German colonization of the Americas

The German colonization of the Americas consisted of German settlements in Venezuela (German: Klein-Venedig, also German: Welser-Kolonie), St. Thomas, Crab Island (Guyana), and Ter Tholen (Tortola) in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Klein-Venedig ("Little Venice") was the most significant part of the German colonization of the Americas, from 1528 to 1546, in which the Augsburg-based Welser banking family obtained colonial rights in Venezuela Province in return for debts owed by Charles I of Spain. The primary motivation was the search for the legendary golden city of El Dorado. The venture was initially led by Ambrosius Ehinger, who founded Maracaibo in 1529. After the deaths of first Ehinger (1533), Nicolaus Federmann, Georg von Speyer (1540), Philipp von Hutten continued exploration in the interior. In absence of von Hutten 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 Hutten and Bartholomeus VI. Welser executed. Subsequently Charles I revoked Welser's charter.

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