Venezuela

Venezuela

POPULATION 24,287,670
ROMAN CATHOLIC 80 percent
PENTECOSTAL 5–7 percent
OTHER PROTESTANT 1 percent
OTHER RELIGIONS 12–14 percent

Country Overview

Introduction

The Bolívarian Republic of Venezuela is located on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Brazil to the south, and Guyana to the east. The Andes Mountains lie to the west and southwest.

The Venezuelan coast, bordered by the Caribbean, was discovered by the Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda in l509. Franciscan and Dominican friars arrived soon thereafter, and many missions were founded among the Indians of the interior. The German Welsers ruled the colony from Coro from l528 to 1546. After the Spanish regained control, the Jesuits worked among the Indians of the Orinoco Valley, but they were expelled by Charles III in l767. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, African slaves were imported to work on the coastal sugar and cacao plantations (slavery was abolished in l854). In 1821 Simon Bolívar led an army that liberated Venezuela from Spanish rule, but during the nineteenth century revolutions devastated the country.

Venezuela became a major oil producer in the twentieth century, attracting American, British, and Dutch companies. Reflecting its missionary background, Venezuela has remained an overwhelmingly Catholic country.

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