Figure 1.--This Venezuela potcard shows a group of Amazinian Native Americans in 1961. The tribe is not specified. Itwas mailed to Germany. Put your cursor on the image to see the message on the back.

Venezuela was populated by many different Native American groups. There were three main groups: the Carib, Arawak, and the Chibcha. Experts now differ on the pre-Conuest population and the level of cultutre. Venezuela is commonly described as a paradise for the Mative Americans. That is an exageration, but the Native Americans lived in a an environment that provided a healthy existence. They lived in coastal areas, tropical forests, and on the vast grassland of the llanos. The Native Americans lived in small groups. They practiced very basic agriculture. The natural environment was productive enough and the populations relatively small that there was not need for intensive agriculture. They also hunted and dished as wll as gethered nuts, berries, and other foods. The cultural level of the Arawaks and Caribs were similar to the people encountered on the Caribbean islands. The Chibcha to the west, however, were a more advanced Andean people. They occupied areas of what is now western Venezuela and northern Colombia. They lived on the eastern slopes of the Andes. The Chibcha did not have large cities. They did, however, developed sophisticated agricultural methods. They terraced moubtaneous areas and built sophisticated irrigation channels. They also were skilled gold workers and the gold attracted the Spanish. Christopher Columbus was the first European to see Venezuela which he encountered on his Third Voyage (1498). He landed on the Paria Peninsula in western Venezuela. He also explored the Orionoco Delta in eastern Venezuela. He concluded that he had reached more than another Caribbean island, but still did not believe he had reached Asia. Venezuela proved to be a backwater of the Spanish colonial Empire. The Spanish did not find the gold and silver that made Mexico and Peru so important. The initial Spanish interest was slave raiding. Venezuelaas the site of Father Bartolmea de las Casas failed effort to set up a humane settlement for Native Americans. Unlike the other Andean countries, Native Americans are a very small part of the Venezuelan population. There was limited inter-marriage before the Native American population collapsed (16th century). The Native Americans not in contact with the Spanish because they lived in remote Amazonian areas survived. Their numbers may have been augmented by Native Americans fleeing the Spanish. A small numbers of Native Americans still live in remote areas today.

Native American Tribes

Venezuela was populated by many different Native American groups. There were three main groups: the Carib, Arawak, and the Chibcha. Experts now differ on the pre-Conuest population and the level of cultutre and on the tribal structure. Venezuela is commonly described as a paradise for the Native Americans. That is an exageration, but the Native Americans lived in a an environment that provided a healthy existence. They lived in coastal areas, tropical forests, and on the vast grassland of the llanos. The Native Americans lived in small groups. They practiced very basic agriculture. The natural environment was productive enough and the populations relatively small that there was not need for intensive agriculture. They also hunted and dished as wll as gethered nuts, berries, and other foods. The cultural level of the Arawaks and Caribs were similar to the people encountered on the Caribbean islands. The Chibcha to the west, however, were a more advanced Andean people. They occupied areas of what is now western Venezuela and northern Colombia. They lived on the eastern slopes of the Andes. The Chibcha did not have large cities. They did, however, developed sophisticated agricultural methods. They terraced moubtaneous areas and built sophisticated irrigation channels. They also were skilled gold workers and the gold attracted the Spanish.

Discovery and Conquest

Christopher Columbus was the first European to see Venezuela which he encountered on his Third Voyage (1498). He landed on the Paria Peninsula in western Venezuela. He also explored the Orionoco Delta in eastern Venezuela. He concluded that he had reached more than another Caribbean island, but still did not believe he had reached Asia. Venezuela proved to be a backwater of the Spanish colonial Empire. The Spanish did not find the gold and silver that made Mexico and Peru so important. The initial Spanish interest was slave raiding. Among the Spanish were a number of Italians. Spain was primarily ficused on the Reconquista in the 15th century. It relied very heavily on Italians for maritime expertise during the kate 15th and early-16th century. (Coloubus of course was Genoese.) As a result, when the Spanish encountered Native Americans in Lake Maracibo living on stilt homes, they called the area Venezuela--"Little Venice" in Spanish.

Las Casas

Bartolome de las Casas (1484-1566) was Spanish colonist, a Dominican priest, the founder of a Utopian community, and first Bishop of Chiapas. He was a noted scholar and historian and in modern parlance a human rights advocate, interesting as it was the Dominicans who admibistered the Inquisition. Father Bartolome has been called the Apostle to the Indians. Venezuela was the site of Father Bartolome's failed effort to set up a humane settlement for Native Americans. Las Casas knew Columbus and participated in the conquest of Hispaniola. He eventually came to the conclusion that the Spanish treatment of native peoples was imoral. Las Casas became a Dominican priest. He campaigned tirelessly for the narive people. He argued that they sdere fully human and should not be enslaved. He opposed the encomienda system--essently converting the natives to slave labor gangs. He became a hated person anong the colonists on Hispaniola--the first Spanish colony in the Indies. He wasca forceful speaker and gradually made important converts in Spain itself--both within and outside the Church. And he made converts in the court, including the new king and Emperor, Charles V. Here we are not entirely sure of Charles' motivations. Father Bartolome argued on moral grounds. There were more practical grounds for Charles. He may have been concerned that the encomienda system was creating a new class of feudal lords who could challenge royal authority. (Charles became king od Spain only after his supporters defeated Spanish lords objecting to a foreign ruler.) The Spanish colonists were outraged at Father Bartolome's interference and basically ignored royal decrees. Father Bartolome attempted to set up a colony on the coast of Venezuala (1521-22). The experiment failed when other Spanish settlers continued slave raiding in defiance of royal decrees.

Population Collapse

Mistreatment and European diseases decimated the native American populations on the islands so the Spanish conducted slave raiding expeditions on the mainland. And the same thing occurred on the mainland as the Spanish began to colonize the mainland areas. By the end of the first century of Spanish rule, some 20 tribes out of 40-50 had become extinct and those that still survived had vastly reduced numbers. Historians debate the size of the pre-contact Native American population. Thus the domensions of the population collapse are not well understood. There vis, however, no doubt that it was very sizeable.

Venezuelan Ethnicity

Unlike the other Andean countries, Native Americans are a very small part of the Venezuelan population. There was limited inter-marriage before the Native American population collapsed (16th century). The Conquidtadores did not bring Spanish women with them. Thus there were relationships with Native American women, mostly common-law relationships. And the resulting children had a better chance of surviving European diseases than full-b;ooded Native Anericans. Some of these children resulted from casual encounters, Others were more enduring relationships. Many of their offspring were recognized and legitimated by the fathers.

Flight to the Interior

The Native Americans not in contact with the Spanish because they lived in remote Amazonian areas survived. Their numbers may have been augmented by Native Americans fleeing the Spanish. The nomadic tropical jungle tribes were less affected by the Spaniards than those Indians who occupied a defined territory and could be more easily conquered and enslaved. These nomadic groups moved to less accessible areas. Even these tribes could not totally avoid the impact of the Spanish. A small numbers of Native Americans still live in remote areas today.

Created: 12:13 AM 1/14/2010
Last updated: 12:13 AM 1/14/2010