Klein-Venedig

Also known as Welserland

Key facts

Country.native_name: Klein-Venedig
Country.conventional_long_name: Little Venice
Country.common_name: Klein-Venedig
Country.status: Colony of the Free Imperial Cities of Augsburg and Nuremberg
Country.year_start: 1528
Country.year_end: 1546
Country.p1: Venezuela Province
Country.s1: Venezuela Province
Country.image_coat: Coat of arms of Welser family.svg
Country.symbol_type: Coat of arms of the House of Welser
Country.image_map: KleinVenedig.jpg
Country.image_map_caption: Location of Klein-Venedig, hard purple: full controlled area by the House of Welser, light purple: allowed expeditions by the Spanish Empire
Country.capital: Neu-Augsburg
Country.common_languages: German
Country.religion: Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism
Country.leader1: Ambrosius Ehinger
Country.leader2: Georg von Speyer
Country.leader3: Philipp von Hutten

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

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inception: 1528-00-00
dissolved, abolished or demolished date: 1556-00-00

Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~11 min read

Article

8 sections

Contents

Background
Search for El Dorado
Ambrosius Ehinger
Later governors
List of governors, lieutenant-governors, mayors, and captains-general (1528–1556)
See also
References
Further reading

'''''' (German for 'Little Venice') or Welserland () was the most significant territory of the German colonization of the Americas, from 1528 to 1546, in which the Welser banking and patrician family of the Free Imperial Cities of Augsburg and Nuremberg obtained colonial rights in the Province of Venezuela in return for debts owed by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was also King of Spain. In 1528, Charles V issued a charter by which the House of Welser possessed the rights to explore, rule and colonize the area, also with the motivation of searching for the legendary golden city of El Dorado. The venture was led at first by Ambrosius Ehinger, who founded Maracaibo in 1529. After the deaths of Ehinger (1533) and then his successor Georg von Speyer (1540), Philipp von Hutten continued exploration in the interior, and in his absence from the capital of the province, the crown of Spain claimed the right to appoint the governor. On Hutten's return to the capital, Santa Ana de Coro, in 1546, the Spanish governor Juan de Carvajal had von Hutten and Bartholomeus VI. Welser executed. King Charles V revoked Welser's charter.

thumb|Location of Little Venice