This work, written by a distinguished catedrático at the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, is one of the most significant books to be published on late colonial Venezuela. It is perhaps an appropriate capstone to a career of study and writing on colonial Gran Colombia that now spans three decades. The study does not plow new, uncharted territory, but is rather the best single volume of compilation and synthesis of what we do know about the province of Caracas in the period immediately preceding the Declaration of Independence on July 5, 1811. It is both an indication of the considerable progress that has been made by historians of this long-neglected colony and of how far we yet have to go before fully understanding the complexity of late colonial Venezuela.
The work is conveniently divided into three large sections, each followed by a conclusion which supports the author’s central thesis: preexisting tensions, exacerbated by Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, set the stage for a preemptive golpe de estado by the Caracas landed elite to ward off control by the Erench and their representatives. Thus, in the historiographical debate between those who believe the initial steps toward independence in Caracas in April 1810 were those of dynamic revolutionaries, and those who see them as designed primarily to obtain autonomy from Spain and France, Lucena places himself firmly in the latter camp.
In the three sections of the book the author details the population and social structure, production, and commerce for the period from the establishment of the captaincy-general in 1777 to the initial separation from Spain in 1811. Colonial Venezuelan society was dominated by a small planter elite that was increasingly pressured by, at first, the efforts of the monarchy to impose control over the colony, and, later, the increasing influence of French-inspired ideals which in the author’s eyes were anathema to leading Caraqueños. An impressive overview of economic production, which comprises the second section, summarizes our knowledge of agriculture, livestock raising, nascent industry, and mining. In support of his thesis of an elite under increasing pressure, Lucena concludes that by the turn of the century the economy of Caracas province was in a full-blown crisis brought on by an inability to maintain high export levels. The third section, which brings to light the most new material, details the commercial sector, and leads the author to conclude that merchants too were under considerable pressure at the end of the colonial era. What set them apart from the large landowners, however, was their inability to influence the course of events, either before or after the events of 1810, In support of this latter point, Lucena relies on innovative methodology in which he examines what decrees the ruling junta passed in the six months after April 19, 1810, to determine who held power and to indicate what these new leaders most likely had wanted during the previous period.
No doubt every reviewer finds something he or she would have done differently or wishes the author had included. Perhaps the work could have been improved by a much richer examination of the marginal whites, pardos, and slaves, the considerable contribution of women of all socioeconomic classes; and a bibliography and index. But it seems more important to point out that this excellent work is best studied as the one most important example of what we now know; and no colonialist can afford to ignore it.
