Caracas, (ke-rä´kes), located in Northern Venezuela, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela. An extremely cosmopolitan city, it is a major industrial center, shipping through the nearby Caribbean port of La Guaira. Caracas was founded in 1567 and was the base for Spanish colonization of Venezuela. It was the birthplace of the liberators Francisco de Miranda and Simón Bolívar. Caracas retains an old section, with many examples of colonial architecture. The oil boom of the 1950s made possible massive public building projects, transforming much of Caracas into an ultramodern metropolis famed for such futuristic complexes as University City and the Centro Bolívar government center. A cultural hub, the city is the site of a large performing arts center, three orchestras, an opera, a ballet, and three major art museums.