Caracas: History

Pre-20th-Century History

Caracas dates back to 1560, when Francisco Fajardo headed south from Isla de Margarita, 40km (25mi) offshore. The Spanish founded a settlement called San Francisco, which was promptly destroyed by the indigenous Toromaima people. Battles continued for six years, until the Spanish governor ordered a complete conquest of the valley. By July 1567, the Toromaima were driven out. San Francisco was re-established and renamed 'Santiago de León de Caracas' ('Santiago' after the patron saint of Spain, 'León' after the provincial governor, and 'Caracas' as a reward to the region's least troublesome indigenous group).

Caracas became the administrative seat of the colony in 1577 - the third and final capital of Venezuela. Twenty years after its establishment, Caracas was spread over 25 blocks around the Plaza Mayor.

However, luck was not on Caracas' side. After being razed by pirates, it was destroyed, again, by an earthquake. Over the next two centuries, it slowly and quietly developed. This changed, however, with the birth of Venezuela's two most famous sons: Francisco Miranda was born in 1750, and Simón 'El Libertador' Bolívar was born in 1783. Miranda set up an independent administration in Caracas, which lasted from 1810 to 1812, ending when he surrendered to Spanish troops besieging the city. His fellow independence fighters, including Bolívar, were furious at this capitulation - they handed Miranda over to the Spanish, who took him to Cádiz, where he died in jail four years later. Bolívar then assumed leadership of the revolution. He challenged the Spaniards in Venezuela, but was forced to withdraw to Colombia, and then to Jamaica, until the opportune moment to return came in 1817. The Napoleonic Wars had just ended, and Bolívar's agent in London had raised money and arms, and recruited 5000 British veterans of the Peninsular War. Bolívar marched over the Andes, defeated the Spanish armies and brought independence to Colombia and Venezuela. By the end of 1824, he had liberated Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. But Bolívar's dream of a united Gran Colombia (Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador) proved too ambitious. The new state existed for only a decade before splitting into three countries. 'El Libertador' was exiled and died, impoverished, in 1830. Twelve years later, his countrymen acknowledged the debt he was owed and his remains were retrieved from Santa Marta in Colombia. They now lie in Caracas' National Pantheon, flanked by the empty tomb that still awaits those of Francisco de Miranda, who was buried in a mass grave in Spain.

Venezuela's post-independence period was marked by serious governmental problems that continued for more than a century. It was ruled by a series of military dictators known as caudillos . Caracas grew at a modest pace until a modernization program was launched by General Guzmán 'El Modernizador' Blanco in the 1870s. A series of monumental buildings was built, but most were destroyed by another earthquake in 1900.

Modern History

The oil boom of the 1920s brought rapid change that transformed a somewhat bucolic colonial town into the modern city it is today. An American-style system of freeways was constructed in the 1950s, and urban development continued into the 1980s, assisted by the opening of the metro system.

Since the 1950s, Caracas' population has soared. The city suffered a severe economic decline in the '80s and '90s - thousands of rural dwellers who rushed to find wealth in the big metropolis now live precariously in the ramshackle shacks that cover the steep hills surrounding the city center.

On December 15, 1999, mud slides devastated a 100km (62mi) portion of the Litoral Central, a coastal area just north of Caracas. The exceptionally high rainfall that caused the disaster is estimated to occur in this region only once in a thousand years. Often described as South America's worst-ever natural disaster, the mud slides killed between 30,000 and 50,000 people, and made 150,000 homeless. Entire shantytowns vanished, and the colonial town of La Guaira - once the region's major cultural sight - was completely destroyed.

Recent History

In April 2002, the streets of central Caracas became a cross between a pageant and a battleground. The city was paralyzed for days by demonstrations against President Hugo Chavez' government, led by the anti-Chavez media. This prompted the government to rally its supporters to stage counter-demonstrations, with the confrontation degenerating into a pitched street battle. Chavez himself was briefly captured and detained, but returned in triumph three days later. In the last couple of years, Chavez has successfully consolidated power and now presides comfortably as the poster boy for the Latin American left.

The city hosted the 2006 World Social Forum, which brought together progressive individuals, intellectuals, NGOs and other political interests from across the globe.

Caracas was the scene of more demonstrations in May 2007, when Chavez shut down popular independent national broadcaster, Radio Caracas Televisión, and replaced it with the the state-run TVes.

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