Federal Dependencies of Venezuela

The Federal Dependencies of Venezuela (Spanish: Dependencias Federales de Venezuela) encompass most of Venezuela's offshore islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Venezuela, excluding those islands that form the State of Nueva Esparta and some Caribbean coastal islands that are integrated with nearby states. These islands, with a total area of 342 square kilometres, are sparsely populated – according to the preliminary results of the 2011 Census only 2,155 people live there permanently, with another hundred from Margarita Island who live there seasonally to engage in fishing. Local government is officially under the authority of Central government in Caracas, although de facto power is often held by the heads of the sparse and somewhat isolated communities that decorate the territories.

The origins of the population of the Federal Dependencies can be found in the Archipelago of Los Roques dating back to approximately 1200 BC, when it is believed that indigenous Caribs came from Curaçao, Aruba or the mainland visited the islands, especially Two Mosquises Sur, Crasquí and Cayo Sal, to supply themselves with food and salt.

Sample of the presence of these first settlers are the concheros of botutos that abound in the beaches of Los Roques. These sporadic waves of indigenous ethnic groups became more frequent towards the year 1000 AD, when in Dos Mosquises North fishermen and farmers from Ocumare de la Costa and the Central Coast, who formed the only ocumaroid settlement in the Venezuelan Antilles, where they exploited their natural resources and cultivated much of its artistic manifestations.

A new migratory wave took place in 1300 approximately, when the carriers of the Valencioid ceramics arrived to the archipelago and settled in Dos Mosquises Sur.

Between the 16th and 18th centuries salt was one of the most coveted resources and their exploitation in the Venezuelan natural salt mines was controlled by the authorities of the Colony. At the end of the 18th century in the salt mines of Cayo Sal, located in the southwestern part of the Los Roques archipelago, the Spanish authorities installed a small customs office of which it is believed that there are still remains (foundations of its infrastructure made of coral formations).

Old references indicate that the Dutch expelled from Araya by the Spaniards in 1605 settled in La Tortuga to exploit its salt mines until they were again evicted in 1631. In 1840 Agustín Codazzi made a description of the island mentioning also the extraction of salt. It was not until the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century that La Tortuga aroused the interest of scientists, who have studied its fauna and flora.

One of the most interesting facts in history of the federal dependencies was given between the 8 and the December 12, 1842, when three corvetas that transported to the country the rest of Simón Bolívar managed to flee of a storm when taking refuge in Los Roques.

On November 8, 1777, it was recognised by the Royal Decree of Charles III of Spain that the group of Spanish islands near the southeast of the Caribbean Sea would come under the jurisdiction of the Captaincy General of Venezuela. With the Venezuelan independence, all the islands remained under Venezuelan rule and in the same way until the formation of Gran Colombia. In 1830, Venezuela seceded from Gran Colombia and regained sovereignty over its islands in the Caribbean. On March 30, 1845, Venezuela and Spain signed a Treaty of Peace and Friendship in which Isabela II of Spain officially recognised Venezuela's independence and all the territories and islands that belonged to the Captaincy General of Venezuela at the time of independence.