Santa Ana de Coro
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain granted rights to the Augsburg banking families of Anton and Bartholomeus Welser in 1528 to colonize Venezuela. By 1531, the Welsers controlled the privilege. They set up a colonization scheme and sent Ambrosius Ehinger as governor to Santa Ana de Coro (), the capital of Klein-Venedig or Welserland (as it was known in Germany) in 1529. On October 7, 1528, Ehinger left Seville with the Spaniard García de Lerma and 281 settlers and they headed towards the Venezuelan coast, where they arrived on February 24, 1529, at the region of Santa Ana de Coro. From there, he explored the interior looking the city "El Dorado", one legendary golden city, whose myth had been developed by the Spanish. On September 8, 1529 Ehinger founded the colony of New Nuremberg (), today known as Maracaibo. The aforementioned rights were revoked in 1546 by Emperor Charles due to non-compliance with the stipulations. Many of the German settlers died from tropical diseases, to which they had no immunity, or hostile Indian attacks during frequent journeys deep into Indian territory in search of gold.