Gloria al Pueblo | |||||||
Capital | Caracas | ||||||
Largest city | Caracas | ||||||
Other cities | Maracaibo, Valencia, Georgetown | ||||||
Language | Spanish | ||||||
Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||
Ethnic Groups main |
Hispanic | ||||||
others | European, multiracial | ||||||
Government | Presidential Republic | ||||||
President | Cilia Flores | ||||||
Population | Approx 28,500,000 | ||||||
Independence | from Gran Colombia | ||||||
declared | January 13 1830 | ||||||
Currency | Venezuelan bolívar | ||||||
Time Zone | VET |
Venezuela formally known as the Federal Republic of Venezuela is a country on the northern coast of South America. Venezuela was colonized by Spain in 1522 despite resistance from indigenous peoples. It became one of the first Spanish American colonies to declare independence. Regardless of this it was part of Gran Colombia until 1821 and since full independence in 1830 has had multiple issues with coups, and other issues of governance which only have been recently solved as of the 1960's and 70's
Being the most urbanized nation in South America most of Venezuela's 28 million people live in the large sprawling cities to the north especially in its capital of Caracas, coincidentally the nations most populous city as well. Since the nations discovery of oil underneath its soil, Venezuela has become one of the worlds top producers of oil, and is the Prime producer of oil to its Superpower neighbor, Brazil, to the South. With various recessions and multiple other issues facilitated by the collapse of northern nations Venezuela has only survived in extreme thanks to Brazil, and with their full backing has taking back the part of Guyana lost to them to the British empire.
History[]
Post Eruption[]
Just a month after the eruption Venezuela was in complete disarray and its government on the point of complete collapse. With the same things happening everywhere and anarchy reigning supreme throughout most of the continent Venezuela pegged itself to the standard Brazil held itself too and attempting to hold itself together declared martial law. With this Venezuela was attempting to unify its populace and less than six months after the eruption the nation had managed to gather enough support within its own populace to begin fully enforcing its martial law.
With many realizing the impact Venezuela could have on the global economy if they recovered quickly the nation quickly pushed to take its oil and develop it heavily trying to keep things moving. While this was a great problem for its populace, the nation did actually manage to recover to a degree and by the mid 1940's was fully involved with Brazil in talks for cheaper oil, acquisition of Guyana as well as the full support of the Brazilian government in fully solidifying governmental control of the entire nation. Finally around 1950 Venezuela, officially declared its crisis over and joined Brazil, and a larger Argentina as some of the world's most stable nations.
Acquisition of Guyana[]
Following the moving of the British empire to some of its overseas colonies Guyana as well as multiple other possessions in the Americas became far flung and indefensible to the British. By 1952 British Guyana was essentially its own independent state and a failing one at that. Seeing the possibility of intervention by other nations on the continent Brazil officially declared Guyana a protectorate but with its own internal problems to sort out wished to quickly get rid of this problem. Originally seeking to unify French Guyana, Suriname, and British Guyana, Venezuela made its main claim to British Guyana and Brazil agreed readily, wishing to be rid of the issue. By the end of 1953 Brazil essentially mandated Suriname, and French Guyana had been kept as separate states, with disputed territory in former British Guyana known as Guayana Esequiba officially falling under the control of Venezuela satisfying one of the nations most longstanding territorial claims and unifying the populace. A Side effect to this was Venezuela's move into Brazil's sphere of influence. While there was a call to arms by the Guyanan populace, it was settled almost immediately when Brazil moved almost 200,000 troops into the areas wishing to prevent any outstanding conflicts. The Guyana area now still remains as a protectorate of Brazil.
The Bloodless Revolution[]
Taking place in the early 60's following the acquisition of Guyana, the Nation of Venezuela had finally run out its public support. With this many people were becoming restless and multiple revolutionary groups arose throughout the country. The most prominent of this was a pro-human rights group which with the secret support of the Brazilian military was pushing its way deep through the ranks of every facet of Venezuelan government.
in 1962 the Bloodless revolution occurred when Brazilian special forces, alongside almost 90% of the Venezuelan military, rounded up and arrested Venezuela's dictator. A new President was then popularly elected and then supported by the Brazilian government Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello. His new reforms brought true democracy to the country. However, he was accused multiple times as being much too Pro-Brazil. However, following this revolution in which nobody was killed (hence the name bloodless) the Nation underwent a period of extreme prosperity, and became the oil powerhouse it is today.
Military[]
The Venezuelan Military is only moderately large with about 250,000 active and about 300,000 reserve. This lack of numbers, however, is made up in the fact that their main benefactor, Brazil, has become of their main providers of equipment with Venezuela boasting a military technologically on par with many of its neighbors, and with the ability to take on most other modern armed forces. This extremely advanced military is especially known for its resilience during the Great South American war, when about 30,000 Venezuelan troops fought and died in defense of Ecuador and alongside Colombian Troops prevented the opening of a Amazonian Front on Brazil.
Venezuela is most well known for its Special Forces operatives which are well known to be on par with Brazil's - and multiple other Great Powers. With the technology many nations envy the Venezuelan Special Forces are one of the most deadly on the planet. Alongside this, Venezuela had made the acquisition of a single carrier of its own design with plans for one more. The Reasoning behind this was to prevent Brazil from shouldering the overwhelming burden of attempting to guard the entire continent as well as project its powers worldwide. While most see it as a very bad excuse Venezuela seems extremely benevolent and has undergone multiple training exorcizes with both Argentina and Brazil.
Economy[]
Agricultural[]
The Agricultural section of the economy is the largest. Most of Southern Venezuela, which is mainly agriculturally based land, is used to grow crops of all sorts. With this being a major export driven agriculture Venezuela for the most part grows cash crops, such as coffee, cocoa, rubber, alongside growing food. This is done to maintain an extremely diversified economy and this has been largely successful and extremely integral to Venezuela's emergence as a Great Power.
Industrial[]
The Industrial sector is also fairly large. This is centered more in Northern Venezuela. With this cities such as Caracas and Valencia holding the titles as top industrial cities in the country. Known for producing cheap consumer goods as well as High Tech parts for Computers Venezuela has become an economic trend setter industrially for South America by using a distinctive and unique tax and tariff system to keep its High tech Economy afloat, in which usually a nation in Africa or Asia could take its place and produce for a much lower price.
Oil[]
One of Venezuela's main exports is its oil. Venezuelan oil is traded across Latin America and the World. As the main supplier to Many Venezuelan oil is paid for heavily and has contributed greatly to the expansion of their economy, and their expansion as a power. It is estimated that with their oil Revenues Venezuela could remain an economic powerhouse based solely off of oil until almost 2035. However, steps taken to diversify the economy have made sure such a crash never does happen. One of Venezuela's main issues with its oil industry is its lack of safety. An estimated 500 people die every year on the oil rigs due to the fact they cant be modernized for fear that it could affect global oil prices. Many nations have come together asking for this to change, and others have agreed to help with shifting prices in order for many of these oil wells to be modernized.
Earlier on, however, Venezuela did not have the most dynamic or powerful oil industry. However, in the intervening 30 years from 1936 to about 1969 the nations of Argentina, Peru, Brazil, and virtually every nation on the south American continent invested heavily into the nations oil pushing its oil infrastructure to unprecedented heights very quickly. However, even with all this the increasing demand led to Venezuela pressed for more development and production ability. By the Early 70's it was only able to supply South America with its needs. However, by the 1990's with recent developments the Venezuelan oil industry has been able to service a wider and wider array of customers making it one of the most lucrative oil nations on the planet.
Demographics[]
Most of the population is multiracial Hispanic. Also, significant portions of Europeans are found across the country. 3% of the population is indigenous.
According to most sources, about half of the population is of racially mixed origin; Mestizos (European/Amerindian), Mulattos (European/African) and Zambos (Amerindian/African). Around one-fifth is said to be of European ancestry, and one-tenth African. The remaining Amerindian population is statistically small. Three Amerindian tribes located in the country are the Wayuu, located in the west, in Zulia State, and the Timoto-cuicas, also in the west, in Mérida State, in the Andes.
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