Barrancas del Orinoco | |
|---|---|
| Coordinates: 8°42′07″N62°11′58″W / 8.70194°N 62.19944°W | |
| Country | Venezuela |
| State | Monagas |
| Municipality | Sotillo |
Barranca del Orinoco is the capital of the municipality of Sotillo in the state of Monagas in Venezuela.
At the site where Barrancas is located today, archaeological objects and utensils have been found that belonged to the so-called Barrancoid and Saladoid cultures, the oldest of which have been dated to 1000 years before the Christian era. The archaeological evidence that has been found (and is still being found) has established that Barrancas has been continuously inhabited since at least the 11th century AD, making it the oldest town in Venezuela and one of the oldest on the American continent.
Diego de Ordaz, a Spanish explorer obsessed with finding the legendary site of El Dorado, arrived in the village in August 1531 after traveling up the Orinoco River via the Caño Manamo. Impressed by its number of inhabitants - which he estimated at "more than 400 bohíos" - he decided to descend and meet personally with the cacique "Naricagua", lord of his territories, whose name of the river "Uyapari" was associated with the village. The chronicler Juan de Castellanos, in his famous Elegies of Illustrious Men of the Indies, describes it as "a powerful town with a large crowd on the ravines of the Cacique de Uyapari lordship.
The Aragonese Capuchin friars began to arrive at the end of the 17th century and in 1790, Fray Joaquín de Morata founded the mission of San Rafael Arcángel de Barrancas with the help of aborigines of the Warao ethnic group and built a church. Because of the war of independence, the religious were forced to abandon the village, which nevertheless remained inhabited by the natives. Already in the 20th century, during the presidency of Juan Vicente Gómez, Barrancas experiences a remarkable growth with the arrival of entrepreneurs to install businesses and offer services associated with the growth of oil exploration and production in the Orinoco delta; by mid-century it had become an important cattle production center.
Under the direction of the Corporación Venezolana de Guayana, several hectares of Caribbean pine were planted between Barrancas and the nearby town of Uverito, an activity that significantly boosted the development of the area; By the 1970s it was the most important town and port in the state of Monagas, mainly due to the lack of road connections to the main nearby cities, such as Tucupita (Delta Amacuro) and Puerto Ordaz (Bolívar State), although today it continues to be an important center for the transport of goods and passengers to these cities. A significant part of the local economy has historically been fueled by informal trade with countries such as Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.
The cuisine typical is the arepa made with maize and river fish. [1]
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The Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America at 2,250 kilometres (1,400 mi). Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers 989,000 km2 (382,000 sq mi), with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the world by discharge volume of water. The Orinoco River and its tributaries are the major transportation system for eastern and interior Venezuela and the Llanos of Colombia. The environment and wildlife in the Orinoco's basin are extremely diverse.
El Dorado is commonly associated with the legend of a gold city, kingdom, or empire purportedly located somewhere in the Americas. Originally, El Hombre Dorado or El Rey Dorado, was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (zipa) or king of the Muisca people, an indigenous people of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense of Colombia, who as an initiation rite, covered himself with gold dust and submerged in Lake Guatavita.
Anzoátegui State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the northeastern region of the country. Anzoátegui is well known for its beaches that attract many visitors. Its coast consists of a single beach approximately 100 km (62 mi) long. Its capital is the city of Barcelona, and significant cities include Puerto la Cruz and El Tigre.
Barinas State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Barinas.
Bolívar is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital city is Ciudad Bolívar, but the largest city is Ciudad Guayana. Bolívar State covers a total surface area of 242,801 km2 (93,746 sq mi) and as of the 2011 census, had a population of 1,410,964. The state contains Angel Falls.
Delta Amacuro State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, and is the location of the Orinoco Delta. The Paria Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean are found to the north, Bolívar State is found to the south, the Atlantic Ocean and Guyana are found to the east, and Monagas State is found to the west. The state capital city is Tucupita.
Guárico State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is San Juan de Los Morros. Guárico State covers a total surface area of 64,986 km2 (25,091 sq mi) and, in 2011, had a census population of 747,739. It is named for the Guárico River.
Monagas State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela.
The Sucre State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Cumaná city. Sucre State covers a total surface area of 11,800 km2 (4,600 sq mi) and, as of the 2011 census, had a population of 896,921. The most important river in the state is the Manzanares River.
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Ciudad Guayana is a city in Bolívar State, Venezuela. It stretches 40 kilometers along the south bank of the Orinoco river, at the point where it is joined by its main tributary, the Caroní river. The Caroni crosses the city south-north and divides it on its two main halves: the old town of San Félix in the east, and the new town of Puerto Ordaz in the west. The city was officially founded in 1961 by the unification of this two former settlements, but the history of San Félix goes back to its foundation in 1724. Within the city limits are located the site of Cachamay Falls and Llovizna Falls. There are three bridges across the Caroni and the second crossing over the Orinoco, the Orinoquia Bridge, was inaugurated in the city in 2006. With approximately one million people, it is Venezuela's fastest-growing city due to its important iron, steel, aluminium and hydroelectric industries. Ciudad Guayana is one of Venezuela's five most important ports, since most goods produced in the industry-rich Bolívar state are shipped through it, as ocean-going vessels can sail to it from the Atlantic Ocean up the Orinoco river.
Caripe is a town in Caripe Municipality in the mountainous north of the state of Monagas in eastern Venezuela. The official name of the town is Caripe del Guácharo 'Caripe of the Oilbird', referring to a colony of nocturnal birds which lives in a nearby cave, the Cueva del Guácharo. The species was unknown to science until 1799 when Alexander von Humboldt came to Caripe during his Latin American Expedition.
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Diego de Ordaz, also Diego de Ordás, was a Spanish explorer and soldier.
San Cristóbal de la Barranca is a town and municipality, in Jalisco in central-western Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 523 km².
The Spanish conquest of the Muisca took place from 1537 to 1540. The Muisca were the inhabitants of the central Andean highlands of Colombia before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. They were organised in a loose confederation of different rulers; the psihipqua of Muyquytá, with his headquarters in Funza, the hoa of Hunza, the iraca of the sacred City of the Sun Sugamuxi, the Tundama of Tundama, and several other independent caciques. The most important rulers at the time of the conquest were psihipqua Tisquesusa, hoa Eucaneme, iraca Sugamuxi and Tundama in the northernmost portion of their territories. The Muisca were organised in small communities of circular enclosures, with a central square where the bohío of the cacique was located. They were called "Salt People" because of their extraction of salt in various locations throughout their territories, mainly in Zipaquirá, Nemocón, and Tausa. For the main part self-sufficient in their well-organised economy, the Muisca traded with the European conquistadors valuable products as gold, tumbaga, and emeralds with their neighbouring indigenous groups. In the Tenza Valley, to the east of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense where the majority of the Muisca lived, they extracted emeralds in Chivor and Somondoco. The economy of the Muisca was rooted in their agriculture with main products maize, yuca, potatoes, and various other cultivations elaborated on elevated fields. Agriculture had started around 3000 BCE on the Altiplano, following the preceramic Herrera Period and a long epoch of hunter-gatherers since the late Pleistocene. The earliest archaeological evidence of inhabitation in Colombia, and one of the oldest in South America, has been found in El Abra, dating to around 12,500 years BP.
