United States of Venezuela

The United States of Venezuela was the official name of Venezuela from 1864 to 1953. The federal constitution signed at Caracas in April 1864, after the Liberal Party's victory in the Federal War, renamed the country and organised it as a union of sovereign states. Its borders were declared to be those of the Captaincy General of Venezuela in 1810, a principle retained in later constitutions. The federal system was repeatedly reshaped: the 1881 constitution merged provinces into larger states, and further reorganisations followed in 1891, 1901, 1904 and 1909. Under the long rule of Juan Vicente Gómez, from 1908 to 1935, Venezuela became a centralised oil state, and foreign companies developed the Maracaibo Basin fields that transformed public finances. Boundary disputes with British Guiana led to the Paris arbitration of 1899 and to later demarcation work, while the 1941 treaty with Colombia ceded a large tract of territory. The name United States of Venezuela remained official until the 1953 constitution, promulgated under Marcos Pérez Jiménez, renamed the country the Republic of Venezuela. Caracas remained the capital and centre of government throughout.