In 1498, during his third voyage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus sailed near the Orinoco Delta and landed in the Gulf of Paria.[54] Amazed by the great offshore current of freshwater which deflected his course eastward, Columbus expressed in a letter to Isabella and Ferdinand that he must have reached Heaven on Earth (terrestrial paradise):[55] .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;margin-top:0}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{padding-left:1.6em}}Great signs are these of the Terrestrial Paradise... for I have never read or heard of such a large quantity of fresh water being inside and in such close proximity to salt water; the very mild temperateness also corroborates this; and if the water of which I speak does not proceed from Paradise then it is an even greater marvel, because I do not believe such a large and deep river has ever been known to exist in this world.[56] Spain's colonization of mainland Venezuela started in 1522, establishing its first permanent South American settlement in the present-day[update] city of Cumaná.[57] German colonization In the 16th century, the king of Spain granted a concession to the German Welser family. Klein-Venedig[58] became the most extensive initiative in the German colonization of the Americas from 1528 to 1546. The Welsers were bankers to the Habsburgs and financiers of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who was King of Spain and had borrowed heavily from them to pay bribes for his Imperial election.[59] In 1528, Charles V granted the Welsers the right to explore, rule and colonize the territory, as well as to seek the mythical golden town of El Dorado.[60][61][62] The first expedition was led by Ambrosius Ehinger, who established Maracaibo in 1529. After the deaths of first Ehinger (1533), then Nikolaus Federmann, and Georg von Speyer (1540), Philipp von Hutten persisted in exploring the interior. In absence of von Hutten from the capital of the province, the crown of Spain claimed the right to appoint a governor. On Hutten's return to the capital, Santa Ana de Coro, in 1546, the Spanish governor Juan de Carvajal had Hutten and Bartholomeus VI. Welser executed. Subsequently, Charles V revoked Welser's concession. The Welsers transported German miners to the colony, in addition to 4,000 African slaves to plant sugar cane plantations. Many German colonists died from tropical diseases, to which they had no immunity, or through wars with the Indigenous inhabitants. Late 15th century to early 17th century Native caciques (leaders) such as Guaicaipuro (c. 1530–1568) and Tamanaco (died 1573) attempted to resist Spanish incursions, but the newcomers ultimately subdued them.[63] In the 16th century, during the Spanish colonization, indigenous peoples such as the Mariches, themselves descendants of the Kalina, were converted to Roman Catholicism. Some resisting tribes or leaders are commemorated in place names, including Caracas, Chacao and Los Teques. The early colonial settlements focused on the northern coast,[50] but in the mid-18th century, the Spanish pushed farther inland along the Orinoco River. Here, the Ye'kuana organized resistance in 1775–76.[64] Spain's eastern Venezuelan settlements were incorporated into New Andalusia Province. Administered by the Royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo from the early 16th century, most of Venezuela became part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada in the early 18th century, and was then reorganized as an autonomous Captaincy General starting in 1777. Caracas, founded in the central coastal region in 1567, was well-placed to become a key location, being near the coastal port of La Guaira and in a valley, in a mountain range, providing defensive strength against pirates and a more fertile and healthy climate.[65] Independence and 19th century Main article: Venezuelan War of Independence El Libertador, Simón Bolívar After unsuccessful uprisings, Venezuela, under the leadership of Francisco de Miranda, a Venezuelan marshal who had fought in the American and French Revolutions, declared independence as the First Republic of Venezuela on 5 July 1811.[66] This began the Venezuelan War of Independence. A devastating 1812 Caracas earthquake, together with the rebellion of the Venezuelan llaneros, helped bring down the republic.[67] Simón Bolívar, new leader of the independentist forces, launched his Admirable Campaign in 1813 from New Granada, retaking most of the territory and being proclaimed as El Libertador ("The Liberator"). A Second Republic of Venezuela was proclaimed on 7 August 1813, but lasted only a few months before being crushed by royalist caudillo José Tomás Boves and his personal army of llaneros.[68] The end of the French invasion of homeland Spain in 1814 allowed a large expeditionary force to come under general Pablo Morillo, with the goal to regain the lost territory in Venezuela and New Granada. As the war reached a stalemate on 1817, Bolívar reestablished the Third Republic of Venezuela on the territory still controlled by the patriots, mainly in the Guayana and Llanos regions. This republic was short-lived as only two years later, during the Congress of Angostura of 1819, the union of Venezuela with New Granada was decreed to form the Republic of Colombia. The war continued until full victory and sovereignty was attained after the Battle of Carabobo on 24 June 1821.[69] On 24 July 1823, José Prudencio Padilla and Rafael Urdaneta helped seal Venezuelan independence with their victory in the Battle of Lake Maracaibo.[18] New Granada's congress gave Bolívar control of the Granadian army; leading it, he liberated several countries and founded the Republic of Colombia (Gran Colombia).[69] Revolution of 19 April 1810, the beginning of Venezuela's independence, by Martín Tovar y Tovar Sucre went on to liberate Ecuador and become the second president of Bolivia. Venezuela remained part of Gran Colombia until 1830, when a rebellion led by José Antonio Páez allowed the proclamation of a newly independent Venezuela, on 22 September;[70] Páez became the first president of the new State of Venezuela.[71] Between one-quarter and one-third of Venezuela's population was lost during these two decades of war (including about half the Venezuelans of European descent),[72] which by 1830, was estimated at 800,000.[73] In the Flag of Venezuela, the yellow stands for land wealth, the blue for the sea that separates Venezuela from Spain, and the red for the blood shed by the heroes of independence.[74] Slavery in Venezuela was abolished in 1854.[73] Much of Venezuela's 19th-century history was characterized by political turmoil and dictatorial rule, including the Independence leader José Antonio Páez, who gained the presidency three times and served 11 years between 1830 and 1863. This culminated in the Federal War (1859–63). In the latter half of the century, Antonio Guzmán Blanco, another caudillo, served 13 years, between 1870 and 1887, with three other presidents interspersed. The signing of Venezuela's independence, by Martín Tovar y Tovar In 1895, a longstanding dispute with Great Britain about the Essequibo territory, which Britain claimed as part of British Guiana and Venezuela saw as Venezuelan territory, erupted into the Venezuela Crisis of 1895. The dispute became a diplomatic crisis when Venezuela's lobbyist, William L. Scruggs, sought to argue that Britis