Zulia
Zulia State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it had a population of 3,704,404, making it the most populous state in the country. Zulia is also notable for being one of the few states in Venezuela where voseo—the use of vos as the second-person singular pronoun—is widespread. The state is coterminous with the eponymous region of Zulia.
Zulia is located in northwestern Venezuela, bordering Lake Maracaibo, the largest body of its kind in Latin America. The lake's basin holds some of the largest oil and gas reserves in the Western Hemisphere.
Zulia is economically significant due to its oil and mineral exploitation, but it is also one of Venezuela's major agricultural regions. The state contributes notably in livestock, bananas, fruits, meat, and milk.
Toponymy
There are several competing theories about the origin of the state's name. One holds that Guaimaral, son of the cacique Mara, was on pilgrimage in the Pamplona region, where he fell in love with a woman named Zulia. She was killed in a battle against the Spanish conquerors. Gaimaral returned in sorrow to his father's territory and named rivers, towns and regions in her memory. While there is little historical evidence to support the story, it remains the most widespread version.History
Before Colonization
Indigenous peoples have lived in the region for a long time, including the Yukpa, Barí, Arawakos, Timotes and Cuica, Caquetío, Wayúu, and Añú peoples.Spanish Colonization
The area now known as Zulia was first seen by Europeans in 1499 during an expedition led by Alonso de Ojeda. In 1527, the Spanish Crown transferred the governorship and lands of the Venezuela Province to the Welser banking family of Augsburg, Germany. Ambrosio Dalfinger, a representative of the Welsers, became the first governor and conqueror of the region.Dalfinger led expeditions from Coro to Maracaibo between 1528 and 1529, and later along the eastern shore of Lake Maracaibo to the mouth of the Motatán River. These were the first sustained contacts between Europeans and the Indigenous peoples of the lake region after its initial discovery.
These daring ventures, which required considerable courage and effort, inspired the chronicler Juan de Castellanos, who included them in his epic poem Elegies of Illustrious Men of the Indies, completed around 1590.
During the Spanish colonial period, the territory was part of the Venezuela Province until 1676, when it was merged into the Province of Mérida del Espiritu Santo de la Grita, forming the Maracaibo Province.
The territory that now forms the State of Zulia was established as the Province of Maracaibo in 1678 and, along with Mérida, became part of the Viceroyalty of the New Kingdom of Granada. The region was governed by the President of Royal Audiencia, whose official seat was in Santa Fé de Bogotá. Its jurisdiction extended — often in an inconsistent and impractical manner — over the provinces of Guayana, Cumaná, Maracaibo, and the islands of Margarita and Trinidad.
The administrative challenges posed by this scattered and diverse territory led the Court of Madrid to reorganize the structure. By Royal Decree on September 8, 1777, the Provinces of Maracaibo, Cumaná, Guayana and the Islands of Margarita and Trinidad were incorporated into the newly established Captaincy General of Venezuela.
By Royal Decree on February 15, 1785, the city of Barinas and its dependencies, which had belonged to the Province of Maracaibo, were separated to form a new province. In exchange, the city of Trujillo, previously part of the Province of Caracas, was incorporated into the Province of Maracaibo. By 1789, the province encompassed the territory of the present-day Venezuelan states of Zulia, Apure, Barinas, Táchira, Mérida, and Trujillo.
In 1810, Mérida and Trujillo were separated as new provinces. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Province of Maracaibo included, in addition to its capital, the cities of Mérida, Trujillo, San Cristóbal, El Rosario de Perijá, and San Bartolomé de Sinamaica, along with their respective dependencies. After Mérida declared its independence, it was formally separated as its own province, while Maracaibo remained under Spanish control until January 18, 1821, when it joined Gran Colombia, proclaiming its independence from the Government of Madrid.
Republican period
The Zulia Province declared independence from Spain on January 28, 1821. During the Gran Colombia period, in 1824, it was renamed the “Zulia Department” in honor of the Zulia River. The Constituent Congress of 1824 divided the territory of Colombia into four departments, one of which was Zulia, composed of the provinces of Coro, Mérida, and Maracaibo.When Gran Colombia was dissolved in 1830, Maracaibo became a province composed of its own territory and that of Trujillo. One year later, the Trujillo Section was elevated to the status of a separate province, definitively separating from Maracaibo. With the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1830, the region was officially named Maracaibo Province and became one of the 11 original provinces of Venezuela.
In 1835, the territory of Maracaibo Province was divided into five cantons: Maracaibo, Perijá, Zulia, Gibraltar, and Altagracia. By decree on April 9, 1850, the parishes of La Ceiba and La Ceibita, previously belonging to Maracaibo, were transferred to the Province of Trujillo, giving the Andean province access to Lake Maracaibo.
The Venezuelan federal constitution of April 22, 1864, changed the designation of "province" to "state", creating the "State of Maracaibo" on the same territory previously held by the province. At the end of that same year, the state's legislature decided to rename it the "Sovereign State of Zulia", although this name lasted only a few months.
In 1874, the name was officially changed again to “Zulia State”. By federal government order in 1881, the state was merged with Falcón to form the combined Falcón-Zulia State. Its autonomous status was restored on April 1, 1890, when Congress passed legislation separating it from Falcón. The state underwent further territorial changes toward the end of the 19th century, until its current delimitation was finalized in 1899. Since then, it has been officially known as “Estado Zulia”.
Geography
Zulia encompasses a wide range of geographical features. It includes plains, mountains, and Lake Maracaibo, which receives water and sediment from approximately 135 rivers.The region also contains lagoons, swamps, and marshes in its lower-lying areas, particularly near the mouths of rivers and in wetland zones such as the Ciénagas del Catatumbo National Park. Zulia features both arid zones and areas of high humidity, reflecting its complex topography and climatic variation. It includes densely populated urban centers, such as Maracaibo, with over 10,000 inhabitants per square kilometer, and vast semi-populated territories like the Perijá mountains and the swamps of Juan Manuel, where population density drops below 10 inhabitants per square kilometer. Some parts of the state are economically prosperous, while others experience significant poverty and underdevelopment, due in part to uneven regional development.
The Lake Maracaibo Basin covers much of the northern and western parts of the state, from the Guajira Peninsula to the Perijá Mountains. The Venezuelan Andean states of Táchira, Mérida and Trujillo border Zulia at the southern end of Lake Maracaibo.
The name Venezuela is believed to have originated from Lake Maracaibo. When Spanish conquistadors sailed into the area, they encountered indigenous communities living in stilt-supported huts along the lake's shore. Reminded of Venice, they named the region "Little Venice" or Venezuela. The lake contains several islands, some of which are inhabited.
Near the mouth of the Catatumbo River, where it flows into Lake Maracaibo, occurs the famous Catatumbo lightning, which is represented on Zulia's flag and coat of arms by lightning bolts.
Due to its geographical location, Zulia possesses significant geostrategic and geopolitical advantages. The region's diverse geography, geology and hydrography offer a wide range of natural resources, supporting agriculture, livestock, forestry, mining, fishing and tourism. Its infrastructure, particularly lake and marine routes, facilitates international trade, making Zulia an important economic hub in western Venezuela.
Geomorphologically, Zulia can be described as a depression centered around the Lake Maracaibo basin, surrounded by mountains and coastal lowlands. Its geological evolution is linked to the collision of the South American Plate with the Caribbean Plate and remnants of the Nazca Plate. Tectonic activity during the Upper Eocene and Miocene–Pliocene periods shaped the Andes and Perijá Mountains and defined the current landscape of the Maracaibo basin and surrounding plains.
These orogenic processes caused the Perijá Mountains to rise less dramatically than the Andes, resulting in more moderate topography.To the southeast, the Sierra de Ziruma extends as a pre-mountain range composed mainly of Tertiary rocks. According to the most recent classifications, Zulia comprises three primary physical-natural regions: the Perijá Mountain Range, the Corian Sierras, and the Maracaibo basin with its adjoining coastal plains near the Gulf of Venezuela.
Perijá mountain range
The natural region of the Cordillera de Perijá, also known as the western Andean mountain range, is located in the western part of Zulia. This region occupies an area of 4,170.55 km2, representing 12.92% of the state's total area. Portions of Machiques de Perijá, Rosario de Perijá, Jesús Enrique Lossada, Mara, and Guajira fall within this natural region.The Perijá mountain range is considered a tectonic horst, beginning in the valley of the Intermedio River, extending and narrowing in a south–north direction until it reaches the Montes de Oca, beyond which lie the lowlands of the Guajira isthmus. The range comprises five major landscape units: the Sierra de Motilones, Sierra de Perijá, Sierra de Valledupar, Montes de Oca, and the surrounding foothills and valleys.