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Christopher Columbus visits Venezuela.
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The first rebellion against Spanish rule.
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Venezuelans take advantage of Napoleons invasion of Spain to declare independence.
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Juan Vicente Gomez as the dictator, Venezuela becomes world largest oil exporter.
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Coup establishes civilian government after decades of military rule.
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Venezuela benefits from oil boom and its currency peaks against the US dollar; oil and steel industries nationalized.
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President Perez impeached on corruption charges.
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Hugo Chavez elected president amid disenchantment with established parties, launches 'Bolivian Revolution' that brings in new constitution, socialist and populist economic, and social policies funded by high oil prices, alongside increasingly anti-US foreign policy.
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Armed forces rebel over violent stand-off between government and state oil monopoly after appointment of new board.
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President Chavez suffers his first defeat at the ballot box, when a referendum narrowly rejects proposals to increase government control over the Central Bank and the power to expropriate property.
