Venezuela, Colombia and the Guianas 1453 CE

What is happening in Venezuela, Colombia and the Guianas in 1453CE

The coastal areas of north-western South America are unhealthy and under-populated, but in the interior, isolated pockets of population have flourished in a land broken by high mountains and deep valleys. Intensive farming provides the economic base for the well-organized Muisca and Wayuu chiefdoms. These house complex societies, and considerable trade routes link the centres of population. Some of the most sophisticated South American material culture outside the Andes region can be found here.

To the east, along the Caribbean coast, Arawak and Carib peoples have been established for centuries, their ancestors coming into the region from the Amazonian interior. Their iron-age farming and distinctive plaza villages form the nucleus of warlike chiefdoms. It is from here that these peoples’ forebears set sail to colonise the islands of the West Indies.

Next map, Venezuela, Colombia and the Guianas in 1648

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