Venezuela’s Colonial Social and Economic Structure
Economic Landscape
Initially, Venezuela’s economy was based on a dependent relationship with Spain, which held a monopoly over any commodity exchange within the country. Following independence, a new economic order was established under the capitalist world market. This allowed the former colonial social structure to continue for more than half of this period.
Political Structure
During the first years of republican life, Venezuela’s political structure was completely in service of the ruling class. This class was composed of a small group of landowners and land speculators. This strengthened the country’s social situation, preventing the emergence of popular leaders.
Unequal Distribution of Wealth
Proceeds from the unbalanced distribution of production factors meant that the dominant social classes accounted for over half of the total expenditure on all commodities. This condemned workers and dominated classes to a precarious life.
Regional Isolation and its Consequences
Economic isolation led to the exaltation of regionalism, synthesized in the regional caudillo. As you might imagine, this isolation was against the integration of popular sectors and the ruling classes and instead stressed their differences. On the other hand, the numerous uprisings sparked by the leaders reflected the dissatisfaction of the masses.
Social Hierarchy in Colonial Venezuela
The Upper Caste: Whites
Owners of land allotments, with Indians working on parcels and blacks in the crops, were considered the “upper caste”. This group included European Spaniards and the children of Spaniards born in Venezuela. There was an intention to associate color with purity of blood, despite the Spanish race being one of the most mixed in Europe due to the settlement of the Arabian Peninsula and the invasion of African peoples.
Whites were further divided into three sections:
White Peninsular Bureaucrats
This sector consisted of Spaniards who did not reside permanently on American territory. Sent by imperial prescriptions, they exercised bureaucratic offices (governors, magistrates, officers of the Royal Treasury) and controlled the management of fiscal resources.
White Creoles
They could occupy positions of political solidarity. They established an agricultural production structure and distribution channels relatively free from the crown, which gave them power, prestige, and wealth. Later, they bought titles of nobility, leading them to be called “great cocoas”.
The antagonisms between the White Peninsular Bureaucrats and the White Creoles sprung up around the Cabildo.
Plain Whites or “White Shores”
Composed of Spanish settlers who arrived with their families in later times, mixed between white and indigenous, who were of European descent and not black or considered illegitimate. They performed menial jobs.
The Indigenous Population
Under this name, the conquerors included all original inhabitants of American territories. Their situation was comparable to that of blacks, meaning they were considered the lowest caste, although the law recognized certain benefits for them.
The Black Population
Blacks were the lowest caste and were explicitly defined as “goods-producing jobs”. In referring to this group, Guillermo Boza, in his book Structure and Change in Colonial Venezuela, states: “Slave involved in a necessary way, ‘black’ and ‘black’, as indissoluble, supposed slave nature. Blacks, unlike the Indians, were ‘objects of ownership’, a property that stretched over the offspring of slaves, by that of ‘belly slave generates slave’, meaning the son of the slave was property even before birth.”