Venezuela historical timeline

Chronology

1498 — Christopher Columbus, on his third voyage, sails near the Orinoco Delta and lands in the Gulf of Paria, struck by the volume of fresh water pushing his course eastward. The river he could not see is the one the country still runs on.
1499 — Alonso de Ojeda's expedition reaches the coast, and the stilt houses around Lake Maracaibo remind Amerigo Vespucci of Venice. The name means "little Venice", and the palafitos that prompted it are still built on the lake.
1522 — Spain begins colonising the mainland and founds its first permanent South American settlement at what is now Cumaná, against indigenous resistance.
1528–1546 — The king of Spain grants a concession to the German Welser family, bankers to the Habsburgs, and Klein-Venedig becomes the largest German colonial venture in the Americas. Ambrosius Ehinger founds Maracaibo in 1529. Venezuela is the one South American country that spent two decades under German rather than Spanish administration.
1811 — After the revolution of 19 April 1810, Francisco de Miranda — a marshal who had fought in both the American and French revolutions — leads the declaration of the First Republic on 11 July, among the first Spanish American territories to break away.
1814 — With Napoleon out of Spain, a large expeditionary force under Pablo Morillo arrives to retake Venezuela and New Granada, and the war reaches stalemate by 1817.
1821 — The Battle of Carabobo on 24 June secures sovereignty, and the naval victory at Lake Maracaibo on 24 July 1823 seals it. Carabobo is the national battle and 24 June the army's day.
1830 — A rebellion led by José Antonio Páez takes Venezuela out of Gran Colombia and proclaims it independent on 22 September. Páez then holds the presidency three times, which sets the century's pattern.
1854 — Slavery is abolished. Most of the rest of the 19th century is political turmoil and dictatorial rule.
1895 — The long dispute with Britain over the Essequibo — claimed by Britain as part of British Guiana and by Venezuela as its own — erupts into the Venezuela crisis of 1895. The claim is still live, and is why maps printed in Venezuela show a different border from maps printed anywhere else.
1899 — Cipriano Castro seizes power in Caracas with Juan Vicente Gómez, defaults on the foreign debt and refuses compensation to foreigners, inviting European naval intervention.
1914–1918 — Massive oil deposits are found in Lake Maracaibo during the First World War, turning an agricultural exporter into an oil state and starting a boom that runs into the 1980s.
1935 — Gómez, the most powerful man in the country until his death, leaves a dictatorship that continues in his name to 1945.
1945–1948 — A civilian-military coup opens a democratic period under Democratic Action, first with Rómulo Betancourt and then Rómulo Gallegos, who wins the 1947 election. A military junta under Pérez Jiménez rules from 1948 to 1958.
1976 — The oil industry is nationalised, three years after an election that coincided with the oil crisis and a surge in national income.
1989 — Security forces and the military kill hundreds of people in the Caracazo riots. Carlos Andrés Pérez is impeached on embezzlement charges in 1993.
1998 — Hugo Chávez is elected amid a collapse of confidence in the existing parties, and a constituent assembly writes a new constitution in 1999, launching the Bolivarian Revolution. He is briefly ousted in a coup attempt in 2002.
2013 — Chávez, re-elected in October 2012 but never sworn in, dies on 5 March. Nicolás Maduro wins the election that follows on 14 April with 51 per cent against Henrique Capriles's 49.
2014 — From February, hundreds of thousands protest over crime, corruption, hyperinflation and chronic scarcity of basic goods. The shortages of medicine, fuel and water that the travel advisories now describe date from this period.
2018 — Maduro wins with 68 per cent; Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, France and the United States call it fraudulent and recognise Juan Guaidó instead. Maduro is inaugurated for a contested second term in January 2019.
2024 — Maduro stands for a third consecutive term against Edmundo González Urrutia of the Unitary Platform, and protests follow. Through 2024 and 2025 the United States begins preparing an intervention, accusing the government of running a narco-terrorist network.

Verified against Wikipedia, September 2026.

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Checked against Wikipedia — In 1498, during his third voyage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus sailed near the Orinoco Delta and landed in the Gulf of Paria, in 1499, an expedition led by Alonso de Ojeda visited the Venezuelan coast. The stilt houses in the area of Lake Maracaibo reminded the Italian navigator,…, Spain's colonization of mainland Venezuela started in 1522, establishing its first permanent South American settlement in the present-day city of Cumana, In the 16th century, the king of Spain granted a concession to the German Welser family. Klein-Venedig became the most extensive initiative in the German…, The first expedition was led by Ambrosius Ehinger, who established Maracaibo in 1529, Venezuela under the leadership of Francisco de Miranda, a Venezuelan marshal who had fought in the American and French Revolutions, declared independence as…, Revolution of 19 April 1810, the beginning of Venezuela's independence, The end of the French invasion of homeland Spain in 1814 allowed a large expeditionary force to come under general Pablo Morillo, with the goal to regain…, The war continued until full victory and sovereignty was attained after the Battle of Carabobo on 24 June 1821. On 24 July 1823, Jose Prudencio Padilla and…, Venezuela remained part of Gran Colombia until 1830, when a rebellion led by Jose Antonio Paez allowed the proclamation of a newly independent Venezuela, on…, Slavery in Venezuela was abolished in 1854. Much of Venezuela's 19th-century history was characterized by political turmoil and dictatorial rule, In 1895, a longstanding dispute with Great Britain about the Essequibo territory, which Britain claimed as part of British Guiana and Venezuela saw as…, In 1899, Cipriano Castro, assisted by his friend Juan Vicente Gomez, seized power in Caracas. Castro defaulted on Venezuela's considerable foreign debts and…, The discovery of massive oil deposits in Lake Maracaibo during World War I proved pivotal for Venezuela and transformed its economy from a heavy dependence…, Gomez remained the most powerful man in Venezuela until his death in 1935. The gomecista dictatorship (1935-45) system largely continued under Eleazar Lopez…, In 1945, a civilian-military coup overthrew Angarita and ushered in a period of democratic rule (1945-48) under the mass membership party Democratic Action,…, The most powerful man in the military junta (1948-58) was Perez Jimenez, The 1973 Venezuelan presidential election of Carlos Andres Perez coincided with an oil crisis, in which Venezuela's income exploded as oil prices soared;…, Hundreds of people were killed by security forces and the military in the Caracazo riots of 1989, Perez was impeached under embezzlement charges in 1993, Chavez was elected president in 1998 under a collapse in confidence in the existing parties, which also launched the Bolivarian Revolution, beginning with a…, Chavez was briefly ousted from power in a 2002 Venezuelan coup attempt, Chavez was elected to a third term in October 2012, but was not sworn in due to medical complications and his death was officially announced as 5 March 2013, Maduro became president of Venezuela on 14 April 2013, when he won the presidential election after Chavez' death with 51% of the vote, against Henrique…, Since February 2014, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have protested over high levels of crime, corruption, hyperinflation, and chronic scarcity of…, Maduro won the 2018 election with 68% of the vote. The result was challenged by Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, France and the US,…, Maduro was inaugurated for a contested and controversial second term in January 2019, Maduro ran for a third consecutive term in the 2024 presidential election, while former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia represented the Unitary Platform, Following the growing geopolitical and electoral tensions of 2024 and 2025, the United States' Trump administration began preparing an intervention against… (September 2026).