1.
Gulf of Venezuela
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The Gulf of Venezuela is a gulf of the Caribbean Sea bounded by the Venezuelan states of Zulia and Falcón and by Guajira Department, Colombia. A54 km strait connects it with Maracaibo Lake to the south, there is currently a dispute between Colombia and Venezuela over the gulf that has not been resolved, despite the decades-long negotiations conducted by a bilateral commission. Territorial waters are also in dispute over the gulf, the border dispute surged after the independence of Colombia and Venezuela from Spain in the 19th Century. The Spanish empire did not delimit the area because the Wayuu indigenous group posed resistance in the area, the land boundary was finally settled in 1941, but not the maritime. The main factor that gives importance to these waters is the fact that it connects the Caribbean Sea and Lake Maracaibo, the gulf therefore helps connect the wells and refineries in Lake Maracaibo to the world markets
2.
Spanish colonization of the Americas
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The Colonial expansion under the crown of Castile was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Catholic faith through indigenous conversions and it is estimated that during the colonial period, a total of 18.6 million Spaniards settled in the Americas and a further 3.5 million immigrated during the post-colonial era. Spains loss of these last territories politically ended the Spanish rule in the Americas, the Catholic Monarchs Isabella of Castile, Queen of Castile and her husband King Ferdinand, King of Aragon, pursued a policy of joint rule of their kingdoms and created a single Spanish monarchy. Even though Castile and Aragon were ruled jointly by their respective monarchs, the Catholic Monarchs gave official approval for the plans of Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus for a voyage to reach India by sailing West. The funding came from the queen of Castile, so the profits from Spanish expedition flowed to Castile, in the extension of Spanish sovereignty to its overseas territories, authority for expeditions of discovery, conquest, and settlement resided in the monarchy. Columbus made four voyages to the West Indiesas the monarchs granted Columbus the governorship of the new territories and he founded La Navidad on the island later named Hispaniola, in what is present day Haiti on his first voyage. After its destruction by the indigenous Taino people, the town of Isabella was begun in 1493, in 1496 his brother, Bartholomew, founded Santo Domingo. By 1500, despite a death rate, there were between 300 and 1000 Spanish settled in the area. The local Taíno people continued to resist, refusing to plant crops, the first mainland explorations were followed by a phase of inland expeditions and conquest. In 1500 the city of Nueva Cádiz was founded on the island of Cubagua, Venezuela, the Spanish founded San Sebastian de Uraba in 1509 but abandoned it within the year. There is indirect evidence that the first permanent Spanish mainland settlement established in the Americas was Santa María la Antigua del Darién, the Spanish conquest of Mexico is generally understood to be the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire which was the base for later conquests of other regions. Later conquests were protracted campaigns with less spectacular results than conquest of the Aztecs, but not until the Spanish conquest of Peru was the conquest of the Aztecs matched in scope by the victory over the Inca empire in 1532. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire was led by Hernán Cortés, the victory over the Aztecs was relatively quick, from 1519 to 1521, and aided by his Tlaxcala and other allies from indigenous city-states or altepetl. These polities allied against the Aztec empire, to which they paid tribute following conquest or threat of conquest, leaving the political hierarchy. The Spanish conquest of Yucatán was a longer campaign, from 1551 to 1697, against the Maya peoples in the Yucatán Peninsula of present-day Mexico. When Hernán Cortés landed ashore at present day Veracruz and founded the Spanish city there on April 22,1519, Spain colonized and exerted control of Alta California through the Spanish missions in California until the Mexican secularization act of 1833. It was the first step in a campaign that took decades of fighting to subdue the mightiest empire in the Americas. In the following years Spain extended its rule over the Empire of the Inca civilization, in the following years the conquistadors and indigenous allies extended control over Greater Andes Region
3.
Peninsula
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A peninsula is a piece of land surrounded by water on the majority of its border, while being connected to a mainland from which it extends out. Examples include the upper and lower peninsulas of the state of Michigan, the surrounding water is usually understood to be continuous, though not necessarily named as a single body of water. Peninsulas are not always named as such, one can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, a point is generally considered a tapering piece of land projecting into a body of water that is less prominent than a cape. A river which courses through a very tight meander is also said to form a peninsula within the loop of water. In English, the plural of peninsula is peninsulas or, less commonly, peninsulas can be found on coastlines and in smaller bodies of water throughout the world, ranging in scale from square meters to millions of square kilometers. Theres the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe, and in Southern Europe theres the Iberian Peninsula, the Italian Peninsula, south America has the Brunswick Peninsula, and Antarctica has the Antarctic Peninsula. In Africa, theres the Horn of Africa, and in Australia, asia has the 3 largest peninsulas in the world, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian Peninsula, and the Indochinese Peninsula
4.
Colombia
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Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a transcontinental country largely situated in the northwest of South America, with territories in Central America. Colombia shares a border to the northwest with Panama, to the east with Venezuela and Brazil and to the south with Ecuador and it shares its maritime limits with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is a unitary, constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments, the territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples including the Muisca, the Quimbaya and the Tairona. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonization ultimately creating the Viceroyalty of New Granada, independence from Spain was won in 1819, but by 1830 the Gran Colombia Federation was dissolved. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada, the new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation, and then the United States of Colombia, before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886. Since the 1960s the country has suffered from an asymmetric low-intensity armed conflict, Colombia is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse countries in the world, and thereby possesses a rich cultural heritage. Cultural diversity has also influenced by Colombias varied geography. The urban centres are located in the highlands of the Andes mountains. Colombian territory also encompasses Amazon rainforest, tropical grassland and both Caribbean and Pacific coastlines, ecologically, it is one of the worlds 17 megadiverse countries, and the most densely biodiverse of these per square kilometer. Colombia is a power and a regional actor with the fourth-largest economy in Latin America, is part of the CIVETS group of six leading emerging markets and is an accessing member to the OECD. Colombia has an economy with macroeconomic stability and favorable growth prospects in the long run. The name Colombia is derived from the last name of Christopher Columbus and it was conceived by the Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda as a reference to all the New World, but especially to those portions under Spanish and Portuguese rule. The name was adopted by the Republic of Colombia of 1819. When Venezuela, Ecuador and Cundinamarca came to exist as independent states, New Granada officially changed its name in 1858 to the Granadine Confederation. In 1863 the name was changed, this time to United States of Colombia. To refer to country, the Colombian government uses the terms Colombia. Owing to its location, the present territory of Colombia was a corridor of early human migration from Mesoamerica, the oldest archaeological finds are from the Pubenza and El Totumo sites in the Magdalena Valley 100 km southwest of Bogotá. These sites date from the Paleoindian period, at Puerto Hormiga and other sites, traces from the Archaic Period have been found
5.
Venezuela
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Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a federal republic located on the northern coast of South America. It is bordered by Colombia on the west, Brazil on the south, Guyana on the east, Venezuela covers 916,445 km2 and has an estimated population of 31775371. The territory now known as Venezuela was colonized by Spain in 1522 amid resistance from indigenous peoples and it gained full independence as a separate country in 1830. During the 19th century, Venezuela suffered political turmoil and autocracy, since 1958, the country has had a series of democratic governments. This new constitution changed the name of the country to República Bolivariana de Venezuela. Venezuela is a presidential republic consisting of 23 states, the Capital District. Venezuela also claims all Guyanese territory west of the Essequibo River, oil was discovered in the early 20th century, and Venezuela has the worlds largest known oil reserves and has been one of the worlds leading exporters of oil. Previously an underdeveloped exporter of commodities such as coffee and cocoa, oil quickly came to dominate exports. The recovery of oil prices in the early 2000s gave Venezuela oil funds not seen since the 1980s, the Venezuelan government then established populist policies that initially boosted the Venezuelan economy and increased social spending, significantly reducing economic inequality and poverty. However, such policies later became controversial since they destabilized the economy, resulting in hyperinflation, an economic depression. According to the most popular and accepted version, in 1499, the stilt houses in the area of Lake Maracaibo reminded the navigator, Amerigo Vespucci, of the city of Venice, so he named the region Veneziola Piccola Venezia. The name acquired its current spelling as a result of Spanish influence, where the suffix -uela is used as a term, thus. The German language 16th century-term for the area, Klein-Venedig, also means little Venice, however, Martín Fernández de Enciso, a member of the Vespucci and Ojeda crew, gave a different account. In his work Summa de geografía, he states that they found people who called themselves the Veneciuela. Thus, the name Venezuela may have evolved from the native word and it is not known how many people lived in Venezuela before the Spanish conquest, it has been estimated at around one million. In addition to indigenous peoples known today, the population included historic groups such as the Kalina, Auaké, Caquetio, Mariche, the Timoto-Cuica culture was the most complex society in Pre-Columbian Venezuela, with pre-planned permanent villages, surrounded by irrigated, terraced fields. They also stored water in tanks and their houses were made primarily of stone and wood with thatched roofs. They were peaceful, for the most part, and depended on growing crops, regional crops included potatoes and ullucos
6.
Manaure, La Guajira
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Manaure or Salinas de Manaure is a town and municipality located in the Colombian Department of La Guajira. Manaures main economic activity is the exploitation of the vast amounts of salt in the area, the municipality of Manaure is within the Guajira-Barranquilla xeric scrub with water streams determined by precipitations during the rainy seasons. The municipality seat of Manaure is crossed by the Limón Creek which flows into the Caribbean sea, the coastline has high concentration of salt, rocks and clay over predominantly flat plains, slightly undulated in some areas. The area has two seasons averaging 150 mm from May to June and from October to November) and two dry seasons in between these months. Chronicles from the Spanish explorer first detailed some indigenous in the area called Coanaos which traveled between the Cabo de la Vela and the region of Valledupar to exchange salt for gold. During the 19th century salt in the region was exploited at Honda Bay, in 1777 the Spanish government ordered the administration of the Salinas. In 1824 the government declared the Salinas or salt mines as national patrimony of the establishing a regulatory price control. In 1932 the bank of the Republic was given authority over the administration and exploitation of mines in Zipaquirá, Nemocón. By 1948 salt production in Manaure was between 20,000 and 30,000 tons a year, in 1970 the concession of Manaure salt mines was transferred to the IFI-Concesión Salinas which intensified the production to one million tons a year. The Wayuu began to claim the area as their ancestral land, the accords were not met and the Wayuus sued the government in 1994. The court ordered the creation of Sociedad Salinas de Manaure, SAMA based on the original agreement, the Wayuu would have 25%, but once again the agreements were not met due to legal problems
7.
Calabozo
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It is the seat of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Calabozo. Calabozo is situated in the midst of an extensive llano on the bank of the Guárico River. In its vicinity are thermal springs, the principal occupation of its inhabitants is cattle-raising. The town is built, regularly laid out with streets crossing at right angles, and possesses several fine old churches. It is a place of commercial importance because of its situation in the midst of a rich cattle-raising country. It is believed to have been an Indian town originally, and was made a town as one of the stations of the Compañía Guipuzcoana de Caracas in 1730. However, like most Venezuelan towns, Calabozo made little growth during the 19th century, in 1820 the Spanish forces under Francisco Tomás Morales were defeated here by the revolutionists under Simón Bolívar and José Antonio Páez. Its waters have accumulated numbers of Caribbean fish, this book changed the economic face of Calabozo happened to become the pilot site of a complex agricultural economy. The irrigation system has encouraged the cultivation of rice, maize, pulses, snuff, tomatoes, paprika, cotton and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles, ed. article name needed
8.
Magdalena Department
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Magdalena is a department of Colombia, located to the north of the country by the Caribbean Sea. The capital of the Magdalena Department is Santa Marta and was named after the Magdalena River and it inherited the name of one of the original nine states of the United States of Colombia that its current territory integrated. The Department of Magdalena is located on the North Coast of the Colombian Caribbean Region, on the north it borders the Caribbean Sea. On the northeast it borders the La Guajira Department, being divided by the Palomino River, on the east it borders with the Cesar Department, which is in part divided by the Guaraní River. On the west, it is divided by the Magdalena River, and it borders the departments of Atlantico in the Northwest, the territory of the Department of Magdalena is formed by four drainage basins which are very different in composition and importance. Sierra Nevada’s Northern Slope The drainage basin of the Sierra Nevada’s western slope is located in the part of the department. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta creates different rivers that run mainly through the municipality of Santa Marta, and that finally end up draining into the Caribbean Sea. Magdalena Basin The Magdalena River Basin is the largest drainage basin in the department, it is formed by the Magdalena River and its tributaries that feed on to the river and the Marsh. The Mompóx Depression is found within this basin, this runs from the Zapatosa Marsh to the delta of the Magdalena River. This depression collects the most water in the department as its where the Cauca River, Cesar River, marshes The department of Magdalena is characterized by its many marshes and extensive marshland valleys. The whole western side of the department its dotted with marshes and lakes due to the Magdalena River that borders the department on this side, most of this marshes are located in the northwestern side. The permanent marshes are, Chilloa, La Rinconada, Tesca, Pijiño, Juan Criollo, Jaraba, Playa Afuera, Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta, and Zapatosa. It is located in the northwest of the department and is separated from the sea by a thin margin of land. It has an extension of 4,280 km², of whitch 730 km² are just water mirrors with a depth of 2 to 6 meters. The Zapatosa Marsh, located in the municipality of El Plato in the southernmost part of the department, it is shared with the Cesar Department and it has an extension of 310 km² and at its deepest it reaches about 8m. In it many rivers of different importance merge, the Zapatosa Marsh drains into the Magdalena River by an arm of about 16 km of length. The Department of Magdalena, because of its terrain, and proximity to the sea has an unstable weather and its Climate is mainly dictated by its global positioning, and because the department of Magdalena is located on the Intertropical Convergence Zone it possess an inter-tropical climate. Temperature in the department is affected by currents, precipitation and atmospheric pressure, it mainly has a hot temperatures with high humidity
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "article name needed". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton. [1]
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