Venezuela
Venezuela names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Venezuela a republic in the N
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a republic in the N. E. part of South America; bounded on the N. by the Caribbean Sea; on the W. by the United States of Columbia; on the S. by Brazil; and on the E. by British Guiana; lat. 1° 20′ to 12° 25′ N., lon. 59° 54' to 73° 17' W. Within recent years the country has been variously subdivided. In 1854 there were 13 provinces those of Apure, Barcelona, Varinas, Barquisimeto, Carabobo, Caracas, Coro, Cumana, Guiana, Maracaibo, Margarita, Merida, and Truxillo-with an aggregate population of 945,908. Subsequently, the number of provinces was increased to 21 by subdividing eight of the original provinces. In 1863, after the Federals had conquered the Unionists, a confederation was formed, and the number of states was reduced to seven. The present distribution of the United States of Venezuela, according to the constitution, June 13, 1914, is into 20 states, a Federal district, and 2 territories. The area of the country claimed and occupied by Venezuela is 393,976 square miles; pop. 2,852,614. The capital is Caracas; pop. 90,720. Topography. The coast line extending from E. to W.-from the delta of the Orinoco to the boundary of the United States of Columbia-is 1,584 miles in length. Venezuela comprises the plains of the Orinoco basin, in continuation of the Amazon valley around the mountains of Guiana, partly separated from the Caribbean Sea by the N. E. range of the Andes. These plains are traversed by many rivers, the main river being the Orinoco, into which flow the Caroni and Ventuari, traversing and draining with their affluents the Guiana Mountains; the Atabapo, and other rivers. The Upper Orinoco is connected with the Upper Amazon by the channels of the Cassiquiare and the Rio Negro. The mountain system of the Andes extends N. and E. into Venezuela from Colombia. Between the N. and E. ranges is the low country of Lake Maracaibo basin. The country E. of this basin is an extensive mountain tract, some of the peaks reaching above the limit of perpetual snow. These mountains extend along the N. coast, in a double range, having fertile valleys between. There are other mountain ranges in the S. and E. The highest peak is the Sierra Nevada de Merida, reaching a height of 15,400 feet. Lake Maracaibo, in the extreme N. W., has an area of 8,392 square miles, and is connected by an outlet 8 miles wide, with a gulf of the same name; the waters of the gulf and lake together forming an inland waterway that penetrates the country more than 300 miles. Climate. The climate is tropical, and very_hot in the valleys, the regions of the Lower Maracaibo basin being the hottest found on the W. continent. Above an altitude of 2,000 feet the climate becomes temperate, and cold above 7,000 feet. Much of the mountainous and plateau country has an elevation between these altitudes. The mean temperature at La Guaira is 82°, at Caracas 77°, but at Merida 61°. Wet and dry seasons alternate on the table lands. Rain is abundant in the mountainous regions. Zoology. Large regions of Venezuela, especially in the S. W. comprising the Upper Orinoco basin and plains, are still unexplored, much of the country being densely covered with forests, penetrable only with great difficulty. Fully one-half of Venezuela is unbroken forest. These forests abound in wild animals, insects, birds, and reptiles. There are many species of monkeys, all the varieties of South American Felidæ, tapirs, deer, ant eaters, the spectacled bear, the cabaiai sloths, etc. Aquatic birds in enormous flocks are found in the swamps, lakes, and rivers. Tortoises are plentiful, 50,000,000 eggs annually being taken for their oil. Manatees and porpoises ascend the Orinoco. The rivers, bays, and lakes abound in fish of many varieties. Agriculture.- Agriculture is the principal industry, but is mostly confined to the N. mountainous belt, where the greater part of the population is concentrated. The principal products are coffee, cacao, sugar cane, tobacco, maize, cotton, and tropical fruits. Wheat is cultivated in some of the higher plains. Indigenous products, cultivated or gathered, include the to tonka bean, ean, rubber, copal, sarsaparilla, chinchona, many beautiful cabinet woods, dyewoods, herbs, Venezuela remained subject to Spain, drugs, etc. The agricultural lands till it claimed independence in 1811. amount to about 135,000 square miles. Great herds of sheep, goats, and cattle are raised on the table-lands and mountain slopes, the export of hides and skins forming an important industry of the country. The area under coffee is estimated at from 180,000 to 200,000 acres. There are about 33,000 coffee plantations and about 5,000 cocoa plantations. The sugar plantations number about 11,000 with an annual production of about 3,000 tons. New sugar centrals have been established within recent years. About one-fifth of the population is engaged in agriculture. Mineralogy-Venezuela has important gold mines. The gold production in 1917 was 958,304 grammes. In 1918 the copper production amounted to 29,708 tons; and coal, 25,332 tons. Petroleum is found in many places, and there are valuable deposits of asphalt. The output in 1919 was nearly 50,000 50,000 tons. Copper, coal, salt, asphalt, silver, lead, tin, iron, sulphur, and petroleum are also found. Guano is exported, and bitumen is found in the river deltas and lake basins. Commerce. The imports in 1917-1918 amounted to £3.382,759, and the exports to £3,920,866. The principal exports are coffee, cocoa, balata, and rubber. The greater part of the trade is with the United States. Coffee constitutes about three-fourths of the entire export trade, and nearly six-sevenths of the import trade is subject to duty. Communications. - There are 12 lines of railway, with a total length of 642 miles. The Great Railway of Venezuela, 111 miles long, runs between Caracas and Valencia. Finances. The revenue expenditures in 1919-1920 were estimated to balance at £1,948,634. The foreign public debt in December 31, 1918, was £5,763,866. Government. The government of Venezuela is a federative republic, haying a President, elected for seven years, and a Congress of two houses. Religion. The State religion is Roman Catholic, but all other religions are freely tolerated. There are government universities at Caracas and Merida. History. The E. coast of Venezuela was discovered by Columbus in 1498; Ojeda and Vespucci followed in 1499, and entering Lake Maracaibo, they found an Indian village constructed on piles, to prevent the evil effects of inundation, and they named the place Venezuela, or little Venice, a name which afterward spread to the whole country. The first settlement was made at Cumana in 150 by the Spaniards, and It then returned to allegiance to Spain, but again revolted in 1813, and, forming with New Granada and Ecuador the republic of Columbia, was declared independent in 1819. In 1830 Venezuela withdrew from the other members of the Free State founded by Simon Bolivar and declared itself a federal republic. The charter of funda mental laws dating from 1830 was amended in 1864 and 1881, and is quite similar to the Constitution of the United States of America. In 1902 the claims of certain countries upon Venezuela caused complications so grave that it seemed that Venezuela and the United States would become involved in war with foreign powers. Germany blockaded Venezuelan ports and bombarded fortified coast towns. Feb. 13, 1903, Great Britain, Germany, and Italy signed protocols at Washington, providing for the settlement of the controversy. Finally, through the intercession of the United States, the controversy was submitted to The Hague Tribunal. History. The Hague Tribunal in February, 1904, pronounced in favor of the Allied Powers. Following the election of Castro as president, in 1905, there were serious internal and external troubles. Venezuela became involved with Colombia, France, Great Britain and the United States. Diplomatic relations were broken off with the United States and the Dutch made a naval demonstration in Venezuelan waters. Castro suddenly left the country in December, 1908, and the vice-president, Gomez, became acting president. He became provisional president in the following year. Castro attempted to return and assume his former power but was unsuccessful. A new constitution was promulgated in 1909 and in April, 1910, Gomez was chosen constitutional president. Castro's at trated in 1911. The counry prospered tempts a revolution were frusunder the firm rule of President Gomez. He was re-elected for the presidency in 1915. In the year previous a new constitution had been adopted and laws were enacted providing for compulsory education, public works, sanitation, and a new electoral system. See COLOMBIA: VENEZUELAN BOUN- DARY DISPUTE.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
ven-e-zwe'la, a republic of South America . It lies on the Caribbean Sea , between British Guiana and Colombia. Area, about 364,000 square miles. Capital, Caracas. Chief seaport, La Guayra . The name Venezuela is Spanish, meaning "Little Venice." It was given by Amerigo Vespucci in 1499 in reference to the shallows of Lake Maracaibo in which the natives were found living in houses erected on long poles standing in the water. There are two distinct physical regions. The eastern portion of the country consists chiefly of the vast plains of the Orinoco. The western portion contains two lofty, spreading, snow-capped spurs of the Andes thrown north and eastward like a Y to the Caribbean. Between these spurs lies a deep indentation of the sea, a veritable Mediterranean, known as Lake Maracaibo. Its southern extremity is three hundred miles from the entrance. The latter is about eight miles wide. The shores, in full sight of perpetual snow, are said to be the hottest region on the western continent. The climate of the lowlands is everywhere intensely tropical. Caracas, the capital, a city of 80,000 people, is situated at some distance from the coast at an elevation of 3,000 feet. At this height the climate is comfortable, the extremes being 84 degree and 48 degree F. The leading occupation is agriculture. Tillage is confined chiefly to the tablelands and mountain valleys of the north, above the altitude of 2,000 feet. The principal products are coffee, tobacco, sugar, cotton, fruits, corn, cacao, and, in the more elevated regions, wheat. The inhabitants gather sarsaparilla for the Lowell factories, rubber, copal, cinchona bark for quinine, dye woods, and many useful drugs. There are large exportations of the hides of cattle, sheep, and goats. Vast regions of the Orinoco are as yet unexplored. They are covered with seemingly endless and impenetrable forests of gigantic tropical growth. Collectors find a wealth of insects and birds of every hue and description. Monkeys clamber about, feeding on tropical fruits. The tapir, deer, anteater, sloth, cougar, the boa constrictor , and the Orinoco crocodile are at home here. The crane-like, vermilion-colored flamingo is not rare. Wild ducks, geese, and other waterfowl find a winter paradise here. Millions of tortoise eggs are dug by the Indians for the sake of their oil. The coast waters swarm with fish. The curious manatee and the tumbling porpoise are seen in the lower reaches of the rivers. There are about one-third of a million Indians engaged chiefly in fishing, hunting, curing and gathering nuts, medicinal herbs, etc. Many have become half civilized and are engaged in stock raising. There is undoubted mineral wealth, but the mines are not extensively developed. Gold, silver, copper, and iron are said to be abundant. There are deposits of sulphur, coal, lead, kaolin, and tin. There are vast lakes of asphalt. Petroleum exists in large but unknown quantities. There are several salt mines. The government farms out the right to gather pearls, sponges, and tortoise shells for one tenth of the product. Pearls alone are gathered to the value of $100,000 a year. There are practically no manufactures. The products of the country are exchanged largely with Great Britain and the United States for dry goods, groceries, hardware, machinery, and flour. The official language is Spanish. The state religion is Roman Catholic. The chief coin is the bolivar, worth five to the dollar. The president holds office for six years. Education is free. The system includes two universities, twenty-two high schools for boys, eleven high schools for girls, four normal schools, one school of fine arts, one of music, one of engineering, and about fifteen hundred district schools. About one-eighth of the adults can read and write. Caracas is the center of the railroad, postal, telegraph, and telephone systems. Roads are poor. Traffic is carried on largely by means of pack animals and small mule carts. Venezuela is a country of possibilities. See Lake Dwellings STATISTICS. Area, square miles 364,000 Population 2,646.835 Caracas 80,000 Maracaibo 40,000 Valencia 40,000 States and territories 19 Senators 26 Deputies 80 National income $10,000,000 National debt $23,000,000 Exported Products-- Coffee, pounds 84,000,000 Sugar, pounds 6,000,000 Cacao, pounds 30,309,000 Gold, value $300,000 Copper, pounds 222,000 Coal, tons 14,000 Rubber, pounds 3,500,000 Cattle $1,000,000 Domestic Animals-- Cattle 2,000,000 Sheep 176,000 Goats 1,667,000 Horses 191,000 Mules 89,000 Asses 312,000 Swine 1,618,000
Venezuela GULF OF. See MARACAIBO
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
GULF OF. See MARACAIBO, GULF OF. VENEZUELAN BOUNDARY DIS- PUTE. In 1855 a crisis arose between Great Britain and Venezuela regarding the boundary line separating the latter country from British Guiana -a question which had been long in dispute. The controversy dated back to 1814, when Great Britain acquired by treaty with the Netherlands the province of Demerara, Essequibo, and Bernice. Venezuela originally claimed her limits to be those of the captaincy-general of 1810, but contented herself with claiming the line of the Essequibo river as the true boundary. Great Britain apparently acquiesced till 1840, when she commissioned Sir R. Schomburgk to lay out the boundaries, which he proceeded to do by including a large area which had before been considered by Venezuela a porti portion of her domain , and to the possession of which by Great Britain a vigorous protest was entered. After much diplomatic negotiations the monuments set up by Schomburgk were removed by the order of Lord Aberdeen. Other boundaries were from time to time suggested, but none agreed on, till finally, in 1886, Great Britain returned to her contention of 1840, and claimed all the territory within the S Schomburgk line. The controversy continued till 1894, when a Venezuelan force entered the disputed territory and raised the flag of the latter country at Yuruan. The following year the British police removed the flag, for which they were arrested but finally released, Great Britain setting up a demand for reparation somewhat in the nature of an ultimatum. The United States became a party to the dispute by the act of Congress directing the President to urge Great Britain to submit to arbitration the question whether Venezuela was entitled to the territory between the Essequibo and the Orinoco. In his annual message to Congress, Dec. 3, 1895, President Cleveland called attention to the boundary controversy and the representations made by the United States Government to that of Great Britain with a view of securing the submission of the dispute to arbitration. On the 17th he sent a special message to Congress, accompanied by the answer of the British Government to the representations mentioned, and a recommendation that Congress authorize the appointment of a commission to determine the divisional line between Venezuela and British Guiana. The message created intense excitement throughout Europe and America. Both Houses of Congress passed a commission bill unanimously and indulged in much talk of war. Under the bill the President announced, Jan. 1, 1896, the appointment of the following commissioners: David J. Brewer , Associate-Justice of the United States Supreme Court; Richard H. Alvey, Chief-Justice of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia; Andrew D. White, ex-United States minister to Russia; Fr Frederic R. Coudert; and Daniel C. Gilman, president of Johns Hopkins Uni versity. Subsequently the commission organized and chose Justice Brewer its president. The commission invited the governments of Venezuela and Great Britain to formulate and present to it their respective cases in support of their claims. The invitation was complied with by both governments. Independently of these cases the commission gathered a great mass of evidence bearing on the claims, and continued its sittings till Feb. 27, 1897, when, Venezuela and Great Britain having signed a treaty providing for the submission of the claims to arbi tration, the commission considered its work at an end, made its report to the President, and terminated its existence . The treaty between Venezuela and Great Britain was signed in Washington, D. C. , on Feb. 2, 1897, and provided for the appointment of an arbitration tribunal, to determine the boundary line, consisting of five jurists, the two on the part of Venezuela being Chief-Justice Fuller and Associate-Justice Brewer of the United States Supreme Court; the two on the part of Great Britain being the Rt. Hon. Baron Herschell and the Hon. Sir Richard Henn Collins; and the fifth to be selected by the four jurists nominated in the treaty, or, in the event of their failure to agree, by the King of Norway and Sweden, len, the fifth jurist to be the president of the tribunal. The treaty provided that the tribunal should sit in Paris, France. The tribunal was completed by the selection of Professor Maertens, a distinguished Russian jurist, Professor of International Law in the University of St. Petersburg, and legal writer, as the fifth member and president. The award of the tribunal, which was delivered Oct. 3, 1899, gave Great Britain the Schomburgk line, with the exception of Barima Point, at the mouth of the Orinoco, and a strip of territory between the Wenamu and Ĉuyuni rivers; but it was decided that the mouth of the Orinoco should be open to the British, and both banks of a part of the Cuyuni, where the Schomburgk line had given them only one bank. VENIAL SIN. The distinction made in Roman Catholic theology between mortal sin and a venial sin was first made in connection with Church discipline. St. Augustine, in his book of " Faith and Works," distinguishes sins into two kinds; greater, or those which obliged men to do public penance, and which he called mortal; and lesser, such as sins of the tongue and thoughts, and the immoderate use of lawful things, which he called venial, not because they were not mortal in their own nature, but because in comparison with the others they were of an inferior nature, and not so easily proved on men; and because men were cleared from them without the humiliation of a public penance, by private repentance, and daily prayer and reformation. The same distinction is made in the writings of many of the early Fathers. The sins for which public penance had to be undergone were all enormous sins, such as idolatry, apostasy, divination, murder, adultery, theft, and sacrilege. But this is not the distinction which is made in later theology in connection with the doctrines of purgatory and auricular confession, and especially in the writings of the casuists. There is so much diversity of opinion among the writers themselves that no precise definition of a venial sin can be given, further than that they are those minor sins to which even the best are liable, and from which even those who escape the punishment of hell have to be purified in purgatory before they can enter to heaven.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's in 1921 gave petroleum only a passing line "the output in 1919 was nearly 50,000 tons" and said coffee made up about three-fourths of all exports. The following year the Barroso No. 2 well blew out near Lake Maracaibo, and within a decade Venezuela was the world's largest oil exporter; today oil supplies the great bulk of export earnings, and the Orinoco Belt gives the country the largest proven crude reserves on earth. Population has gone from the 2,852,614 recorded here to roughly 28 million, with Caracas grown from 90,720 to a metropolitan area of some three million, though more than seven million people have left the country since 2015 amid economic collapse. The eastern neighbour is no longer "British Guiana" but independent Guyana (1966), and Venezuela's claim to the Essequibo region west of that border is now before the International Court of Justice.
Written for this edition, 2026.