To mark the 199 anniversary of the formal Declaration of Independence Venezuela, and in this year Bicentennial of the same, the April 19, 1810, we take the atmosphere of celebration dates to present to you a contribution to the dissemination of historical knowledge Venezuela.
here and now continue the selection began last July and continued the previous month .
III. PHASED:
here addresses the specialized reference works in each of the stages that make up our historical emphasis on narrative and description of the facts, events and processes, and also the influence of certain actors and certain in each of those moments. We start our classification we have decided to call "Indian Era", which obviously includes the time aboriginal, indigenous or pre-Hispanic (now also called the "peoples"). Next stage will cover the traditional Colonial , called by us "cycle of exploration, conquest and English colony," and then what is usually called Republic subdivided chronologically us in "The Nineteenth Century" and "Twentieth Century" . Our journey ends just at the beginning of what would be our current century.
1. Was Indian.
First we must recognize that this stage of our history is our greatest specialty, for this reason there are few texts that present here, as it has not been much that we have covered in depth study and analysis . Secondly, we can also point to the fact that perhaps our national history has been more to the contemporary times (independent and republican stage, XIX and XX) and has left forgotten the Indian, possibly believe that our history starts from 1498, when the English arrived and European culture, while our "pre history "is all the stage that preceded the meeting, which is why the study and analyze the time before Western civilization has been relegated to anthropologists, archaeologists, anthropologists and scholars of folklore itself rather than historians. That is a matter for the review and fix the twenty-first century, as the proper and thorough study of the Venezuelan over historical time must be holistic and comprehensive in all aspects, including the people alike with or without written history, because on all things are a product company mestizaje.
The Pre-Hispanic time Venezuela. De Rafael K. Strauss Perhaps the best work of its kind, in our opinion, for this very rarely studied by the national historiography, which has been almost exclusively for research and other studies of anthropologists and ethnologists. Strauss disciple of the great historian and anthropologist Miguel Acosta Saignes , who was the true founder of modern studies entología, indigeneity and anthropology in the country, being our first ethnohistorian . The second is Strauss. And both graduated in Mexico, the birthplace of higher studies in this field in Latin America. This work was published Grijalbo and although the latest edition has more than 10 years old, is still available in many bookstores in the country 
Origins Venezuelans. of Aristides Rojas. -label Biblioteca Ayacucho. He was one of the earliest nineteenth-century national interest in the past showed aborigine, but of course with the limitations of his day, with no previous ethnological and much pro-European ethnocentrism, which tended to regard the indigenous as something exotic and Indian himself as a character in the best, was a minority child in front of "civilization" which of course was followed or imitated in Europe. But the book is a very good start and does not sin to be full of extremists and punitive judgments. The book also includes other historical works concerning, as the title says, to issues concerning the origins of our people and our culture. You can download a digital edition in PDF format here . 
Aboriginal Venezuela. (Various volumes) Published by the Foundation La Salle Natural Science, this work is not just a basic and introductory work, serves at least to know a little deeper in this area, as we noted, very little has been studied by our historians, and as a way to compensate and balance our presentation Aboriginal literature of the era, let the reading public the opportunity to complete their knowledge in this area, placing the texts of its interest in The catalog of the Foundation. Most publications are available, can be purchased at the headquarters of the Foundation and they can be seen here . 2. Cycle of exploration, conquest and English colony.
The first three centuries of Venezuela . Published by Grijalbo. It is a collective work that is presented in one volume the extensive historical development of our country in 300 years usually fall into the colonial era and that its vastness is hard to find compiled into a single text. They are played here the geographical, territorial , legal, religious, economic and educational aspects of the colony was Venezuelan. The text has already spent a few years but still has been seen in bookstores in Caracas. It is worth purchasing. ( For more information: The address in Caracas Grijalbo-Mondadori is: Bldg CO-BO, piso 2, local L2-2, Avenida Diego Cisneros, Los Ruices, Caracas and Telefs: 238-13-22/238 -15-42/238-17-32 ) 
Historia de la Provincia de Venezuela. De José de Oviedo y Baños . Edited by Books El Nacional. It is a brief selection of the famous novel by Oviedo and Bath, which is worth an explanation, not a history of colonial Venezuela ode, or territorial or chronologically: The work speaks of it was the province of Caracas, Venezuela also called It also tells the events of that province from the fifteenth to early seventeenth century. Its value lies is the first work that is done by an American and not rejecting to Spain and the English, feel belonging to this land, ie it is Venezuelan clearly a work (but Oviedo and Bath was born in Bogotá) It tells in great detail, perhaps excessive, the process of exploration, conquest and population of the territory from the current state of Zulia to part of the current state of Anzoategui ( time limits of the Province of Caracas and Venezuela) and because of that, I think it's perfect to see and understand the description of how the process was English conquistador and colonizer and how our nation was formed mixed. (There is also a digital version competence of the Biblioteca Ayacucho, here.) 
The Orinoco illustrated. De José Gumilla , SJ edits it also Books of El Nacional. Until recently it was a work very hard to get. This is a choice. It is the first work written by a Jesuit and Venezuela. Of the many colonial chroniclers described the landscapes and people of the New World, Gumilla presents a less fanciful and of course, centered in the Guayana region. For the richness of their descriptions, but something much optimism charged, serve to fully understand what was the geography, history of that part of Venezuela and the same European mentality that described with fascinated eyes. 
Wonders of Venezuela. De Alejandro de Humboldt . Reprinted by Books of El Nacional. As is as the previous two books, this is another great book summary of Humboldt on the American continent: Trek equatorial regions of the New World . Here evidently refers to the part of Humboldt for Venezuela, since it touches the east, passing through Caracas, view the plains, the Orinoco and the Amazon rainforest. His descriptions are vivid and detail in full effect, because this is a scientific traveler imbued with the air of eighteenth-century Enlightenment, you will not see here in America and other earlier travelers medieval fantasy style of Marco Polo magical lands and bizarre creatures, but landscapes, customs and people just different, precisely what makes them unique and appeal to the European man of science. A fresh and pleasant work to read just on holiday. 
From the conquest to independence. In Mariano Picon Salas. A seminal work in the literature of the great humanist Venezuelan Picon Salas, who wish to follow the step of also great Mario Briceño Iragorry who with his "History Tapestries Patria" (and not included in this list, there is no issue recent), decides to show us a vision of history little known and very important for the 300 years of colonial times (precisely the period that goes from conquest to independence) where more than expose a "Golden Legend" is intended to demonstrate the cultural Spain bequeathed to us while we were his province. The work does not focus exclusively on Venezuela, but it is rather a kind of cultural history of colonial America. Written as an essay, a work is enjoyable and easy to read, despite the vastness of the firm, which compile data and information throughout the English colonial America, if it was to be made a collection of several thick volumes. Picon Salas achieve the "miracle" to put it all in single copy and the Catholic University Andrés Bello to resurrect this great and necessary work to make it available to the general public. 
Gual and Spain. Independence frustrated. Sponsored and published by the Fundación Polar , this work is a joint publication with several national and foreign universities, and institutes of historical studies, is part of a collective work that is itself an effort to analyze the national history of facing bicentennial. As such it formed a multi disciplinary team historiares, political scientists and lawyers who discussed the case of The Conspiracy Gual and Spain in the light of modern social science, as serious research on this important fact of truth are few and often result in patriotic platitudes or political, or excessive praise to the plot and subduing the exaltation of the protagonists as martyrs . The book just goes much further and also has an interesting selection documentary is very well treated, handled and analyzed by the authors. They are: Elías Pino Iturrieta (My tutor on the BA History) Juan Carlos Rey, Rogelio Pérez Perdomo, Aizpurua Ramon Aguirre (who was my professor at UCV) and Adriana Hernandez. 
La conjura de los mantuanos. De Inés Quintero. Editada también por la Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (UCAB) está a la venta la segunda edición. Esta interesante obra cierra nuestra selección al período o ciclo colonial. La obra versa en una revisión de este episodio que es presentado como un antecedente al proceso de independencia venezolano, al plantear que el mismo no se trataba de eso, sino de todo lo contrario: que fue un acto real y verdadero de fidelidad colonial de los criollos caraqueños (los mantuanos) que ante el temor de la caída total de España en manos de la Francia Napoleónica –y el evidente colapso de las instituciones monarchical colonial-sought to offer a "solution" to the crisis, assuming they control, rather than give you control of the province officials appointed by the occupying French in Spain. The plot and the outcome of this historical research leaves many interesting surprises that invite all those who love our past studies, a reading that does not offer any intellectual disappointment. continue next month
Thanks for reading!
Dantesol
