Venezuela was discovered by Columbus on his third voyage to America August 1, 1498, at the time of his visit being the home of more than 150 different tribes of warlike Indians, who resisted to their limit the attempts made by Spain to conquer them and explore the country. In 1520, Cumana, on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, was founded and is the oldest European settlement in this hemisphere. The Indians, however, kept up a continuous warfare against the invaders, being gradually pushed into the interior while the conquerors established themselves along the coast in towns fortified to resist invasion from the buccaneers who paid them many visits.
An attempt at independence was made in 1718, which was suppressed. Although quasi loyal to the Spanish crown, there were many abortive attempts at revolution, which finally assumed definite form in 1810 when the citizens of Caracas revolted openly, and declared Venezuela independent July 5, 1811. Spain, however, put down this uprising and reestablished its authority, maintaining control of the colony until August 7, 1819, when Simon Bolivar defeated the Castilian army, and made Venezuela one of the three States of Greater Colombia. With the breaking up of this alliance Venezuela became absolutely independent September 22, 1830.
Venezuela is situated in the northern tip of South America with a northwestern boundary of 2000 miles on the Caribbean Sea. To the east she is bounded by British Guiana, on the south by Brazil and the west by Colombia, a total area of 393,976 square miles, although it is really doubtful if the exact extent of the country is known, especially along the Brazilian frontier. It is as large as Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa.
There are three different mountain regions in Venezuela—a continuation of the Andes—the Coastal Range and the Parima Range, between which are many high plateaus. The mountain ranges reach an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet, while the highest plateau is about 6000 feet.
Owing to the mountain systems, Venezuela is divided into three climatic zones: the tropical extending along the coast and up into the valley through the center of which flows the Orinoco River, the semi-tropical zone to be found in the llanos or broad plains or plateau between the mountain ranges, and the temperate zone along the sides of the mountains on which is grown the famous coffee for which the country is noted.
The United States of Venezuela is a federal union with a republican form of government, the States, of which there are 20, being entirely autonomous in their internal affairs. The executive power is vested in a President and two Vice-Presidents, and the legislative in two houses—a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies.
While the official estimate of the population is 2,743,000, it is doubtful if the country has 1,500,000 inhabitants. There are about 400,000 semi-nomadic Indians, the remainder being of mixed blood, part Indian, part negro, part white, or a mixture of all three. Pure white and pure negroes are comparatively few. There are perhaps 20,000 Europeans engaged in business and located in the larger cities, the countries represented in the order of their population being Germany, Italy, France, Spain, England and a very few Americans.
In the northwest of the country is situated Lake Maracaibo, 370 miles in circumference, covering an area of 8000 square miles, and navigable over its entire surface. This lake is accessible to the Caribbean Sea by a strait 34 miles long and varying from 8 to 12 miles in width. Its channel permits the entrance of ocean-going vessels of 5000 tons or less.
The fluvial systems of Venezuela are numerous, there being about 70 rivers navigable for shallow-draft boats for over 6000 miles, the third largest river in the world—the Orinoco—with its many tributaries contributing some 4000 miles of this distance. About 600 miles up this river is situated the town of Ciudad Bolivar, formerly known as Angostura, where the bitters of that name were first made. Regular lines of ocean-going vessels and steamboats run to this inland port, the river being navigable for smaller vessels to San Fernando de Apuri, where the Apuri River joins it over a thousand miles from its mouth. It drains a territory of over 370,000 square miles. Other navigable rivers are the Meta, the Portuguesa, the Yaracuy, and the Escalante. Along the coast of Venezuela there are about 50 harbors and 32 ports.
For its size there are few railways in Venezuela, the total mileage being about 550, and the chances are that it will be many years before there will be any marked activity in this field, due to the topography of the country, its lack of population and its tendency to revolutions. Some idea of the conditions confronting the engineer may be had when I state that the German railway from Caracas to Valencia, a distance of 111 miles, is cut through the mountains in 86 different tunnels and passes over 212 bridges, often coming out of a tunnel on a bridge and into a tunnel again. Every time a revolution started some of its bridges were blown up or tunnels blocked. The English road from La Guaira to Caracas, a distance of 23 miles, has nowhere 50 feet of straight track and goes up the mountain its entire length at a gradient of 4 per cent. The road from Valencia to Puerto Cabello, a distance of 33 miles, owned by an English company, requires a rack and pinion supplemental track to negotiate some of its climbs.