Caracas: A Historical Background

More than five hundred years ago, the area was populated by local, ethnic tribes and Caracas did not exist. Years went by, and Francisco Fajardo, a Spanish colonial attempted to establish a plantation there in the year of 1562. Fajardo's stay in the valley did not last long, and he was expelled by the locals. This was the last rebellion on the part of the aborigines, for on July 25th, 1567, the Spanish captain Diego de Losada laid the foundations of the city of Santiago de León de Caracas, and the ethnic settlement of Catuchacao was transformed under the influence of the colonizers into the new city of Caracas.

As the economy of oil-rich Venezuela grew steadily (during the first part of the 20th Century), Caracas became one of Latin America's economic centers, and was also known as the preferred hub between Europe and South America. During the 1950s, Caracas began an intensive modernization program which continued throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. The Universidad Central de Venezuela, designed by modernist architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva and now a UNESCO monument, was built.

The climate of Caracas is intertropical, with precipitation that varies between 900 and 1,300 millimeters (35–51 in) (annual), in the city proper, and up to 2,000 millimeters (79 in) in some parts of the Mountain range.