300: John was first settled by the Arawak Indians who had migrated north from coastal Colombia and Venezuela around AD 300. - Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands, Wikipedia.

1498: Within the framework of his third voyage, Christopher Columbus sailed near the Orinoco Delta, then interned in the Gulf of Paria. - Venezuela, Wikipedia.

1522: Venezuela was first colonized by Spain in 1522 in what is now Cumaná. - Venezuela, Wikipedia.

1776: Administered by the Audiencia of Santo Domingo since the early 16th century, most of Venezuela became part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada in the early 18th century, and was then reorganized as an autonomous Captaincy General starting in 1776. - Venezuela, Wikipedia.

September 8, 1777: Spain had previously approved other decrees, such as the Decree of Graces of 8 September 1777 in regard to Venezuela and the Decree of Graces of 1789, which granted its subjects the right to purchase slaves and to participate in the flourishing business of slave trading in the Caribbean. - Royal Decree of Graces of 1815, Wikipedia.

1812: However, a devastating earthquake that struck Caracas in 1812, together with the rebellion of the Venezuelan llaneros, helped bring down the first Venezuelan republic. - Venezuela, Wikipedia.

August 7, 1813: A second Venezuelan republic, proclaimed on 7 August 1813, lasted several months before being crushed as well. - Venezuela, Wikipedia.

September, 1819: The force arrived at Margarita Island off the coast of Venezuela on September 1819 to find that conditions were squalid and nothing was prepared. - Francisco Burdett O'Connor, Wikipedia.

1821: The republic won its independence from Spain in 1821. - Venezuela, Wikipedia.

June 24, 1821: Sovereignty was only attained after Simón Bolívar, aided by José Antonio Páez and Antonio José de Sucre, won the Battle of Carabobo on 24 June 1821. - Venezuela, Wikipedia.

July 24, 1823: José Prudencio Padilla and Rafael Urdaneta's victory in the Battle of Lake Maracaibo on 24 July 1823, helped seal Venezuelan independence. - Venezuela, Wikipedia.

1830: Venezuela was one of the three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others being Colombia and Ecuador). - Venezuela, Wikitravel.

January 1, 1880:  Venezuela - 1 January 1880 - List of members of the Universal Postal Union, Wikipedia.

November 17, 1893: Eduardo Schalgeter was born November 17, 1893 in Caracas, Venezuela and as soon as he reached the right age, he was sent to the Venezuelan German School in Caracas, were he studied until he was 8 years old. - Eduardo Schlageter, Wikipedia.

September 19, 1914: This popular joropo, which is regarded as the second National Anthem of Venezuela, comprises one zarzuela of the same name that was released in the Caracas Theater on 19 September 1914. - Pedro Elías Gutiérrez, Wikipedia.

February 16, 1918: Selvaggiani was appointed Internuncio to Venezuela and Titular Archbishop of Seleucia di Isauria. - Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani, Wikipedia.

June 24, 1926: He was promoted to titular archbishop of Seleucia Pieria on 24 June 1926 and was appointed nuncio to Venezuela four days later. - Fernando Cento, Wikipedia.

1930: Since 1930, Venezuelan census does not contain information about ethnicity so only rough estimates are available. - Venezuela, Wikipedia.

February 26, 1942: The island became part of Venezuela and was put under the administration of the Ministerio del Interior y de Justicia (Ministry of Interior and Justice) (2) as part of the Dependencias Federales. - Patos Island (Venezuela), Wikipedia.

October 4, 1942: She left Lorient on 4 October 1942 and sank the British vessel Ocean Justice off the coast of Venezuela on 7 November 1942. - German submarine U-505, Wikipedia.

1943: This law replaced the Hydrocarbons Law of 1943 and the Nationalization Law of 1975. - Venezuela, Wikipedia.

February 15, 1945:  Venezuela: 15 February 1945 - Allies of World War II, Wikipedia.

November 27, 1947: Venezuela voted in favor of Israeli membership in the United Nations on 27 November 1947 and established diplomatic ties. - Foreign relations of Venezuela, Wikipedia.

October 19, 1951: After serving as Nuncio to Bolivia for four years, he was named Nuncio to Venezuela on October 19, 1954. - Sergio Pignedoli, Wikipedia.

August 31, 1953: Quintero was later named Archbishop of Caracas and thus Primate of the Church in Venezuela on August 31, 1960. - José Quintero Parra, Wikipedia.

January 6, 1959: The 1959 Central American and Caribbean Games were held in Caracas, Venezuela from January 6 through January 18, 1959. - 1959 Central American and Caribbean Games (baseball), Wikipedia.

January 3, 1963: Returning to Charleston on 3 January 1963, for refresher training during which she searched for the hijacked Venezuelan ship Anzoategui, the destroyer then served for two weeks as school ship for the Fleet Sonar School. - USS Robert H. McCard (DD-822), Wikipedia.

1970s: The huge public spending and accumulation of internal and external debts during the Petrodollar years of the 1970s and early 1980s, followed by the collapse of oil prices during the 1980s, crippled the Venezuelan economy. - Venezuela, Wikipedia.

November 27, 1970: Both Argentina and Venezuela nominated different candidates, but on 27 November 1970 Ortiz received the majority of votes, although the U.S. - Antonio Ortiz Mena, Wikipedia.

January 5, 1972: Cubera was decommissioned and sold under the Security Assistance Program to Venezuela 5 January 1972. - USS Cubera (SS-347), Wikipedia.

March 12, 1975: Cardona won seven more fights before returning to Venezuela, where he boxed Betulio Gonzalez on March 12, 1977, being knocked out in the third round. - Prudencio Cardona, Wikipedia.

1980s: The discovery of massive oil deposits during World War I prompted an economic boom that lasted into the 1980s; by 1935, Venezuela's per capita gross domestic product was Latin America's highest. - Venezuela, Wikipedia.

September 16, 1982: Ramón A. Ramírez (born September 16, 1982 in Cagua, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan Major League Baseball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. - Ramón Ramírez (pitcher, born 1982), Wikipedia.

February, 1983: As the government started to devaluate the currency in February 1983 in order to face its financial obligations, Venezuelans' real standard of living fell dramatically. - Venezuela, Wikipedia.

September, 1991: Using his personal yacht, the two sailed to France on visitor passports and, with 10-year passports, traveled to Venezuela in September 1991 where they arranged with neighboring Colombian drug cartels to smuggle large amounts of cocaine in steel boxes concealed in lead ingots into Great Britain. - Brian Charrington, Wikipedia.

1996: Played on the Venezuela Davis Cup team and represented Venezuela at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. - List of University of Alabama people, Wikipedia.

August 31, 1996: The precursor disturbance to Fausto was first noticed over Venezuela as early as August 31, and may have been related to the tropical wave that spawned Hurricane Fran. - 1996 Pacific hurricane season, Wikipedia.