Los nobles de Caracas y la Independencia de Venezuela

Abstract

As in many other Spanish Empire’s provinces abroad, Venezuelan colonial society was based on hierarchical values and inegality. This was a direct consequence of translating Spain’s mores and forms to its American territories during trhe Conquest period. A creole nobility thus appeared that could not but behave accordingly to the values and principles of the Ancien Regime. Many creole noblemen, however, embraced the independentist movement and supported the political changes that put an end to the colonial order and gave way to a republican one. How this process same about, what contradictions emerged as it evolved and what ultimate effects —if any— it had upon the Provincia de Caracas is the main subject of this paper