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Christopher Columbus landed in Venezuela
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It becomes a key location due to its central position, fertile land, pleasant tropical climate and natural defenses being in a valley among mountains.
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Venezuelans made the decision to separate from the Spanish Crown in order to establish a new nation based on the premises of equality of individuals
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First rebellion against Spanish colonial rule.
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Venezuela fails to repay loans. Ports blockaded by British, Italian and German warships.
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Venezuela benefits from oil boom and its currency peaks against the US dollar; oil and steel industries nationalised.
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- Hugo Chavez elected president amid disenchantment with established parties, launches 'Bolivarian Revolution' that brings in new constitution, socialist and populist economic and social policies funded by high oil prices, and increasingly vocal anti-US foreign policy.
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President Chavez uses enabling act to pass 49 laws aimed at redistributing land and wealth. Concern grows in business and some labour circles that he is trying to concentrate economic and political power in the state, along Cuban lines.
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Government, opposition sign deal brokered by Organisation of American States which sets out framework for referendum on Hugo Chavez's rule.
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Several people killed and many injured in clashes between opponents and supporters of President Chavez.
