The capital city founded as Santiago de León de Caracas in 1567 was Caracas.
Spanish captain Diego de Losada established the settlement on 25 July 1567 in the Caracas Valley of northern Venezuela. The valley had already been inhabited by Indigenous peoples, and earlier Spanish attempts by Francisco Fajardo and Juan Rodríguez Suárez had failed. Losada’s foundation became the enduring city of Caracas.
The name is layered: Santiago referred to Saint James, León may have honored Pedro Ponce de León, and Caracas came from the Indigenous Caracas people associated with the region. Historians have also discussed links between “Caracas” and a local plant name, so the full name’s etymology is not entirely settled.
Caracas later became the administrative center of Venezuela and ultimately its national capital. It sits inland from the Caribbean coast, separated from the port and airport area around La Guaira and Maiquetía by the coastal mountains. Bogotá, Lima, and Santiago are also South American capitals, but none was founded under this name.