CHAPTER V
PROGRESS OF VENEZUELA AFTER THE
\VELSER EPISODE
I. The founding of cities. II. iMiguel, the negro king. III. Fejardo's projects and campaigns. IV. Caracas made the capital.
V. Rojas' misgovernment. VI. Excesses of Leguisamon as judge.
VII. Evidence of Venezuela's progress.
TEE introduction of the Spanish system by Governor
Perez de Tolosa and his successor, Juan do Villegas, particularly that feature of it which assigned the Indians for
service to the Europeans, was necessarily attended with
an increase in the number of permanent settlements. As
long as it was the policy of the Europeans in Venezuela
to capture the Indians and sell them to be taken to other
provinces or to the adjacent islands, the principal business
of the colony was hunting Indians for the slave-market.
But when lands were assigned to the Spaniards, Indians
were needed to cultivate them, and this led to the
establishment of the Europeans and their dependents in
permanent groups. The transfer of the colony to the
crown was thus followed by a new condition of affairs.
Juan de Villiegas resisted the temptation to fit out expeditions for exploration and slave-hunting; and he
determined to encourage the inhabitants to adopt the
ways of civilised life. To this end he urged them to establish themselves permanently, either as encomendores in
the country or as supporters of the industries and trade of
the cities. In 1549 he founded the town of Concepcion
PROGRESS OF VENEZUELA Si
de Barburata, which, owing to its favourable position,
made rapid progress in the beginning ; but its prosperity
invited attacks by the buccaneers, and, in 1568, it was
abandoned. Villegas founded another city in 1552, which
he called Nueva Segovia, but which was later known as
Barquisimeto.'
II
The inhabitants of this latter town acquired a very
considerable profit from the mines of San Filipe de Buria.
The labourers in the mines were negro slaves and a large
number of Indians from the encomiendas, who were under
the direction of Spanish miners. One of the negroes,
named Miguel, anticipating punishment, escaped and took
refuge in the mountains. He had acquired a knowledge
of the Spanish language, and was noted for his fluency of
speech. He appealed to his fellows, and sought to persuade them to follow him and enjoy their liberty. In the
course of time, after several attacks on the mining community, he gathered a hundred and eighty negroes and
Indians about him, and was able to exercise dictatorial
power over them by means of his rude eloquence, his
ostentation, and arrogance, and the belief of his followers
that he was invincible. In his mountain retreat he constructed fortifications about the place he had designated
as the capital of his kingdom. A regress who had been
his mistress became the queen, and a little son she had
borne him was made to take an oath as the heir to the
crown. He established the episcopal office, and appointed
a negro to be the bishop; at the same time he surrounded
himself with such other dignitaries as he thought might
strengthen and adorn his monarchy. When the kingdom
Simon, Las Con qiiistas de Titus Finne I. 218-34 l3arros Arana,
Hisloris etc America, I. 277; Humbert, Les origilles vydnizuElie,anes,
33-6 ; Oviedo y Baflos, Conq. y pob!. de Venezuela, flU. iii. cap. S
Barait y Diaz, His!. de Venezuela, i. cap. 9.
VOL. 1.
F
82 THE SPANISH DEPENDENCIES
was in order, he entered upon what he fancied might be
an extensive career of conquest. He made an attack on
the town of l3arquisinieto, which he intended should be
a surprise, but he found himself face to face with the inhabitants, assisted by reinforcements from Tocuyo. The
odds were against him, but he fought bravely until he was
killed. After his death his disheartened followers surrendered. Some of them were executed, and the rest,
remanded to slavery, were subjected to a régime more
severe than that from which they had attempted to escape.
'H
Villacinda, succeeding Villegas, was governor of
Venezuela from 1554 to 1356. In the middle of his brief
career as governor he founded the city of Valencia and
in 16 Trujillo was founded by Paredes, who was acting
governor prior to the arrival of Pablo Collado in 1559.
Of the cities established in this period, Caracas proved to
be the most important. The valley in which it was built
was occupied, according to Spanish estimates, by one
hundred and fifty thousand Indians, and was not visited
by an expedition of the invaders until after many other
parts of the country had been explored. The number of
the natives, and their determination to maintain their
independence, doubtless helped to make incursions into
this region unattractive. A conquest was, however,
finally undertaken by Francisco Fajardo, a mestizo who
was born in the island of Margarita. His father was a
Spanish nobleman, and his mother was a daughter of one
of the Indian chiefs. He relied to a certain extent for
success in his undertaking on his origin, and the fact that
he could speak the language of the Indians. His first
reception among the natives of his proposed conquest
was friendly; but he was driven out when they learned
that he intended to make a permanent settlement in their
PROGRESS OF VENEZUELA 83
territory. The failure of his original plan led him to
resort to the use of force. His campaigns were in a measure
successful, and, as a result of his efforts to possess the
land, several towns were established in the conquered
region, one of which was San Francisco, on the site of the
present city of Caracas. The foundations of this city
were finally laid by Losada in 1567 ; but for a decade
after this event the Spaniards were in a state of almost
constant hostility with the natives, and sometimes their
ability to maintain themselves appeared doubtful; they
even formed a plan to abandon this part of the country.'
IV
After the misfortunes that had attended the Spaniards'
attempts to form settlements in the territory of the
Cumanagotos, the Indians of this region remained for
several years free from invasion by Europeans. In 1576
Juan de Pimental arrived in Venezuela as the governor
and captain-general of the province. He determined to
reside at Caracas, and hereafter this town was regarded
as the capital of Venezuela, a status previously enjoyed
by Coro. His first important undertaking was to subdue
the Cumanagotos, who had resisted earlier attempts to
occupy their territory, and who now prevented commercial communication between Caracas and the island
of Margarita. This task was confided to Captain Garcia
Gonzalez de Silva, who set out from Caracas with one
hundred and thirty men, April 6, xg. After a desperate
struggle, in which his small force fought against a body of
Indians estimated to be three thousand in number, he
seemed to have gained a victory, for the enemy fled to
the mountains, He then established the town, or presidio, of Espiritu Santo. But in pursuing and overtaking
Simon, Las Congo fleas de Vora F/not, 232-37; Baralt y Din,,
Ilisforia de Vnfrzzee(a i. 190-20 4 flarros Arana, Fliscoria de America,
i, 279.
84 THE SPANISH DEPENDENCIES
the Indians, he found them allied with the neighbouring
tribes of Cores, Cháimas, and Chacopatas. Against the
combined forces of this union, amounting to ten thousand
men, a decisive victory appeared impossible. Therefore,
in a council of war, it was decided to withdraw from the
campaign, and to recall the settlers from the presidio of
Espiritu Santo.'
V
The failure of Gonzalez de Silva to subjugate the
Indians left them bolder and more confident of their independence than before; and when Luis de Rojas, the
successor of Pimental, was governor, he established, in
1584, the town of San Juan de la Paz, on the river Toy,
four leagues below its junction with the Guaire. This
town flourished fora time, drawing support from the mines
of Apa and Carapa, but it was later abandoned on account
of its unhealthy and disagreeable climate. Sebastian Diaz
de Alfaro in the same year, 1584, founded another city,
which was called San Sebastian de los Reyes, and which
has been maintained until the present time. Rojas,
like many others who held authority in this region, sacrificed the prospects of the settlements and the cultivation
necessary to permanent prosperity in pursuit of fruitless
conquests. The campaign undertaken by Christobal de
Cobos, in 1585. under Rojas' order, was less urgent than
devotion to the arts of peace for the promotion of the economical interests of the colony. It was directed against
the Cumanagotos, who were more disposed to be independent than aggressive. Cobos took with him one hundred
and seventy Spaniards and three hundred Indian auxiliaries. With the aid of his friendly Indians, he constructed
the fort, or presidio, of Apaicuáre, which was fortified, or
surrounded for defence with a stockade of heavy logs;
caulin, Histovia de la Nueva Andatuc(a, 159-67; Baralt y
Diaz, Ifiao,ia cit Venezuela, i. 237.
PROGRESS OF VENEZUELA 85
but this proved to be of little advantage, for the enemy
laid siege to the place, and sought to reduce it by cutting off the sources of supply. Cobos' undertaking was
attended by a series of misfortunes, and finally lie abandoned his plans of conquest and withdrew from the field.
He returned to Caracas, and died there a few days after
his arrival. Certain later advances into the territory of
the Indians were rather slave-hunting excursions than
military campaigns, and indicated a return to the practices
of the earlier invaders of Venezuela. The various military
expeditions that were sent against the natives were like
one another with respect to their organisation and progress ; and the narrative of one contains the essential
features of the story of all. In the actual conflicts there
were usually a few Europeans opposed to a large number
of Indians ; there was always suffering from exposure
and hunger; and the European soldiers who withstood
the hardships of the campaigns and returned were often
only wrecks of what they had been.'
The hostilities in the later phases of this conflict were
marked by features which displayed Indian heroism and
Christian barbarity. For a single instance, one may take
the fate of Tarnanaco, the cacique of the Mareches. He
had fought a good fight against the Spaniards ; he had
killed a number of them with his war-club in the battle of
Guaire; but, at last, abandoned by his warriors, he had
been made a prisoner, and, in 1573, was condemned to
death. Then, moved by their desire for a brutal exhibition, the Spaniards offered to grant Tamanaco his life in
case he should come off victorious in a fight with one of
their fierce dogs. Tamanaco naturally accepted the proposition, as his only alternative was death, and his great
strength seemed to give him at least a chance of surviving.
They enclosed a small space with a fence, placed Tamanaco
in the centre, and, at a given signal, let loose the hideous
dog. The cacique struck at him with his club, but failed
Caulin, if Cstora de hi Nueva ,I
udaluela, 167-75.
86 THE SPANISH DEPENDENCIES
to hit him, and the infuriated beast, without giving his
opponent time to raise his club for a second blow, rushed
upon him, threw him to the ground, seized him by the
throat, and in a few minutes despatched him, horribly
mangled.'
The towns of this region, in the period under consideration, had become accustomed to the government of regidores, who were elected annually, and who had the right to
elect the alcaldes. Practically the only political uiglits
exercised by the Spanish colonists in America were those
enjoyed in connection with the municipalities, and their
zeal in maintaining these rights was at once a reminiscence
of the municipal liberty of Spain, and an anticipation of the
spirit that was to make all American states independent.
The attitude assumed by the town of Caraballeda was a
positive expression of the views of the other cities of the
province. In 1586 Governor Rojas, violating the prerogatives of Caraballeda, appointed the alcaldes for the
following year. This act aroused the opposition of the
regidores, who at first protested, and, when their verbal
protest was not effective, threw out the alcaldes appointed
by the governor, and elected others in accordance with
their custom. The election did not, however, close the
incident for the governor caused the four regidores to
be arrested and imprisoned at Caracas. The inhabitants
of the town resented this interference, but did not wish
to proceed to the use of force. They, therefore, abandoned
Caraballeda, and took up their residences in other cities.
This they were able to do without groat loss, for the
houses of the abandoned town, like most of the houses in
Venezuela at the time, were merely huts or thatched roofs,
furnishing protection from the rain, since the climate
of the country called for no protection from the cold .2
The intervention of Rojas in the municipal government
Rojas, A., Estudios hiseoricos, 38-44.
Barait y Din, Ilistoria do Venezuela, i. 251
Coio,nbia, iSrj.
I3encdetti, His!, do
PROGRESS OF VENEZUELA 87
of Carabalieda had for him, after it became known in
Spain, very important consequences. He was removed
from office in 1587, and when the trial of residencia was
instituted, there was no lack of persons to bring charges
against him and, as a result of this trial, lie was imprisoned and deprived of his property, and the regidores
were released. The former inhabitants of the abandoned
town had no desire to return to it but the new governor,
Diego Osorio, recognising the need of a port near the
capital, persuaded some of them to join in the foundation
of La Guaira.'
VI
The barbarous treatment which the Indians had received under the administration of Rojas induced the
audiencia of Santo Domingo to send to Caracas Diego de
Leguisamdn as a magistrate authorised to investigate and
bring to trial such cases as needed judicial correction.
This officer, receiving part of the fines and other products
of his own judgments carried his inquiries and prosecutions to such an unreasonable extreme that practically the
whole population found itself involved in his condemnations. The turbulence excited by these prosecutions
caused the cabildo to fear the destruction of the town's
well-being, and to send to the audiencia its protest
against the excesses of the judge. As a consequence of
this action of the cabildo, the audiencia ordered that the
judge should be superseded and made to disgorge his
spoils.2
To allay the internal commotion caused by the conduct of Leguisamón was the first task that required the
attention of Governor Osorio. He had to harmonise conflicting private interests, and to re-establish the authority
and prestige of the government. With the increase of the
Baralt y Diaz, Historla de I'e,icxztthi, I.
251.
2
Ibid.,
88 THE SPANISH DEPENDENCIES
population the relation of the Spaniards to the Indians
had not improved. The laws designed to protect them
were not executed; and little or noheed was paid to the
decrees and royal orders which imposed upon the
Spaniards the obligation to give them religious instruction. In order that Osorio might be clothed with more
extensive power, Simon Bolivar was commissioned, in
1589, to go to Spain and obtain from the king the required
enlargement of the governor's authority. After Bolivar's
return in 1592, the governor undertook the proposed reforms. He distributed lands in accordance with the
regulations providing for the system of encomiendas;
determined the municipal lands and revenues; founded
the archives; formed municipal ordinances; and undertook to carry out the requirement that the Indians should
live in towns. There was a certain unoccupied territory
south-west of Tocuyo and Barquisimeto, towards the frontier of Granada, and, in order that this might be held by
Venezuela, Governor Osorio commissioned Juan Fernandez
de Leon to enter that region and found a city, or presidio,
at some suitable site on the eastern slope of the cordillera.
Under this commission the town of Guanare was founded
in 1593. A part of Osorios proposed reform was to make
membership in the cabildos purchasable and perpetual,
thus participating in a movement that attained this end
more or less completely in different parts of Spanish
America.
To the last decade of the sixteenth century belong the
beginnings of public instruction at Caracas. On the suggestion of Bolivar, the king sent to Juan Martinez Manzanillo, the Bishop of Caracas, a decree, dated June 22,
1592, in which he ordered the establishment of a school,
which became the Seminario Tridenli,io. He required,
moreover, that in considering candidates for stipends,
or for membership in the college, care should be taken
to prefer to all others the descendants of the first conquerors and the sons of those who had served the crown
PROGRESS OF VENEZUELA 89
of Spain with the greatest devotion." This was a modest
beginning, hut, in a rude village such as Caracas was then,
there was probably no demand for instruction that could
not be met by this primitive institution.'
But the peaceful growth of Caracas was temporarily
interrupted in 1595, while Governor Osorio was at Maracaibo, by an assault of English pirates, May 29, 1395. In
advancing from the coast they evaded the troops that
had been sent out against them, and were thus able to
take and sack the city without resistance. They occupied
the town for six days, but they were not able to obtain a
Humbert, Les ovigines vinlzuélie,,nes, 63 Bolivar, who bore the
title of Contador de let Real Hacienda de Venezuela, and also that of
Jiegidor, was the first of the Liberator's ancestors to appear in America.
The line of descent appears in the following table:
Simon de =
Bolivar.
Captain-General = Dofta Ann
Juan de Villegas. Pacheco.
Lorenzo-Martinen =
de Villiegas.
Simon = Beatriz
deBolivar de Roxas.
el Joven.
Joan tie = Luisa
Villegas. j tie Villela
Magdalen
Don LorenroDona
=
tie Vitlegas.
Ladron
tie Guevara.
Leonor
Antonio =
de Bolivar, tie Rebolledo.
Don Lus = Dofla Maria
tie Bolivar. deVillegas.
j
Col. Juan de Bolivar = Maria Petron,la
Y Villegas.
tie Porte.
Col. Juan Vicente = M aria Conception
tie Bolivar.
l' alacioa y Solo.
SIMON IIOLSVAR,
she Liberator.
o THE SPANISH DEPENDENCIES
ransom ) and returned to the coast, reaching their ships on
June 4.1
VII
The principal feature of Venezuela's progress in the
half-century following the period of the Welser administration, was utilising the agricultural resources of the
country. The cultivation of the soil about Caracas was
especially flourishing. Among the products were wheat,
barley, sugar-cane, indigo, food vegetables of all kinds,
figs, pomegranates, grapes, quinces, and tobacco. During
this period the herds increased rapidly, furnishing an abundance of flesh for food, and hides and tallow for exportation. Flour was also conspicuous among the exports,
and was sent to Cartagena. The number of manufactories
that had come into existence in the sixteenth century was
very limited. Sugar-mills were, however, made necessary
by the cultivation of cane ; and, just at the end of the
century, the first plant for making soap was established.
The town of Caracas contained about fifteen hundred
inhabitants, and consisted of two parallel streets running
north and south. Two sharply defined classes had already
become recognised. An aristocracy had been created by
royal order. To encourage the union of the two races,
the daughters of the caciques had been ennobled, and
Spaniards without rank who married them acquired by
this means the privileges of nobility. The nobles having
ancient Spanish titles who joined the colony naturally
felt themselves superior to the new colonial nobility, but
the new nobles enjoyed all the privileges claimed by their
distinguished rivals. Between the two classes, however,
there existed persistent rivalry and jealousy, which conSouthey, Chronological history of the West Indies, i. 220; Kingsley,
Westward Ho I; Humbert, Lea origi,re.s vtnézutliennes, 65. This
assault is sometimes attributed to sir Francis Drake; see Oviedo
y Belles, lib. vii. cap. x,; Baralt y Diaz, I. But at the
time Captain Preston made the assault Drake was in England, and did
not arrive at Marie Galante until October 28, 1595.
PROGRESS OF VENEZUELA gi
stituted a feature of the society of Venezuela. The antagonism which existed between these classes was a phase of
the conflict which marked the relations of the Spaniards
to the creolcs throughout Spain's American possessions
during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and
one must take note of it if he would understand the great
revolution which overthrew the dominion of Spain on the
continent of America.1
It is difficult for one under the stress of life in the most
active nations of these later days to form an accurate conception of the sluggish existence of the towns of Venezuela
at the end of the seventeenth century. Before noon there
appeared in the streets only the comparatively few men
whose affairs called them to their offices, a number of the
more pious women on their way to mass, and slaves
sent to make the daily purchases of provisions for the
families. Between the hour of the midday dinner and
hall-past three o'clock in the afternoon the streets were
deserted, all shops were closed, and the town was in a
state of completely-suspended animation. But at halfpast three or four o'clock there was a general awakening,
and a little later all the world was abroad, the brilliant
costumes of the women, crowned by the graceful Castillian
mantilla, making a lively scene on the plaza or the street
which fashion had designated for the promenade. Men
of distinction wore the long Spanish capa, while men of
less pretensions wore the caoic, a loose coat with sleeves,
but without a hood. The caa and the capote were to
such an extent indications of rank that they were often
worn when not needed for warmth. Besides the daily
promenade and the evening reunions, or tertulias, even
Caracas, the capital, presented few means of social diversion. There was no theatre, and the senses to which that
institution might have appealed had in a large measure
to be satisfied by the brilliant spectacles and exercises of
the church. The music of the mass, the procession, with
Humbert, Las origiun vd,rézullia,.ncs, 67-70.
92 THE SPANISH DEPENDENCIES
its gorgeously-dressed images and the long line of lights,
interested manypersonswho saw notlung in these things but
the outward show. Those persons whose minds sought to
penetrate beyond the visible and the real soon found themselves involvedinthe intricacies of ecclesiastical mythology.
The church offered not only a means of diversion, but
it presented also a remedy for many of the evils that afflicted the society of Venezuela. When the locusts devoured the products of the cultivated fields about Caracas
in 1574, the inhabitants appealed to Saint Maurice. In
180 the city was ravaged by smallpox, and the ayuntamiento decided to build a church in honour of Saint Paul
the Hermit. This pagan simplicity is manifest also in
the tale of the Virgin of Capacabana, according to which
an Indian walking on a street in Caracas took off his hat
and saw a small coin fall before him. He picked it up,
and ran to the nearest grog-shop, and bought a drink of
spirits. A little later, while sitting at a street corner, he
again removed his hat, when he saw a second similar halfreal fall to the ground. He picked up this one, and spent
it as he had spent the other, When he saw a third coin
of the same kind fall under similar circumstances, he took
it up and found on it an image of the Virgin. This one
he hung about his neck, and when a little later he had been
sentenced to capital punishment for a crime which he had
committed, the executioner found that the rope broke as
soon as it was put round the criminal's neck. Another
and a stronger rope had the same fate, when the Indian
declared that this miracle was due to the protection of
the Virgin of Capacabana. He then removed the coin
which he had hung about his neck, and asked that it might
be taken to the church of Saint Paul. After the criminal
had taken off the wonder-working coin, the hangman had
no difficulty in executing him. The hero of this tale
appears not to have been a wise Indian, since, having the
Virgin clearly on his side, he threw off her protection without any adequate excuse.