German Venezuelans
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain granted rights to the Augsburg banking families of Anton and Bartholomeus Welser in 1528 to colonize Venezuela.
They set up a colonization scheme and sent Ambrosius Ehinger as governor to Santa Ana de Coro (German: Neu-Augsburg[2]), the capital of Klein-Venedig or Welserland (as it was known in Germany)[3][4] in 1529.
When Juan de Carvajal was founding El Tocuyo in 1545, Spaniards and some German-speakers (German, Flemish and Swiss that did not agree with the Welser government) headed to that new town.
After some intentions of Nicolaus Federmann, George Hohermuth von Speier to consolidate a German State in this land, and after the death of Bartholomeus Welser and Philipp von Hutten,[9][10] that ended up with the death of Juan de Carvajal, the Council of the Indies determined to cease the German administration upon Venezuela in 1546, because the Welser did not fulfill the treat of establishing cities and fortress and bringing settlers.
[14][15][16] The other "Cuara" today "Campo Elias" near to Urachiche in the State of Yaracuy,[17] where inhabitants, though having aboriginal features, also have blue and green eyes, hazel or blond hairs, claiming that they also descends from those Welsers that came to Venezuela approximately 500 years ago.
[31] During the second government of José Antonio Páez, the Congress enacted, in May 1840, a new immigration law which provided for a policy of economic and cultural exchanges between Venezuela and Europe.
[32] So, Codazzi started a propaganda effort to get people to join the project and he chose families from the south of Germany, who then would travel to colonize the country.
Thus, on October 14, 1841, 374 people come formally to a Venezuelan port, founding the current La Colonia Tovar, with European structures and their particular lifestyle.
[30][32] He formed a company that had as partners Agustin Codazzi and Ramon Diaz, and as a guarantor to Martin Tovar y Ponte.
That same year he began work on the land donated by Manuel Felipe Tovar, which would serve as home to German immigrants.
[33] Additionally between 1951 and 1954, there were about 53 families of German origin (some from Bukovina) that were refugees in Colonia agrícola de Turén (State of Portuguesa)[34][35] .
[37][38] As a witness, they still maintain institutions in order to preserve their language and culture, for example the Lutheran Church that holds periodically mass services in German.
Most of them have lost their language and culture over the years, keeping only some customs that have remained through programs to promote tourism in the region, considering it a differentiated area of Venezuela.
