The ceramic period of Venezuela began in the extreme west about 1860 B.C. with coarse-textured, grit-tempered bowls having modeled decoration, and it began in the east around 1050 B.C. with bichrome and modeled pottery in the Orinoco region. By 1000 B.C., pottery making and, by inference, agriculture had spread over most of Venezuela; and the later dual division between eastern manioc growers with a plastic ceramic tradition and western maize cultivators with a painted-pottery tradition was well started. Developments in both areas influenced the Antilles, with those in the east stronger in early times and those in the west stronger in later times. Relationships with the Antilles are not reducible to a simple formula that calls for movement from the northeastern coast of Venezuela out into the island chain.