Timeline: Venezuela

A chronology of key events

1498-99 - Christopher Columbus and Alonso de Ojeda visit Venezuela, which is inhabited by Carib, Arawak and Chibcha peoples.

Much of Venezuela's oil is bought by the US Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter Exports to China are set to rise substantially Venezuela aims to boost output to more than 5m barrels per day by 2012 2006: Venezuela basks in oil 'bonanza'

1521 - Spanish colonisation begins on the north-east coast.

1749 - First rebellion against Spanish colonial rule.

1810 - Venezuelan patriots take advantage of Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Spain to declare independence.

1811 - Independence Act signed.

1829-30 Venezuela secedes from Gran Colombia and becomes an independent republic with its capital at Caracas.

1870-88 - Venezuela governed by Antonio Guzman Blanco, who attracts foreign investment, modernises infrastructure and develops agriculture and education.

1902 - Venezuela fails to repay loans and, as a result, its ports are blockaded by British, Italian and German warships.

1908-35 - Dictator Juan Vicente Gomez governs at a time when Venezuela becomes world's largest exporter of oil.

1947-48 - President Romulo Gallegos, Venezuela's first democratically elected leader, overthrown within eight months in military coup led by Marcos Perez Jimenez, who forms government with backing from the armed forces and the US.

Democratic rule

1958 - Admiral Wolfgang Larrazabal ousts Marcos Perez Jimenez; leftist Romulo Betancourt of the Democratic Action Party (AD) wins democratic presidential election.

1960 - Movement of the Revolutionary Left splits from AD and commences anti-government work.

1964 - Venezuela's first presidential handover from one civilian to another takes place when Dr Raul Leoni (AD) is elected president.

Boom and bust

Thousands perished in a 1999 flood disaster 2000: Rebuilding after devastation

1973 - Venezuela benefits from oil boom and its currency peaks against the US dollar; oil and steel industries nationalised.

1983-84 - Fall in world oil prices generates unrest and cuts in welfare spending; Dr Jaime Lusinchi (AD) elected president and signs pact involving government, trade unions and business.

1989 - Carlos Andres Perez (AD) elected president against the background of economic depression, which necessitates an austerity programme and an IMF loan. Social and political upheaval includes riots, in which between 300 and 2,000 people are killed, martial law and a general strike.

1992 - Some 120 people are killed in two attempted coups, the first led by future president Colonel Hugo Chavez, and the second carried out by his supporters. Chavez is jailed for two years before being pardoned.

1993-95 - Ramon Jose Velasquez becomes interim president after Perez is ousted on charges of corruption; Rafael Caldera elected president.

Hugo Chavez survived 2002's short-lived coup Profile - Hugo Chavez

1996 - Perez imprisoned after being found guilty of embezzlement and corruption.

1998 - Hugo Chavez elected president.

1999 - Severe floods and mudslides hit the north, killing tens of thousands of people.

2000 - Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel discloses plot to kill Chavez. Chavez wins another six years in office and a mandate to pursue political reforms.

Chavez becomes the first foreign head of state to visit Iraq since the 1991 Gulf war, in defiance of strong opposition from the US.

Reform controversy

2001 November - President Chavez appears on TV to hail 49 reform laws which his government has introduced, including land and oil industry reforms, under powers which did not require them to be approved by the National Assembly.

2002 February - National currency, the bolivar, plummets 25% against the US dollar after the government scraps exchange rate controls.

2002 25 February - Chavez appoints new board of directors to state oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela in move opposed by executives.

2002 9 April - Trade unions and the Fedecamaras business association declare general strike to support Petroleos de Venezuela dissidents.

Chavez ouster

2002 11 April - Some 150,000 people rally in support of strike and oil protest. National Guard and pro-Chavez gunmen clash with protesters - more than 10 are killed and 110 injured. Military high command rebels and demands that Chavez resign.

Oil strike: Tankers stood idle during the two-month stoppage 2003: In pictures - Venezuela strike chaos

2002 April 12 - Armed forces head announces Chavez has resigned, a claim later denied by Chavez. Chavez is taken into military custody. Military names Pedro Carmona, one of the strike organisers, as head of transitional government.

2002 April 14 - Chavez returns to office after the collapse of the interim government.

2002 December - Opposition strike cripples the oil industry. Organisers demand that Chavez resign. The nine-week stoppage leads to fuel shortages.

Referendum petitions

2003 May - Government, opposition sign deal brokered by Organisation of American States (OAS) which sets out framework for referendum on Hugo Chavez's rule.

Supporters hailed Chavez's victory in a vote on his rule President won 59% of the vote Result confirmed by electoral authorities and international observers 2004 Analysis: Venezuela at a crossroads

2003 August-September - Opposition delivers petition with more than three million signatures demanding referendum on Chavez's rule. Electoral body rejects petition saying it fails to meet technical requirements.

2003 December - Second petition demanding referendum on rule of Hugo Chavez is delivered. Opposition says it contains 3.4 million signatures.

2004 March - Several people are killed and many are injured in clashes between opponents and supporters of President Chavez.

2004 August - President Chavez wins referendum in which Venezuelans are asked whether he should serve out the remaining two-and-a-half years of his term.

Land reform

2005 January - President Chavez signs decree on land reform which aims to eliminate Venezuela's large estates. President says land redistribution will bring justice to rural poor; ranchers say move is an attack on private property.

Bitter dispute with Colombia over the capture of a Colombian rebel Farc leader on Venezuelan soil. The presidents of both nations resolve the affair at talks in Caracas in February.

2005 June - Venezuela and 13 Caribbean states launch a regional oil company at a summit in Caracas. Venezuela, a major producer, agrees to supply the nations with cheap fuel. Critics accuse President Chavez of using oil to increase diplomatic influence.

2005 December - Parties loyal to President Chavez make big gains in parliamentary elections. Opposition parties boycott the poll, leaving parliament entirely made up of supporters of the president.

2006 July - President Chavez signs a $3bn (£1.6bn) arms deal with Russia, including an agreement to buy fighter jets and helicopters.

2006 December - Hugo Chavez wins a third term in presidential elections with 63% of the vote.

Nationalisation drive

2007 January - President Chavez announces that key energy and telecommunications companies will be nationalised.

National Assembly grants President Chavez sweeping powers to rule by decree for the next eighteen months.

2007 March - President Chavez says 16 large farms have been seized for redistribution under a land reform plan.

2007 May - Government takes control of oil projects in the Orinoco Delta as part of the nationalisation drive.

Venezuela condemns the decision of a US judge to dismiss immigration charges against anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles, who was convicted in Venezuela for bombing an airliner.

Thousands gather in Caracas to mourn, or celebrate, the government's closure of the RCTV channel which has been critical of President Chavez.

2007 June - Two leading US oil companies, Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhilips, refuse to hand over majority control of their operations in the Orinoco Belt to the Venezuelan government.

2007 October - Protests, parliamentary debate over constitutional reforms which are to be put to a popular referendum in December.

2007 December - Mr Chavez suffers his first defeat at the ballot box, when voters in a referendum narrowly reject proposals to extend his powers and accelerate his socialist revolution.

Venezuela-Colombia relations

2008 January, February - After President Chavez's mediation with the Farc, the Colombian rebel group releases six hostages.

Relations with Colombia deteriorate after Colombian President Alvaro Uribe rejects Mr Chavez's call for left-wing rebels to be treated as insurgents instead of terrorists.

2008 March - Diplomatic crisis after Colombian armed forces make cross-border raid into Ecuador, a Venezuelan ally, killing senior Farc rebel Raul Reyes. Mr Chavez mobilises troops along Venezuelan-Colombian border.

2008 July - Relations with Colombia begin to improve again after freeing of Farc's most high-profile hostage, Ingrid Betancourt, in operation close to Venezuelan border. Mr Uribe visits Venezuela for talks with Mr Chavez.