Nueva Esparta
The Nueva Esparta State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. It comprises Margarita Island, Coche, and the lightly inhabited Cubagua.
The state is located off the northeast Caribbean coast of Venezuela. The main island of Margarita has an area of. Its capital city is La Asunción, and the main urban center is Porlamar.
Etymology
Its name, Nueva Esparta, comes from the heroism shown by its inhabitants during the Venezuelan War of Independence, deemed similar to that of the Spartan soldiers of Ancient Greece.History
Spanish colonization
Margarita was discovered on August 15, 1498, during Columbus' third voyage. On that trip the Admiral would also discover mainland Venezuela. That day, Columbus saw three islands, two of them small, low and arid, separated by a channel from a third, larger one, covered with vegetation and populated by indigenous people who called it Paraguachoa, a word that means "fish in abundance" according to historians, and "sea people" according to others.Columbus named the island La Asunción, because it was discovered on the religious date of the Virgin that bears his name. The following year, in 1499, Pedro Alonso Niño and Cristóbal Guerra renamed it La Margarita, due to the abundance of pearls found in the region; other hypotheses suggest that the name Margarita refers to Queen Margarita of Austria-Styria.
Shortly after its discovery, other European sailors confirmed the existence of rich pearl deposits in Cubagua, whose exploitation gave rise to the first Spanish establishment in Venezuela. According to Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, in 1500, only 2 years after his sighting, there were already 50 adventurers installed in Cubagua who were eagerly looking for the precious mother-of-pearl gems used by the natives in their personal ornaments. This settlement of small Spanish villages for the exploitation of these pearl riches in Cubagua consisted of Cabildo and Regidores by 1510. But the settlement was carried out in this early date spontaneously without following Hispanic patterns, since even in 1517, it is indicated that the population resided in awnings and huts.
At first, all official attempts to achieve the colonization of Cubagua failed: the problem of water supply was paramount, and it was concluded that the establishment of a village in Cubagua could not bear fruit without the previous construction of a fortress at the mouth of the river of today's Cumaná, which was the one that supplied the water.
Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés' version that the establishment of Cubagua dates back to 1517 is considered correct. Under the protection of the Cumaná fortress, which was finally built in early 1523, the village of Cubagua was quickly organized and an extraordinary boom emerged in the exploitation of pearl pleasures.
It is unlikely that before 1525, the residents of the village of Cubagua were aware of being a town or city. None of the pearl records from 1521 to 1525, which are the first known local sources of Cubagua, mention the name of the village on this island, and only speak of Cubagua.
In 1526, the town was elevated to the category of Villa with the name of "Villa de Santiago de Cubagua", although it seems that this title was never used. On September 13, 1528, this town was granted the rank of city, was given a coat of arms, the first ordinances were issued granting the city political autonomy and its name was changed to "Nueva Cádiz". Through these ordinances, the city of Nueva Cádiz, today recognized as the first city of Venezuela, did not depend on Spanish aid from Santo Domingo, and could trade directly with Castile. This helped the inhabitants of Nueva Cádiz to stimulate their activity. They set about building their city, replacing the huts with stone houses, material brought from Araya, and increasing the number of inhabitants.
Between 1531 and 1532, the pearly beds showed the first signs of exhaustion. The growing population with scarce means of living, created in New Cadiz problems of supply of food, water and firewood. Foodstuffs arrived from Santo Domingo, water from the Manzanares River in Cumaná, and firewood was transported from Isla Margarita. When pearls were scarce, they sought new fisheries, and with the authorization of the Royal Court of Santo Domingo and King Carlos I, they moved to Cabo de la Vela.
The disappearance of the Cubagua population was a slow process due mainly to the lack of water, the resistance of the Indians to the exhausting work of the pearl fisheries, and to the conquests of distant lands. The visit of the French corsairs meant a serious threat to the survival of the city. Likewise, Caribbean boats prowled the contours of the island. However, the fundamental cause of Cubagua's depopulation was the disappearance of the oyster beds.
The population did not migrate all at once. Coinciding with the boom in fisheries in Cubagua there is already a migration to Cabo de la Vela, because there were not enough of them in Cubagua. By 1537, the island was becoming depopulated and in 1541, history indicates that a hurricane hit the island, possibly following an earthquake, and its inhabitants fled to Margarita and founded a town. In 1543, French pirates arrived at the ruins of Nueva Cádiz, where some 10 inhabitants still remained, and left the city in flames, causing the island to be abandoned once again.
Although the exact date of its total abandonment by the Spaniards in this early period is not known, history indicates that by 1545, a group of residents of Nueva Cádiz aspire to incorporate Margarita under their jurisdiction, which confirms the existence of a population on the island at least for that date.
In 1676, the Marquis of Maitenon with a fleet of 10 ships and 800 French buccaneers attacked Margarita Island and Cumaná. This action motivated the Spanish to build several forts on the island.
The Province of Margarita is the oldest of those that in 1777 formed the Captaincy General of Venezuela. It had depended on the Royal Audience of Santo Domingo until 1739, when it was annexed to the Viceroyalty of New Granada, along with other States; and in 1830, when the Republic of Venezuela emerged, it was one of its 13 original provinces.
19th and 20th centuries
In the Church of Santa Ana, an Assembly of Notables was held on May 6, 1816, in which the Third Republic of Venezuela was proclaimed as a single and indivisible nation: the Provisional Government of the Republic was established, the General Simón Bolívar proclaimed the Supreme Chief of the Republic, General Santiago Mariño was appointed second in command, and various military promotions are made. Bolívar signs the repeal of the Death War Decree of 1813. Inside the Church, the chair where General Bolivar sat down still remains, and monuments to those who participated in the assembly.In 1835, the province of Margarita was divided into the cantons of La Asunción and Norte.
In 1856, the province of Margarita was divided into the cantons of Norte, with its capital in Santa Ana del Norte, and Sur, with its capital in La Asunción.
In 1864, when the country was divided into 20 states and a Federal District, Margarita took the name of Estado Nueva Esparta. The republic granted the title of "Nueva Esparta" to the island territory because of the heroism shown by the island's inhabitants in the struggle for Venezuela's independence, which resembled the Spartans of classical Greece. The complete exhaustion of the Cubagua pearl oysters in 1857 determined the abandonment of this island, and afterwards, it was visited by fishermen who built rancherías. In 1881, it became a section of the Great State of Guzmán Blanco. In 1901, two years after the autonomy of the states was restored, it regained the name of Nueva Esparta, but lost it again between 1904 and 1909, during which time it was included in the Federal District as an Eastern Section. Finally, in 1909, it regained its statehood and in 1948, the island of Cubagua was annexed to its territory.
Geography
The main island of Margarita has an area of. Its capital city is La Asunción. The main urban center is Porlamar. Other important towns are Juan Griego, Pampatar, Punta de Piedras, San Juan Bautista, Las Guevaras, Las Hernández, Villa Rosa, Bella Vista, and El Valle del Espíritu Santo.Nueva Esparta is located between the coordinates 10º44, 11º10` of North latitude and 63º 46`, 64º13` of West longitude, in the insular region of the country.
The State is limited in all its cardinal points by the Caribbean Sea.
Together, the three islands of the State bring together magnificent beaches, wonderful mangroves and other landscapes that make it a true island paradise. Margarita, the largest of them, has a maximum elevation on Copey Hill and includes the Macanao mountain core to the west. Coche and Cubagua are rocky cores covered with marine sediments and have a flat relief, with cliffs. The climate is arid or semi-arid, to the point that there are no permanent current rivers. The Nueva Esparta state is divided into 11 municipalities.
Municipalities
Geology
The state territory is characterized by events of volcanism, sedimentation, emersion, deposition and uprising. Igneous-metamorphic rocks of the Mesozoic era form the foundation of the mountainous areas and their foothills, including the hill landscape, with the exception of the undulating reliefs of Pampatar, constituted by tertiary sediments, as well as the coastal plain. The lowest marine areas are Pleistocene and Holocene formations, composed of alluviums, coastal and alluvial terraces, calcareous sandstones and lagoon deposits. Coche and Cubagua are rocky cores covered with marine sediments from the Pre-Cambrian geological era.Relief
The eastern sector of Margarita Island has three small mountain ranges, aligned in a southeast–northwest direction, whose altitude stops are the Copey, Matasiete, La Guardia and Guayamurí hills; To the southwest, the relief is flat, with the exception of moderate elevations, known as Las Tetas de María Guevara. The Macanao Peninsula, in the western sector, has an elongated east–west massif, between the Macanao and Guarataro hills. The rest are coastal plains that descend towards wide-ranging beaches. The islands of Coche and Cubagua offer a flat terrain with some cliffs.The relief is composed of coastal plains, lagoons and mountain ranges. The coastal plains of the eastern massif descend to oceanic beaches of great breadth and white sands that constitute a great tourist attraction, also conducive to sports and recreation activities.
Among the highest elevations found in the state, there are: