VENEZUELA, PAST AND PRESENT
“Supposing we now look at that map of Venezuela and learn a little
about the history of the country,” said Professor Strong, immediately
after the lunch hour and when all was quiet on board the steamer.
“We can get in a corner of the cabin, and I don’t think anybody will
disturb us.”
Ordinarily the boys would not have taken to anything in the shape of a
lecture, but they were anxious to know something more of the locality
they were to visit, and so all readily agreed to follow Professor
Strong to the nook he had selected. Hockley was still absent, and the
others asked no questions concerning him. The professor hung up his map
and sat on a chair before it, and the lads drew up camp chairs in a
semi-circle before him.
“As you will see by the map, Venezuela lies on the north coast of South
America,” began Professor Strong. “It is bounded on the north by the
Caribbean Sea, on the east by British Guiana, on the south by Brazil
and on the west by Colombia. It is irregular in shape, and its greatest
length is from south-east to north-west, about twelve hundred miles, or
by comparison, about the distance from Maine to Minnesota or California
to Kansas.”
“Phew! that’s larger than I thought,” came from Frank, in an undertone.
“Many of the South American republics are larger than most people
realize,” went on the professor. “Venezuela has an estimated area of
nearly 598,000 miles--to give it in round figures. That is as large as
all of the New England States and half a dozen other States combined.
The country has over a thousand rivers, large and small, over two
hundred of which flow into the Caribbean Sea, and four hundred helping
to swell the size of the mighty Orinoco, which, as you already know,
is the second largest river in South America,--the largest being the
Amazon of Brazil. The Orinoco is a worthy rival of our own Mississippi,
and I am afraid you will find it just as muddy and full of snags and
bars.”
“Never mind, we’ll get through somehow,” put in Darry, and his dry way
of saying it made even the professor laugh.
“Besides the rivers, there are a number of lakes and bays. Of the
former, the largest is Lake Maracaibo, with an area of 2,100 square
miles.”
“That must be the Maracaibo coffee district,” suggested Mark.
“To a large extent it is, for the lake is surrounded by coffee and
cocoa plantations. In the interior is another body of water, Lake
Valencia, which possesses the peculiarity of being elevated nearly
1,700 feet above the ocean level. All told, the country is well watered
and consequently vegetation is abundant.”
“But I thought it was filled up with mountains?” came from Sam.
“A large part of the country is mountainous, as you can see by the map,
but there are also immense plains, commonly called _llanos_. The great
Andes chain strikes Venezuela on the west and here divides into two
sections, one running northward toward the Caribbean Sea and the other
to the north-eastward. Some parts of these chains are very high, and
at a point about a hundred miles south of Lake Maracaibo there are two
peaks which are each over 15,000 feet high and are perpetually covered
with snow.”
“I guess we won’t climb them,” observed Sam.
“I hardly think so myself, Samuel, although we may get a good view
of them from a distance, when we visit Lake Maracaibo. Besides these
chains of mountains there are others to the southward, and here the
wilderness is so complete that it has not yet been thoroughly explored.
It is a land full of mountain torrents, and one of these, after flowing
through many plains and valleys, unites the Orinoco with the Amazon,
although the watercourse is not fit for navigation by even fair sized
boats.”
“What about the people?” asked Mark, after a long pause, during which
all of them examined the map more closely, and the professor pointed
out La Guayra, Caracas, and a dozen or more other places of importance.
“The people are of Spanish, Indian and mixed blood, with a fair
sprinkling of Americans and Europeans. There has been no accurate
census taken for a number of years, but the population is put down as
over two and three quarters millions and of this number about three
hundred thousand are Indians.”
“Are those Indians like our own?” questioned Darry.
“A great deal like the Indians of the old south-west, excepting
that they are much more peaceful. You can travel almost anywhere in
Venezuela, and if you mind your own business it is rarely that an
Indian or a negro will molest you. And now let me ask if any of you
know what the name Venezuela means?”
“I don’t,” said Frank, and the others shook their heads.
“The name Venezuela means Little Venice. The north shore was discovered
by Columbus in 1498. One year later a Castilian knight named Ojeda came
westward, accompanied by Amerigo Vespucci, and the pair with their four
ships sailed from the mouth of the Orinoco to the Isthmus of Panama.
They also explored part of Lake Maracaibo, and when Vespucci saw the
natives floating around in their canoes it reminded him of Venice in
Italy, with its canals and gondolas, and he named the country Little
Venice, or Venezuela. When Vespucci got home he wrote an elaborate
account of his voyage, and this so pleased those in authority they
immediately called the entire country America, in his honor, and
America it has been ever since.”
“Yes, but it ought to be called Columbia,” put in Frank, as the
professor paused.
“Perhaps you are right, Newton, but it’s too late to change it now.
The Spaniards made the first settlement in Venezuela in 1520, and
the country remained true to Spain until 1811. Ojeda was first made
governor of all the north coast of South America, which soon took the
name of the Spanish Main. Pearls were found in the Gulf of Paria, and
the Spaniards at Santo Domingo rushed into South America and treated
the innocent natives with the utmost cruelty. This brought on a fierce
war lasting over forty years. This was in the times of Charles V,
and he once sold the entire country to the Velsers of Augsburg, who
treated the poor natives even worse than they had been treated by
the Spaniards. In the end, between the fighting and the earthquakes
which followed, the natives were either killed off or driven into the
interior. Then came another Castilian knight, who in 1567 founded the
city of Caracas, so called after the Indians who used to live there.”
“I have often read stories of the Spanish Main,” said Mark. “They must
have been bloody times.”
“They were, for piracy and general lawlessness were on every hand. The
Spaniards ruled the people with a rod of iron, and everything that the
country produced in the way of wealth went into the pockets of the
rulers. At last the natives could stand it no longer, and a revolution
took place, under the leadership of Simon Bolivar, and a ten years’ war
followed, and the Spanish soldiery was forced to leave the country.
“At first Venezuela, with New Granada, (now Colombia) and Ecuador
formed the Republic of Colombia. Simon Bolivar, often called the
George Washington of South America, was the President of the Republic.
At Bolivar’s death Venezuela became independent, and has remained
independent ever since. Slavery was abolished there in 1854.”
“They were ahead of us in that,” observed Frank.
“So they were, and the credit is due to Jose Gregorio Monagas, who
suffered a martyr’s death in consequence. The freeing of the slaves
threw the country into another revolution, and matters were not settled
until 1870, when Antonio Guzman Blanco came into power and ruled until
1889. After this followed another series of outbreaks, one political
leader trying to push another out of office, and this has hurt trade
a good deal. At present General Castro is President of Venezuela, but
there is no telling how long his enemies will allow him to retain that
office.”
“I hope we don’t get mixed up in any of their revolutions,” said Sam.
“I shouldn’t mind it,” put in Darry. “Anything for excitement, you
know.”
“Venezuela has been divided into many different states and territories
at different times,” continued Professor Strong. “In 1854 there were
thirteen provinces which were soon after increased to twenty-one. In
1863 the Federalists conquered the Unionists, and the provinces were
re-named states and reduced to seven. But this could not last, for
fewer states meant fewer office holders, so the number was increased
to twenty states, three territories and one federal district. What the
present government will do toward making divisions there is no telling.”
“I should think they would get tired of this continual fighting,” said
Darry.
“The peons, or common people, do get very tired of it, but they
cannot stop the ambitions of the political leaders, who have the
entire soldiery under their thumb. These leaders have seen so much of
fighting, and heard of so much fighting in their sister republics, that
it seems to get in their blood and they can’t settle down for more than
a few years at a time. But as outsiders come in, with capital, and
develop the country, I think conditions will change, and soon South
America will be as stable as North America or Europe.”