The coast of this country was originally discovered by Columbus in
1498, during his third expedition. Several adventurers succeeding
in exploratory voyages on this part of the continent, the Spanish
government came to the determination of endeavouring to place colonies
on its soil. These being chiefly ill conducted, and managed by
priests unacquainted with the manners and customs of the natives, did
not succeed, and it was found necessary to endeavour to subdue the
inhabitants by force. When this was partially effected, and Spanish
settlers were placed in some security, the management of the new
colonies was entrusted to the care of the Welsers, a German mercantile
company. These people exercised, for a length of time, an uncontrolled
sway over the unfortunate Indians and the colonists. Their excess of
punishment and their fraud becoming at last notorious, the king of
Spain deprived them of their power, in 1550, and appointed an officer
of the crown to administer justice to the oppressed.
This office, under the title of captain-general of the Caraccas, has
subsisted ever since, and with some few variations in the territorial
divisions, and some abridgments of the authority of the person
who fills it, it existed in the same form, until the year 1810. At
this period, the mother country, subdued in part by the victorious
arms of the French nation, had no time to attend to the situation
of her transatlantic colonies. Engaged in destructive and terrible
struggle herself, she little knew of the events which were taking
place in the Americas, or if she did know them, was unable to assist
those subjects devoted to her cause, or to quell the insurgent and
ambitious. Taking advantage of the shackled state of the resources of
Spain, the disaffected raised the standard of rebellion, and formed a
_junta suprema_ (a congress, or supreme council) in Caraccas. At first
they published their acts in the name of Ferdinand the Seventh; but
soon, however, on the arrival of Miranda with some troops, declared
themselves independent of the mother country, and appointed Miranda to
the chief command. Spain now placed their ports in a state of nominal
blockade.
They have since been daily engaged in hostile measures, and junta has
succeeded to junta, royal power to insurgent government, and _vice
versa_, with little interval up to the present moment. The Caraccas may
indeed be styled the focus of the Spanish American revolution. Numerous
and bloody actions have taken place between the Spanish troops and the
Caraccanians, Miranda has been beheaded, and the captain-general has
reinstated himself.
Don Simon Bolivar, a native of the country, possessing much property
and considerable influence, has been the great leader of this
revolt, styling himself president and commander in chief of the
united provinces of Venezuela. Obtaining from the congress of a
neighbouring state (New Granada) an army of 600 men, he marched
against Monteverde, the captain-general who had beheaded Miranda and
punished his colleagues, and meeting with few obstacles to surmount
entered the city of Caraccas as conqueror, on the 4th August, 1813.
The captain-general fled, and refusing to treat with the insurgents,
as derogatory to the honour of the master he represented, remained
quiet until he received from Spain a reinforcement of 1200 men; he then
attacked the city, but was repulsed with the loss of nearly his whole
army, and himself severely wounded. In discussing the historical facts
relating to South America in general, we have entered more at large
upon this subject. At present Bolivar occupies the lower parts of the
Orinoco, having made the town of Angostura his head-quarters.
We have chosen the description of the kingdom of Peru as the proper
place to give detail of the general historical facts relating to the
whole of South America, as it was in that kingdom that the Spanish
government first took a consolidated form; we shall, therefore, at
present recur to the metropolis, description, and political divisions
of the captain-generalship we are now engaged in treating of.