Historedia
AmericasEvent

Venezuela Declares Independence

When
1811
Where
Caracas
Episodes
2

On July 5, 1811, delegates in Caracas adopted the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence, separating from the Spanish Crown to establish a nation based on equality and freedom of expression. Seven provinces declared independence, citing the abdications of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII as justification for self-government. The document was ratified by Congress on July 7, 1811, marking Venezuela as the first independent republic of Spanish America.

Episodes

  1. 1811-07-05 · CaracasAdoption of the Declaration

    Delegates in Caracas adopted the Acta de la Declaración de Independencia de Venezuela on July 5, 1811, separating from the Spanish Crown.

  2. 1811-07-07 · CaracasCongress Ratification

    The Congress ratified the declaration on July 7, 1811, with 43 votes for and one against, establishing the American Confederation of Venezuela.

Background and detail

Declaration Process. Delegates from the National Constituent Congress convened in Caracas on July 3, 1811, to address independence. The document was adopted on July 5, 1811, by seven of the ten provinces. It was ratified by Congress on July 7, 1811, with 43 votes for and one against. The Congress established a Confederation, later referred to as the United States of Venezuela.

Political Context. Three provinces, including Maracaibo and Coro, did not participate in the congress and remained under Spanish rule. The declaration claimed the right to govern the former Captaincy General. The region plunged into civil war by 1810, with fighting between royalist and republican areas. The declaration was recorded in the Congress's Book of Minutes in August 1811.

People involved

Sources

  1. Venezuelan Declaration of Independence Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-22
  2. First Republic of Venezuela Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-09

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.