Venezuela: 20th Century Developments

At the dawn of the twentieth century, Venezuela came under the control of a succession of military strongmen from the Andean state of Táchira, known collectively as the Andinos. General Cipriano Castro seized the presidency in 1899 and ruled until 1908, when he departed for medical treatment in Europe and was supplanted by Juan Vicente Gómez, who held power for the next twenty-seven years through a centralized and often repressive administration.

During this period the country's economy underwent a profound transformation. The discovery of vast petroleum reserves in the early decades of the century attracted extensive foreign investment, and by 1928 Venezuela had become the world's leading oil exporter. This shift away from a primarily agricultural economy accelerated urbanization and reshaped the social and economic landscape, even as political power remained concentrated in the hands of a small military elite through further periods of authoritarian rule, including another dictatorship between 1950 and 1958 under Marcos Pérez Jiménez.

The overthrow of Pérez Jiménez in January 1958 marked a turning point, initiating a sustained period of civilian democratic governance. In the decades that followed, Venezuela built a reputation as one of Latin America's more stable democracies, supported by petroleum revenues that funded public investment and social programs. This process of political and economic development over the century left a lasting imprint on Venezuela's institutions, urban growth, and its enduring reliance on oil as the foundation of national prosperity.