Government Power Territorialness and Spaciousness in 18th Century Venezuela

This essay deals with Venezuelan territoriality and the spatiality of power. This study will specifically discuss the colonial antecedents of the structure of territoriality in the 18th century. It was observed that the spatial fragmentation and decentralization of power represented by the provinces impeded effective economic and political control through sub-metropolitan domination. For this reason the Compania Guipuzcoana was created, and this led to the creation of the Captaincy General of Venezuela in 1777, which would be a more direct and centralized form of colonial power. The step towards colonial metropolitan centralization occasioned the loss of much of the provincial autonomy concentrated in city/town councils and municipalities, and in this context the process of independence began, which regained a new local powers. It has similarly been observed in this chapter that centralism and decentralization were combined in the colonial epoch, and moreover it was observed that with the disappearance of the external force that imposed dominion, power was once again concentrated in the councils.