issue violated the United States’ Monroe Doctrine of 1823, and used his influence in Washington, D.C. to pursue the matter.

Then US President Grover Cleveland adopted a broad interpretation of the Doctrine that did not just simply forbid new European colonies but declared an American interest in any matter within the hemisphere.

Britain ultimately accepted arbitration, but in negotiations over its terms was able to persuade the US on much of the details. A tribunal convened in Paris in 1898 to decide the issue, and in 1899 awarded the bulk of the disputed territory to British Guiana.