EDUCATION AND limmoN. The early culture of the people of Caracas, commented upon by 1Tumboldt. gained for that city the title of 'the Paris of Latin America,' and Venezuelan writers have occupied a brilliant position in the Spanish American literary field. (See SPANISII -AMERICAN LITERATURE.) In 1870 education was made free and compulsory. The town schools are fairly well kept up, hut in the country districts there is a great indifference shown toward education. Possibly 25 per cent. of the population can read and write. For primary instruction there are about 1450 Federal and 150 State schools. There is a central university at. Caracas and there are five universities in other parts of the Republic. The University of Corneas has a school of engi neering and other professional schools, an obser vatory, and a national library. The State re ligion is _Roman Catholicism, but other forms are tolerated, though most of the Protestants (over •4000) are foreigners.
IlisTonv. The coast of Venezuela was first sighted by Columbus during his voyage of 1498, and a year later Ojella and Vespueins exandmd it more carefully, giving to it. the name of 'Little Venice' on account of some Indian villages which they observed built upon piles or stakes in Lake Maracaibo. In 1527 .Inan Anilines, who was sent from Santo Doming,o to settle sonie differences the 111di:Ing and a small Spanish colony, founded the eity of Coro, which remained the seat of government until 157(i, when it was transferred to Carficas. About the time of the establish ment of Coro, Charles \T., whose European wars hail obliged him to borrow extensively, agreed with the Augsburg banking and merchant firm of the Welsers to grant them the entire Province of Venezuela, in return for advances of money. In 1528 Ambrose Alfinger sailed for the colony, with a force of 400 adventurers, representing the new rulers. Disappointed in the expectation of finding mines of gold ready to he exploited, he and his successor, George Sidra, who brought over another body of retainers in 1533, raided the in terior regions for produce, enslaving the natives, and demondizing the whole country, so that in 1545 Charles V. rescinded the grant. The country was now intrusted to a governor sent from Spain. The rest of the sixteenth century was marked by exploring expeditions, the founding of settlements and cities, and wars with the natives. Early in the seventeenth century the Biscay:in merchant organization, Compafifa Guipuzeonna, secured the right to control the Venezuelan trade, on condition that it put an end to the illicit trade with Curacao and chance foreign ships. For fifty years this worked fairly well, but event ually the CompaiMa found it more profitable to enter into arrangements of mutual advantage with the Curacao merchants. This soon led to
great popular opposition, threatening civil war in 1748, but the Compafifa maintained its hold unlit 1773. The nominal government was in the hands of a Captain-General, subordinate to the royal audiencia at Sa,rito Domingo, for most of the time down to 17S6, when an independent audi eneia was established at Car:teas.
The history of the war for independence against Spain in Venezuela is to a great extent the record of the careers of and Bolivar. After the failure of the expedition of 1806, 31iranda retired to London, where Bolivar found him and took him back to Venezuela, to become the military leader of the patriots. A popular uprising gave the revolutionists command of the capital, and on April 19, 1310, the local council at Caracas de posed the royal Governor and selected a junta o• council to rule during the regency in Spain. The next year Bolivar led a popular demonstration which culminated in a formal manifesto or dec laration of independence and the proclamation of a republican constitutional government. Mean while, Don Domingo Monteverde took command of the royalist forces and gradually gained the upper hand over the patriots. The fortress of Puerto Cabello was betrayed to him, and Bolivar was forced to retire to La Guayra. Miranda, un able to maintain an army in the field, concluded a peace, July 29, 1312, and joined Bolivar, by whom he was arrested and handed over to the Spanish commander. Bolivar took refuge in Car tagena, raised an army, and in August, 1813, re entered Caracas in triumph. In 1815 he was forced to retire to Jamaica, but in January, 1817, he returned, established a government at Angos tura, and had himself elected President o• dicta tor, a position which be succeeded in making se cure by December, 1819, when the Congress at Angostura elected him President of Colombia, representing a new republic embracing Venezuela and New Granada. CM .Tune 24. 1821, the de cisive victory of Bolivar and Paez (q.v.) at Carabobo over the royalist army practically ended the Spanish domination in thiLi part of South America. In 1829 Venezuela. under the influence of Paez, seceded from Colombia and constituted itself an independent republic. The subsequent history of the country was uneventful until 1846, when an era of insurrections and civil wars began between the conservative and liberal factions, which lasted, with scarcely a break, down to 1870. In 1851 a law for the abolition of slavery was enacted. In 1SK4 a federal constitu tion was adopted.