Land tenure in Venezuela: a retrospective 1498 1937 volume 1

The current land tenure in Venezuela, both in urban and rural areas, is a consequence of evolutionary processes that took place in the different historical stages, starting from the distribution of the diverse and scarce native population in the territory, according to their cultural level and ways of life, which was strongly impacted in the process of Spanish conquest and colonization since 1498, through the imposition and implementation of the concepts of property, possession and real rights in their different aspects, This had an impact on the conformation of the new urban and rural landscapes in the different provinces that made up the territory of the Captaincy General of Venezuela, and on new land uses promoted by the dominant group of landowners and officials subordinated to the Spanish Crown, related to the colonial agro-export and subsistence economy, represented by haciendas (plantations), ranches, indigenous reservations and missions, among others, with their ports and trade centers.