colony · South America
Klein-Venedig
Origins
In 1528 Charles V granted the Welser family of Augsburg the right to colonise and govern the province of Venezuela in return for loans. The Welsers took over Coro, founded the year before by Juan de Ampíes, and sent the first German governor, Ambrosius Ehinger, in 1529.
Rule and society
The Welser governors used the colony mainly as a base for expeditions into the interior in search of gold and the legendary El Dorado. Ehinger, Nikolaus Federmann, Georg Hohermuth von Speyer and Philipp von Hutten led long marches into the Andes and llanos, often with great brutality towards indigenous peoples. Little permanent settlement or farming developed, and German miners brought to the colony achieved little. Indigenous people were enslaved and sold.
Decline and legacy
In 1546 the Spaniard Juan de Carvajal killed Philipp von Hutten and Bartholomäus Welser the younger. The Council of the Indies withdrew the Welser lease, confirmed in 1556, and the territory reverted to the Spanish Province of Venezuela.
Lineage
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- Klein-Venedig was a colony of Spanish Empire1528 CE – 1546 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Klein-Venedig. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/klein-venedig
- MLA
- “Klein-Venedig.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/klein-venedig. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Klein-Venedig.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/klein-venedig.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Klein-Venedig’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/klein-venedig (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻