Editing Venezuela (section)

=== Independence and 19th century ===
{{Main|Venezuelan War of Independence}}
[[File:Simón Bolívar 2.jpg|thumb|upright|left|''El Libertador'', [[Simón Bolívar]]]]

After unsuccessful uprisings, Venezuela, under the leadership of [[Francisco de Miranda]], a Venezuelan marshal who had fought in the [[American Revolution|American]] and [[French Revolution]]s, [[Venezuelan Declaration of Independence|declared independence]] as the [[First Republic of Venezuela]] on 5 July 1811.<ref>{{cite web |last=Minster |first=Christopher |url=http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/independenceinvenezuela/p/10april19venezuela.htm |title=April 19, 1810: Venezuela's Declaration of Independence |publisher=About |access-date=30 June 2015 |archive-date=3 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203091911/http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/independenceinvenezuela/p/10april19venezuela.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> This began the [[Venezuelan War of Independence]]. A devastating [[1812 Caracas earthquake]], together with the rebellion of the Venezuelan ''[[llanero]]s'', helped bring down the republic.{{sfn|Chasteen|2001|p=103}} [[Simón Bolívar]], new leader of the independentist forces, launched his [[Admirable Campaign]] in 1813 from [[United Provinces of New Granada|New Granada]], retaking most of the territory and being proclaimed as ''El Libertador'' ("The Liberator"). A [[Second Republic of Venezuela]] was proclaimed on 7 August 1813, but lasted only a few months before being crushed by [[Royalist (Spanish American independence)|royalist]] caudillo [[José Tomás Boves]] and his personal army of ''llaneros''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Left |first=Sarah |title=Simon Bolivar |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/apr/16/netnotes.venezuela |website=The Guardian |date=16 April 2002 |access-date=30 June 2015 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016050958/http://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/apr/16/netnotes.venezuela |url-status=live}}</ref>

The end of the [[Peninsular War|French invasion]] of homeland Spain in 1814 allowed a large expeditionary force to come under general [[Pablo Morillo]], with the goal to regain the lost territory in Venezuela and New Granada. As the war reached a stalemate on 1817, Bolívar reestablished the [[Third Republic of Venezuela]] on the territory still controlled by the patriots, mainly in the [[Guayana Province|Guayana]] and [[Llanos]] regions. This republic was short-lived as only two years later, during the [[Congress of Angostura]] of 1819, the union of Venezuela with New Granada was decreed to form the Republic of Colombia. The war continued until full victory and [[sovereignty]] was attained after the [[Battle of Carabobo]] on 24 June 1821.{{sfn|Gregory|1992|pp=89–90}} On 24 July 1823, [[José Prudencio Padilla]] and [[Rafael Urdaneta]] helped seal Venezuelan independence with their victory in the [[Battle of Lake Maracaibo]].<ref name="ciawfb">{{cite web |title=Venezuela |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/venezuela/ |publisher=CIA World Factbook |access-date=3 February 2021 |archive-date=31 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531110017/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/venezuela/ |url-status=live}}</ref> New Granada's congress gave Bolívar control of the Granadian army; leading it, he liberated several countries and founded the Republic of Colombia ([[Gran Colombia]]).{{sfn|Gregory|1992|pp=89–90}}

[[File:19 de abril.jpg|thumb|''Revolution of 19 April 1810'', the beginning of Venezuela's independence, by [[Martín Tovar y Tovar]]|alt=]]

Sucre went on to liberate [[Ecuador]] and become the second president of [[Bolivia]]. Venezuela remained part of Gran Colombia until 1830, when a rebellion led by [[José Antonio Páez]] allowed the proclamation of a newly independent Venezuela, on 22 September;<ref>''Langer's Encyclopaedia of World History'', page 854.</ref> Páez became the first president of the new [[State of Venezuela]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab55 |title=History of Venezuela |publisher=History World |access-date=30 June 2015 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924030852/http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab55 |url-status=live}}</ref> Between one-quarter and one-third of Venezuela's population was lost during these two decades of war (including about half the [[Venezuelans of European descent]]),<ref>{{cite book |last1=McFarlane |first1=Anthony |title=War and Independence In Spanish America |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-75772-3 |page=293 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rSNrAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA293 |access-date=18 February 2019 |archive-date=29 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129032013/https://books.google.com/books?id=rSNrAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA293#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref> which by 1830, was estimated at 800,000.<ref name="Caudillismo">"[http://countrystudies.us/venezuela/5.htm Venezuela – The Century of Caudillismo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805013226/http://countrystudies.us/venezuela/5.htm |date=5 August 2011}}". [[Library of Congress Country Studies]].</ref> In the [[Flag of Venezuela]], the yellow stands for land wealth, the blue for the sea that separates Venezuela from Spain, and the red for the blood shed by the heroes of independence.<ref>{{cite news |title=200 años como símbolo de soberanía |publisher=Consulado General de Venezuela en Canarias |url=http://www.consuladodevenezuela.es/contenido.php?idNot=216 |access-date=30 November 2010 |language=es |archive-date=17 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100917045840/http://consuladodevenezuela.es/contenido.php?idNot=216 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Slavery]] in Venezuela was abolished in 1854.<ref name="Caudillismo" /> Much of Venezuela's 19th-century history was characterized by political turmoil and dictatorial rule, including the Independence leader José Antonio Páez, who gained the presidency three times and served 11 years between 1830 and 1863. This culminated in the [[Federal War]] (1859–63). In the latter half of the century, [[Antonio Guzmán Blanco]], another ''caudillo'', served 13 years, between 1870 and 1887, with three other presidents interspersed.

[[File:Martin Tovar y Tovar 02.jpg|thumb|left|The signing of Venezuela's independence, by [[Martín Tovar y Tovar]]]]

In 1895, a longstanding dispute with Great Britain about the Essequibo territory, which Britain claimed as part of [[British Guiana]] and Venezuela saw as Venezuelan territory, erupted into the [[Venezuela Crisis of 1895]]. The dispute became a diplomatic crisis when Venezuela's lobbyist, [[William Lindsay Scruggs|William L. Scruggs]], sought to argue that British behavior over the issue violated the [[United States]]' [[Monroe Doctrine]] of 1823, and used his influence in Washington, D.C., to pursue the matter. Then, U.S. president [[Grover Cleveland]] adopted a broad interpretation of the doctrine that declared an American interest in any matter within the hemisphere.{{sfn|Zakaria|1999|pp=145–146}} Britain ultimately accepted arbitration, but in negotiations over its terms was able to persuade the U.S. on many details. A tribunal convened in Paris in 1898 to decide the issue and in 1899 awarded the bulk of the disputed territory to British Guiana.<ref name="Humphreys">{{cite journal |author-link=Robert Arthur Humphreys |author=Humphreys, R. A. |year=1966 |doi=10.2307/3678723 |title=Anglo-American Rivalries and the Venezuela Crisis of 1895. Presidential Address to the Royal Historical Society |journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |volume=17 |pages=131–164|jstor=3678723 |s2cid=155581308 | issn = 0080-4401 }}</ref>

In 1899, [[Cipriano Castro]], assisted by his friend [[Juan Vicente Gómez]], seized power in Caracas. Castro defaulted on Venezuela's considerable foreign debts and declined to pay compensation to foreigners caught up in Venezuela's [[Venezuelan civil wars|civil wars]]. This led to the [[Venezuela Crisis of 1902–1903]], in which Britain, Germany and Italy imposed a naval blockade before international arbitration at the new [[Permanent Court of Arbitration]] was agreed. In 1908, [[Dutch-Venezuela War|another dispute]] broke out with the Netherlands, which was resolved when Castro left for medical treatment in Germany and was promptly overthrown by [[Juan Vicente Gómez]] (1908–35).