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Christopher Columbus lands on the Paria Peninsula. Columbus first thought he had found the Garden of Eden because of its sense of paradise. The land was occupied by small indian tribes including the Yanomamo, Pemon, Warao, Baniwa, Kali'na, Motilone Barí, Ye'kuana, and Yaruro.

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Spain combined Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, and Panama into one large colony called the Vice-royalty. The land was also called New Spain for the spaniard rule. There were multiple Governor-Generals that ruled over the Vice-royalties.

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Venezuela left Gran Columbia, and became an independent republic. The capital was, and still is, Caracas, which is in northern Venezuela. General Jose Antonio Paez became the first president of Venezuela.

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The Venezuelans experienced a civil war called the Federal War. The two parties were the Conservatives and the Federalists. The Federalists claimed victory and Venezuela becomes a federal government. Guzman Blanco led the country.

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The country would experience constant overthrows by dictators.

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Venezuela's first democratically elected leader, Romulo Gallegos, was overthrown after eight months by a military coup. This party was led by Marcos Perez Jimenez. Jimenez formed a government backed by an army and served as the dictator.

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Jimenez was forced out of rule. His absence allowed the country to be a democracy and have presidents that were civilians and not military leaders. In future years Dr. Raul Leoni would be elected president.

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Carlos Andres Perez was elected president. This election brought unhappiness and anger throughout the country. Social and political outrage caused riots, strikes and boycotts, and over 2,000 people killed.

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Perez is imprisoned and found guilty for embezzlement and corruption. 250 million bolivars were embezzled, which belonged to a presidential discretionary fund. Perez spent 2+ years in jail. Perez was impeached and Hugo Chavez was elected president to take the interim presidents place

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Voters approved a new constitution. This year also had severe floods and mudslides in the north. The natural disaster killed tens of thousands.