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Maracaibo
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Maracaibo is the second-largest city in Venezuela after the national capital Caracas and is the capital of Zulia state. Based on the 2001 census information, the estimated population of Maracaibo in 2007 is 3,200,000 inhabitants.
Maracaibo is nicknamed La Tierra del Sol Amada ("The Beloved Land of the Sun").
History
Maracaibo was founded in 1529 by Ambrosius Ehinger on the western side of Lake Maracaibo which is the dominant feature of the oil-rich Maracaibo Basin.
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Encyclopedia
Maracaibo is the second-largest city in Venezuela after the national capital Caracas and is the capital of Zulia state. Based on the 2001 census information, the estimated population of Maracaibo in 2007 is 3,200,000 inhabitants.
Maracaibo is nicknamed La Tierra del Sol Amada ("The Beloved Land of the Sun").
History
Maracaibo was founded in 1529 by Ambrosius Ehinger on the western side of Lake Maracaibo which is the dominant feature of the oil-rich Maracaibo Basin. Favoured by prevailing winds and a protected harbour, the city is located on the shores of the lake where the narrows, which eventually lead to the Gulf of Venezuela, first become pronounced.
For about 390 years, Maracaibo remained isolated and separated from the rest of the country. Transportation was only possible across the lake by ferry or other marine transport.
Cars, buses, and lorries, with their constant flow of manufactured goods and agricultural product, depended on the ferry system between the city and the eastern shore with their roads to connect to the country's motorway system. Maracaibo and the Lake Maracaibo region's economy was more linked to Colombia than to eastern Venezuela due to the natural route available through Lake Maracaibo then leading to the sea.
This isolation was both a challenge and an advantage. The very nature of the city's location made for a population known for their independent thought and character. The history of this region is plagued with stories about the creation of an independent and sovereign nation apart from Venezuela, a nation called La República Independiente del Zulia, which means The Independent Republic of Zulia, but this has never come to be. Nevertheless, in the minds and hearts of many citizens of Zulia, this far-away dream is a long-lived desire. Zulia has all that is necessary to be a successful country: beautiful landscapes, fruits, vegetables, bread, people, and oil.
The dictatorial regime of General Marcos Pérez Jiménez in the 1950s set as a goal the construction of a bridge connecting the two lakeshores. Various bridge projects for the spanning of the Lake Maracaibo narrows near the city were in the works. The general's government had decided that this "city of independent thought" should be more "connected" to the rest of the country.
Proposals for a bridge design that included rail transport and tourist facilities were seriously considered. The fall of the Pérez Jiménez government on January 23, 1958, quickly led to a less elaborate design project that was approved and funded by a democratic and more conservative government.
The building of "El Puente Sobre El Lago de Maracaibo "General Rafael Urdaneta"—(General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge over Lake Maracaibo) named after the distinguished General hero of the War of Independence was opened to public traffic in 1962. The project was completed on schedule in 40 months.
This bridge construction project was a remarkable feat. Built under very difficult conditions, when completed, it became the longest prestressed concrete bridge in the world. The structure is in constant use and remains today as the most important link between Maracaibo, along with much of the state of Zulia, and the rest of Venezuela.
Maracaibo was elevated to the status of Roman Catholic Archdiocese on 30 April 1966 with the creation of the Archdiocese of Maracaibo. Since November 2000, its Archbishop has been Ubaldo Ramón Santana Sequera.
Henry Morgan's Attack
In March of 1669, Henry Morgan sacked Maracaibo, which had emptied out when his fleet was first spied, and moved on to the Spanish settlement of Gibraltar on the inside of Lake Maracaibo in search of more treasure. A few weeks later, when he attempted to sail out of the lake, Morgan found an occupied fort blocking the inlet to the Caribbean, along with three Spanish ships. These were the Magdalena, the San Luis, and the Soledad. He destroyed the Magdalena and burned the San Luis by sending a dummy ship full of gunpowder to explode near them, after which the crew of the Soledad surrendered. By faking a landward attack on the fort, thereby convincing the Spanish governor to shift his cannon, he eluded their guns and escaped.
Perspective
François de Pons, an agent to the French government in Caracas, provides some historical insight into the people of Maracaibo in his travel journal . The following excerpts describe the local population of Maracaibo:
- They perform coasting, or long voyages, with equal facility; and when all trade is suspended by the operations of war, they enter privateers. Bred up in the neighbourhood of the lake, they are mostly all expert swimmers and excellent divers. Their reputation stands equally high as soldiers. Those who do not enter into the sea service, form plantations, or assist in cultivating those, which belong to their fathers. Nothing proves better their aptitude for this kind of occupation, than the immense flocks of cattle with which the savannas of Maracaybo [sic] are covered.
He also notes the appreciation of literature, the arts, education, and culture among the people of Maracaibo:
- But what confers the greatest honour on the inhabitants of Maracaibo, is their application to literature; in which, notwithstanding the wretched state of public education, they make considerable progress....They likewise acquired the art of elocution, and of writing their mother tongue with the greatest purity; in a word, they possessed all the qualities which characterise men of letters.
During the period of de Pons' visit, however, he believed the people of Maracaibo to lack integrity with regard to honouring their commitments:
- After allowing that the inhabitants of this city possess activity, genius, and courage, we have nothing further to say in their praise. They are accused of violating their promises, and even of attempting to break through written engagements. Their character, in this respect, is so notorious, that every stranger whom business induces to visit Maracaybo, affirms, that it would be much better to enter into commercial speculations with the women, because they appear themselves to possess that sincerity and good sense which are every where else considered as belonging particularly to men.
Modern times
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