Cultural, Geographical and Historical information about

1. Notes of Venezuela Spanish 2 Denver High School (Mrs. Huff)

2. Location On the Northern coast of South America, touching the Caribbean Sea Bordering Guyana (east), Brazil (south) and Colombia (west)

3. 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

4. 23 States And 1 Federal District (Caracas) and 1 zone of dispute with Guyana

5. People and Population 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 Population is 29,105,632 Pop. of Texas = 25,000,000 An estimated 1,000,000 illegal immigrants live in Venezuela (mostly from Colombia)

6. 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

7. 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

8. Government President: Hugo Chavéz Took office in 1999 Very controversial figure; major opposition in 1997 Free, universal health care for everybody

9. 13,000 – 17,000 BCE Hunting artifacts, tools and tribal remains in Venezuela

10. 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”

11. African Slaves brought to Venezuela to work in gold mines 1550’s: Slave trade strong in South American/Caribbean (becomes popular in the US)

12. 1770’s Venezuela’s economy is largely agricultural, thanks to the cocoa industry

13. 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

14. 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

15. 1899-1925  Big Men, Big Guns Military strongmen operate Venezuela No one leader Very poor nation with an unstable and dangerous government and economy

16. Venezuela Hearts Baseball 1941: After a World Baseball exhibition game in Havana, Cuba, baseball becomes popular in Hispanic countries (very much so in Venezuela)

17. 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

18. 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

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

20. 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