The history of Venezuela reflects events in areas of the Americas colonized by Spain starting 1502; amid resistance from indigenous peoples, led by Native caciques, such as Guaicaipuro and Tamanaco. However, in the Andean region of western Venezuela, complex Andean civilization of the Timoto-Cuica people flourished before European contact.
After the first contacts between Europeans, specifically Portuguese and Spanish conquerors, there were no significant events between 1515 and 1528. The biggest event that happened after 1528 was the German Colonization of Venezuela. This event occurred because of a business between Charles V and the banking family of the Augsburg. Charles V, gave the family of the Augsburg most of the territory of the Province of Venezuela, which after the concession was called by the Germans "Klein-Venedig" which means "Little Venice". The Germans in Venezuela were mostly conquistadores or explorers, which their mission was to find El Dorado. At the same time, the German explorers and conquistadores founded two standing cities in actuality, Maracaibo and Neu-Augsburg, which is the today's city of Coro. After the unsuccessful plan of the Germans of finding El Dorado, the Augsburg gave the concession to the Spanish crown. After this, the Spanish conquistadores continued their missions in the territory and the most representative event after the Augsburg concession was the foundation of Caracas, which was the most longstanding capital of the Province of Venezuela and the today's capital city of Venezuela. The colonial economy in the 16th and 17th centuries was centered on gold mining and livestock farming.
Relatively few colonists employed native farmers on their estates and enslaved other native peoples and later Africans to work in the mines. The territory of Venezuela was at various times ruled by the capitals of distant New Spain and the Viceroyalty of Peru. In the 18th century, cocoa plantations grew along the coast, which were processed by further importing African slaves. Cocoa beans became Venezuela's main export, monopolized by the Guipuzcoan Company of Caracas. Most of the surviving locals had migrated south by then, where Spanish monks worked. Intellectual activity increased among the white Creole elite and was centered on the University of Caracas. The Province of Venezuela was incorporated into the Viceroyalty of New Granada in 1717 and became Captaincy General of Venezuela in 1777. In 1811, it became one of the first Spanish-American colonies to declare independence, which was not securely established until 1821, when Venezuela was a department of the federal republic of Gran Colombia. It gained full independence as a separate country in 1830. During the 19th century, Venezuela suffered political turmoil and autocracy, remaining dominated by regional caudillos (military strongmen) until the mid-20th century.
Since 1958, Venezuela has had a series of democratic governments. However, economic shocks in the 1980s led to several political crises, including the deadly Caracazo riots of 1989, two attempted coups in 1992, and the impeachment of El Presidente Carlos Andrés Pérez in 1993. A collapse in confidence in the existing parties saw the 1998 election of former coup-involved career officer Hugo Chávez and the launch of the Bolivarian Revolution, beginning with a 1999 Constituent Assembly to write a new Constitution of Venezuela. This new constitution officially changed the name of the country to República Bolivariana de Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela). At the same time, the new government of Venezuela started several changes in the internal economy of the country, which resulted in a socioeconomic crisis that began during the rule of Chavez and Nicolás Maduro. The crisis is characterised by hyperinflation, escalating famine, disease, crime, and mortality, leading to massive emigration from the country.