Caracas

Timeline

1. 1567Caracas valley, Guaire River valley · Caracas valleyDiego de Losada was commissioned to conquer the valley of the Caracas people; after breaking up the scattered indigenous forces, he laid out the city on the feast day of Saint James, naming it Santiago de León de Caracas. The name refers respectively to Spain's patron saint James, Governor Ponce de León who authorized his actions, and the local Caracas people. The grid plaza and parish were laid out accordingly.
2. 1567–1569Caracas valley and coastal corridor · VenezuelaUnlike the Fajardo ranch of 1557 and the short-lived town of Rodríguez Suárez in 1561, Losada pursued a divide-and-conquer strategy, allowing the new city to survive the sustained resistance of the Teques, Caracas, and other peoples. The population was initially sparse, but it could rely on the valley's agriculture and pastoral economy and coastal links toward La Guaira to avoid being razed again.
3. c. 1577–1600Caracas · VenezuelaGovernor Juan de Pimentel moved the seat of government from the Coro–Barquisimeto line to Caracas, closer to the coast and the valley's agriculture; the plan included in the 1578 Descripción de la Provincia de Caracas already shows a standard grid city. At the end of the sixteenth century it was still smaller than Mexico or Lima, but it was already the administrative and parish center of the Province of Venezuela, linked to the pearl trade of Margarita and the exchange of inland cotton and beeswax.