1.
Spanish language
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Spanish —also called Castilian —is a Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain, with hundreds of millions of native speakers around the world. It is usually considered the worlds second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese and it is one of the few languages to use inverted question and exclamation marks. Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Beginning in the early 16th century, Spanish was taken to the colonies of the Spanish Empire, most notably to the Americas, as well as territories in Africa, Oceania, around 75% of modern Spanish is derived from Latin. Greek has also contributed substantially to Spanish vocabulary, especially through Latin, Spanish vocabulary has been in contact from an early date with Arabic, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula. With around 8% of its vocabulary being Arabic in origin, this language is the second most important influence after Latin and it has also been influenced by Basque as well as by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages. It also adopted words from languages such as Gothic language from the Visigoths in which many Spanish names and surnames have a Visigothic origin. Spanish is one of the six languages of the United Nations. It is the language in the world by the number of people who speak it as a mother tongue, after Mandarin Chinese. It is estimated more than 437 million people speak Spanish as a native language. Spanish is the official or national language in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, speakers in the Americas total some 418 million. In the European Union, Spanish is the tongue of 8% of the population. Spanish is the most popular second language learned in the United States, in 2011 it was estimated by the American Community Survey that of the 55 million Hispanic United States residents who are five years of age and over,38 million speak Spanish at home. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the language of the whole Spanish State in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas. Article III reads as follows, El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado, las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas. Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State, the other Spanish languages as well shall be official in their respective Autonomous Communities. The Spanish Royal Academy, on the hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. Two etymologies for español have been suggested, the Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary derives the term from the Provençal word espaignol, and that in turn from the Medieval Latin word Hispaniolus, from—or pertaining to—Hispania
2.
Caribbean Sea
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The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. The entire area of the Caribbean Sea, the islands of the West Indies. The Caribbean Sea is one of the largest seas and has an area of about 2,754,000 km2, the seas deepest point is the Cayman Trough, between the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, at 7,686 m below sea level. The Caribbean coastline has many gulfs and bays, the Gulf of Gonâve, Gulf of Venezuela, Gulf of Darién, Golfo de los Mosquitos, Gulf of Paria, the Caribbean Sea has the worlds second biggest barrier reef, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. It runs 1,000 km along the coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, the name Caribbean derives from the Caribs, one of the regions dominant Native American groups at the time of European contact during the late 15th century. During the first century of development, Spanish dominance in the region remained undisputed, from the 16th century, Europeans visiting the Caribbean region identified the South Sea as opposed to the North Sea. The Caribbean Sea had been unknown to the populations of Eurasia until 1492, at that time the Western Hemisphere in general was unknown to Europeans. Following the discovery of the islands by Columbus, the area was colonised by several Western cultures. As of 2015 the area is home to 22 island territories, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Caribbean Sea as follows, On the North. In the Windward Channel – a line joining Caleta Point and Pearl Point in Haïti, in the Mona Passage – a line joining Cape Engano and the extreme of Agujereada in Puerto Rico. From Galera Point through Trinidad to Galeota Point and thence to Baja Point in Venezuela, note that, although Barbados is an island on the same continental shelf, it is considered to be in the Atlantic Ocean rather than the Caribbean Sea. The Caribbean Sea is an oceanic sea largely situated on the Caribbean Plate, the Caribbean Sea is separated from the ocean by several island arcs of various ages. The youngest stretches from the Lesser Antilles to the Virgin Islands to the north east of Trinidad, the larger islands in the northern part of the sea Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico lie on an older island arc. The geological age of the Caribbean Sea is estimated to be between 160 and 180 million years and was formed by a fracture that split the supercontinent called Pangea in the Mesozoic Era. It is assumed the proto-caribbean basin existed in the Devonian period, in the early Carboniferous movement of Gondwana to the north and its convergence with the Euramerica basin decreased in size. The next stage of the Caribbean Seas formation began in the Triassic, powerful rifting led to the formation of narrow troughs, stretching from modern Newfoundland to the west coast of the Gulf of Mexico which formed siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. In the early Jurassic due to powerful marine transgression, water broke into the present area of the Gulf of Mexico creating a vast shallow pool, the emergence of deep basins in the Caribbean occurred during the Middle Jurassic rifting. The emergence of these marked the beginning of the Atlantic Ocean
3.
Nueva Esparta
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New Sparta State, in Spanish Estado Nueva Esparta, is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. It comprises Margarita Island, Coche, and the largely uninhabited Cubagua, the state is the smallest one in area, and is located off the northeast Caribbean coast of Venezuela. It is the only state of Venezuela. The main island of Margarita has an area of 934 km2 and its capital city is La Asunción, and the main urban center is Porlamar. Its name comes from the heroism shown by its inhabitants during the Venezuelan War of Independence, founded in 1525, the Province of Margarita was the oldest of those that in 1777 formed the Post of Captain-General of Venezuela. It was dependent on the Royal Audience of Santo Domingo until 1739, in 1821, when Gran Colombia was created, the Province of Margarita was integrated to the Orinoco Department, along with other regions. When the Republic of Venezuela arose in 1830, it was one of the original Provinces of Venezuela, in 1864, when Venezuela was divided into 20 states and a Federal District, Margarita took the name of State of New Sparta. In 1881 its status was changed to be a section of the Greater Guzmán Blanco State, in 1909 it recovered the condition of a State, and in 1948 it added the island of Cubagua. The main island of Margarita has an area of 934 km2 and 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, El Valle del Espíritu Santo. According to the 2011 Census, the composition of the population was
4.
Porlamar
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Porlamar is the largest city on Isla Margarita, Nueva Esparta State in Venezuela. The city was founded as Puerto de la Mar on the southeast coast in 1536, in 1680 the Council of the Indies ordered Margarita born Juan Fermín de Huidobro to build a fortress with four bastions and a watchtower known as San Carlos Borromeo. Porlamar was a fishing village until the arrival of air travel. Since then, it has become the hub of the island with shops, restaurants. Porlamar holds about one-third of Margarita Islands population, Porlamar is Margarita Islands center of commerce. Since it was granted free-port status in 1973, its boutique-lined avenues have been crowded with tourists, in the early 1990s, the economic downfall hit Porlamar. Del Caribe International General Santiago Marino Airport in Porlamar has charter services to Europe and Colombia, cancun, Mexico Cartagena, Colombia Miami, USA San Francisco Chronicle article
5.
States of Venezuela
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Venezuela is a federation made up of twenty-three states, a Capital District and the Federal Dependencies, which consist of a large number of islands and islets on the Caribbean Sea. Venezuela also claims the Guayana Esequiba territory which comprises six districts in the independent nation of Guyana, the states and territories of Venezuela are usually organized into regions, although these regions are mostly geographical entities and count with no administrative entities. Prior to the Federal War of, the country was divided into provinces rather than states, the victorious forces were supposed to grant more autonomy to the individual states, but this was not implemented. From 1863 to the early 1900s there were numerous changes, including the merger and splitting of states. States that existed during this time included Guzmán Blanco State, originally a renamed Aragua State, in 1881 the states of Miranda, Guárico, Nueva Esparta and the Vargas department of the Federal District were merged into the state. This was part of a territorial reorganisation reducing the number of states from 20 to 9, the 1990s saw the creation of three new states, Delta Amacuro, Amazonas, and Vargas. Venezuelas territory is divided into eight geographical regions, which are mostly used for geographical, cultural and planning purposes. Below is a list of the 23 states of Venezuela, the states are listed along with their correspondent emblems, data and location. Nueva Esparta is named for the heroism shown by its inhabitants during the Venezuelan War of Independence, Trujillo, for the capital city, Trujillo, itself named for Trujillo in Spain. Zulias name stems from a transliteration from the chibcha language
6.
Agostino Codazzi
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Giovanni Battista Agostino Codazzi was an Italian military, scientist, geographer, cartographer, and governor of Barinas. Famous geographer and cartographer born in Lugo, Ravenna, arrived in South America in the 1810s and fought under the corsair Aury, Codazzi was born in the Italian city of Lugo. Since young he appreciated the ideals of the French Revolution and, after his studies at the military academy Scuola di Artiglieria of Pavia, actively served in the Napoleon Army. With the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 Codazzi moved away from Italy and after some travels went to Venezuela, successively he received the task of mapping the area of the Maracaibo Lake and the borders between Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. The Venezuelan government named him Colonel and ordered the creation of an Atlas of Venezuela, Agustin Codazzi meanwhile took the Venezuelan citizenship from president José Antonio Páez and become Governor of Barinas, a region of southwestern Venezuela. In those years his activity of geographer was continuously interrupted by his duties of military commander. With the fall of Páez after an insurrection, Codazzi was forced to escape to Cúcuta. The town where he died has been renamed Aldea Codazzi, Venezuela honored the memory of Agustin Codazzi placing his remains inside the Panteón Nacional of Caracas in 1942, where he is considered one the Heroes of Venezuela. Colombias national geographical society, a government agency, is named after Agustin Codazzi
7.
Christopher Columbus
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Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, colonizer, and citizen of the Republic of Genoa. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean and those voyages and his efforts to establish permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola initiated the European colonization of the New World. Western imperialism and economic competition were emerging among European kingdoms through the establishment of routes and colonies. During his first voyage in 1492, he reached the New World instead of arriving at Japan as he had intended, landing on an island in the Bahamas archipelago that he named San Salvador. Over the course of three voyages, he visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles, as well as the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Central America. These voyages had, therefore, an impact in the historical development of the modern Western world. He spearheaded the transatlantic trade and has been accused by several historians of initiating the genocide of the Hispaniola natives. Columbus himself saw his accomplishments primarily in the light of spreading the Christian religion, Columbus never admitted that he had reached a continent previously unknown to Europeans, rather than the East Indies for which he had set course. He called the inhabitants of the lands that he visited indios, the name Christopher Columbus is the Anglicisation of the Latin Christophorus Columbus. His name in Italian is Cristoforo Colombo and, in Spanish and he was born before 31 October 1451 in the territory of the Republic of Genoa, though the exact location remains disputed. His father was Domenico Colombo, a wool weaver who worked both in Genoa and Savona and who also owned a cheese stand at which young Christopher worked as a helper. Bartolomeo, Giovanni Pellegrino, and Giacomo were his brothers, Bartolomeo worked in a cartography workshop in Lisbon for at least part of his adulthood. He also had a sister named Bianchinetta, Columbus never wrote in his native language, which is presumed to have been a Genoese variety of Ligurian. In one of his writings, he says he went to sea at the age of 10, in 1470, the Columbus family moved to Savona, where Domenico took over a tavern. In the same year, Christopher was on a Genoese ship hired in the service of René of Anjou to support his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Naples. Some modern historians have argued that he was not from Genoa but, instead and these competing hypotheses have generally been discounted by mainstream scholars. In 1473, Columbus began his apprenticeship as business agent for the important Centurione, Di Negro, later, he allegedly made a trip to Chios, an Aegean island then ruled by Genoa. In May 1476, he took part in a convoy sent by Genoa to carry valuable cargo to northern Europe
8.
Margarita Province
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Margarita Province was one of the provinces of the Spanish Empire, then one of the provinces of Gran Colombia, and later one of the Provinces of Venezuela. In Gran Colombia it belonged to the Orinoco Department which was created in 1824, with the creation of the States of Venezuela in 1864 it became Nueva Esparta. The Province was named for its most important part, Isla Margarita, a partial list of governors, Citations Sources Archivo General de Indias, CONTRATACIÓN,5469, Nº2, R54
9.
Conquistador
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Conquistadors /kɒŋˈkɪstəˌdɔːrz/ is a term used to refer to the soldiers and explorers of the Spanish Empire or the Portuguese Empire in a general sense. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, Oceania, Africa and Asia, conquering territory and they colonized much of the world for Spain and Portugal in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Portugal established a route to China in the early 16th century, sending ships via the southern coast of Africa, human infections gained worldwide transmission vectors for the first time, from Africa and Eurasia to the Americas and vice versa. The spread of diseases, including smallpox, flu and typhus. In the 16th century perhaps 240,000 Europeans entered American ports, by the late 16th century silver imports from America provided one-fifth of Spains total budget. The conquistadors were professional warriors, using European tactics, firearms and their units would often specialize in forms of combat that required long periods of training that were too costly for informal groups. Their armies were composed of Iberian and other European soldiers. Native allied troops were largely equipped with armament and armour that varied geographically. Some groups consisted of men without military experience, Catholic clergy which helped with administrative duties. These native forces often included African slaves and Native Americans and they not only fought in the battlefield but served as interpreters, informants, servants, teachers, physicians, and scribes. India Catalina and Malintzin were Native American women slaves who worked for the Spaniards, Castilian law prohibited foreigners and non-Catholics from settling in the New World. However, not all conquistadors were Castilian, many foreigners Hispanicised their names and/or converted to Catholicism to serve the Castilian Crown. For example, Ioánnis Fokás was a Castilian of Greek origin who discovered the strait that bears his name between Vancouver Island and Washington State in 1592, german-born Nikolaus Federmann, Hispanicised as Nicolás de Federmán, was a conquistador in Venezuela and Colombia. The origin of people in mixed expeditions was not always distinguished. Castilian law banned Spanish women from travelling to America unless they were married and accompanied by a husband, women who travelled thus include María de Escobar, María Estrada, Marina Vélez de Ortega, Marina de la Caballería, Francisca de Valenzuela, Catalina de Salazar. Some conquistadors married Native American women or had illegitimate children, European young men enlisted in the army because it was one way out of poverty. Catholic priests instructed the soldiers in mathematics, writing, theology, Latin, Greek, and history, Kings army officers taught military arts. An uneducated young recruit could become a leader, elected by their fellow professional soldiers
10.
Pearl
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A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as a conulariid. Just like the shell of a clam, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate. in minute crystalline form, the ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes, known as baroque pearls, can occur. The finest quality natural pearls have been valued as gemstones. Because of this, pearl has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, the most valuable pearls occur spontaneously in the wild, but are extremely rare. These wild pearls are referred to as natural pearls, cultured or farmed pearls from pearl oysters and freshwater mussels make up the majority of those currently sold. Imitation pearls are widely sold in inexpensive jewelry, but the quality of their iridescence is usually very poor and is easily distinguished from that of genuine pearls. Pearls have been harvested and cultivated primarily for use in jewelry and they have also been crushed and used in cosmetics, medicines and paint formulations. Whether wild or cultured, gem-quality pearls are almost always nacreous and iridescent, however, almost all species of shelled mollusks are capable of producing pearls of lesser shine or less spherical shape. The English word pearl comes from the French perle, originally from the Latin perna meaning leg, nacreous pearls, the best-known and most commercially significant, are primarily produced by two groups of molluskan bivalves or clams. A nacreous pearl is made from layers of nacre, by the same living process as is used in the secretion of the mother of pearl which lines the shell, natural pearls, formed without human intervention, are very rare. Cultured pearls are formed in pearl farms, using human intervention as well as natural processes, saltwater pearls can grow in several species of marine pearl oysters in the family Pteriidae. Freshwater pearls grow within certain species of mussels in the order Unionida. The unique luster of pearls depends upon the reflection, refraction, the thinner and more numerous the layers in the pearl, the finer the luster. The iridescence that pearls display is caused by the overlapping of successive layers, in addition, pearls can be dyed yellow, green, blue, brown, pink, purple, or black. The very best pearls have a metallic mirror-like luster, because pearls are made primarily of calcium carbonate, they can be dissolved in vinegar. Calcium carbonate is susceptible to even a weak acid solution because the crystals of calcium carbonate react with the acid in the vinegar to form calcium acetate. Freshwater and saltwater pearls may sometimes look quite similar, but they come from different sources, Freshwater pearls form in various species of freshwater mussels, family Unionidae, which live in lakes, rivers, ponds and other bodies of fresh water. These freshwater pearl mussels occur not only in hotter climates, most freshwater cultured pearls sold today come from China
11.
Gold
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Gold is a chemical element with symbol Au and atomic number 79. In its purest form, it is a bright, slightly yellow, dense, soft, malleable. Chemically, gold is a metal and a group 11 element. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements and is solid under standard conditions, Gold often occurs in free elemental form, as nuggets or grains, in rocks, in veins, and in alluvial deposits. It occurs in a solid solution series with the element silver and also naturally alloyed with copper. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium, golds atomic number of 79 makes it one of the higher numbered, naturally occurring elements. It is thought to have produced in supernova nucleosynthesis, from the collision of neutron stars. Because the Earth was molten when it was formed, almost all of the present in the early Earth probably sank into the planetary core. Gold is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia, a mixture of acid and hydrochloric acid. Gold also dissolves in solutions of cyanide, which are used in mining and electroplating. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but this is not a chemical reaction, as a precious metal, gold has been used for coinage, jewelry, and other arts throughout recorded history. A total of 186,700 tonnes of gold is in existence above ground, the world consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments, and 10% in industry. Gold is also used in infrared shielding, colored-glass production, gold leafing, certain gold salts are still used as anti-inflammatories in medicine. As of 2014, the worlds largest gold producer by far was China with 450 tonnes, Gold is cognate with similar words in many Germanic languages, deriving via Proto-Germanic *gulþą from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃-. The symbol Au is from the Latin, aurum, the Latin word for gold, the Proto-Indo-European ancestor of aurum was *h₂é-h₂us-o-, meaning glow. This word is derived from the root as *h₂éu̯sōs, the ancestor of the Latin word Aurora. This etymological relationship is presumably behind the frequent claim in scientific publications that aurum meant shining dawn, Gold is the most malleable of all metals, a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of 1 square meter, and an avoirdupois ounce into 300 square feet. Gold leaf can be thin enough to become semi-transparent
12.
First Republic of Venezuela
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The First Republic of Venezuela was the first independent government of Venezuela, lasting from July 5,1811, to July 25,1812. The congress of Venezuela declared the independence on July 5,1811. In doing so, Venezuela is notable for being the first Spanish American colony to declare its independence, several European events set the stage for Venezuelas declaration of independence. The Napoleonic Wars in Europe not only weakened Spains imperial power, in May 1808, Napoleon asked for and received the abdication of Ferdinand VII and the confirmation of his father Charles IVs abdication a few months earlier. Napoleon then made his brother Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain and that marked the beginning of Spains own War of Independence from French hegemony and partial occupation, before the Spanish American wars of independence even began. The first major defeat that Napoleonic France suffered was at the Battle of Bailén, despite this victory, the situation soon reversed itself and the French advanced into southern Spain and the Spanish government had to retreat to the island redout of Cádiz. In Cádiz, the Supreme Central Junta dissolved itself and set up a five-person Regency to handle the affairs of state until the Cortes Generales could be convened, on 18 April 1810, agents of the Spanish Regency arrived in the city of Caracas. After considerable political tumult, the local nobility announced an open hearing of the cabildo, set for the morning of 19 April. This initiated a process that would lead to a declaration of independence from Spain, soon after 19 April, many other Venezuelan provinces also established juntas, most of which recognized the Caracas one. Still other regions never established juntas, but rather kept their established authorities and this situation consequently led to a civil war between Venezuelans who were in favor of the new autonomous juntas and those still loyal to the Spanish Crown. The Caracas Junta called for the convention of a congress of the Venezuelan provinces which began meeting the following March, the Congress set up a triumvirate to handle the executive functions of the union. Shortly after the juntas were set up, Venezuelan émigré Francisco de Miranda had returned to his homeland taking advantage of the changing political climate. He had been a persona non grata since his failed attempt at liberating Venezuela in 1806, Independence was formally declared on 5 July 1811. The Constitution created a bicameral legislature and, as also happened in neighboring New Granada. This government was not in force for long, since the provinces did not fully implement it, the provinces also wrote their own constitutions, a right which the Congress recognized. Though the Congress declared independence, the provinces of Maracaibo and Guayana and the district of Coro remained loyal to the Supreme Central Junta of Spain, a military expedition from Caracas to bring Coro back under its control, was defeated in November. The Confederation was led by criollos, but was not able to appeal to the classes, despite attempts to do so. Cut off from Spain, Venezuela lost the market for its main export, the federal government resorted to printing paper money to pay its debts with Venezuelans, but the paper money rapidly lost value, turning many against the government
13.
Second Republic of Venezuela
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The Second Republic of Venezuela is the name used to refer to the reestablished Venezuelan Republic declared by Simón Bolívar on August 7,1813. This declaration followed the defeat of Domingo Monteverde by Bolívar during the Admirable Campaign in the west, the republic came to an end in the following year, after a series of defeats at the hands of José Tomás Boves. After the fall of the first Venezuelan Republic, colonel Simon Bolivar goes into exile, soon after, he sets sail to the United Provinces of New Granada, which had just recently declared its independence from the Spanish Empire. Bolivar asks the New Granadian congress for his incorporation into the army and he then organizes a flash campaign between Tunja and Pamplona, managing the expulsion of the royalist troops from this region. With the royalists in retreat, Bolivar once again addresses the New Granadian congress for authorization to intervene in Venezuela with a voluntary army, in view of the actions Bolivar had executed in favor of the New Granadians, the congress grants his request and Bolivar marches into Venezuela. It is during this period that the term Republic of Venezuela is officially used by Simón Bolívars government. Historians use the name Third Republic of Venezuela to refer to the period from about 1817 to 1819, the year before, various Venezuelan guerilla forces managed to permanently establish themselves in the Llanos and captured the city of Angostura, which became their headquarters. The congress decreed the union of Venezuela with New Granada in a new republic, known as Gran Colombia, from 1820 to 1830, the territory of Venezuela was the Department of Venezuela within Gran Colombia. This period is seen as a stable Fourth Republic of Venezuela, captaincy General of Venezuela Venezuelan War of Independence First Republic of Venezuela Third Republic of Venezuela Gran Colombia Venezuela
14.
Coche Island
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This article is about an island. For the Coche language, see Camsá language, Isla de Coche is one of three islands forming the Nueva Esparta State of Venezuela, located in the Caribbean between Isla Margarita and the mainland. The other two islands are Isla Margarita, the island of the state, and Cubagua, the smallest. It covers an area of 55 km2, with a population of about 8,200, the highest elevation of the island is 60 metres above sea level. The climate is tropical, with a temperature of approximately 27 to 38 °C. The island is coincident with the municipality of Villalba, with the capital at San Pedro de Coche, other towns on Coche are El Bichar, Guinima, El Amparo, El Guamache and La Uva. The economy depends mainly on tourism, the island was discovered in 1498 by Christopher Columbus, populated by the Waikerio indigenous people. First efforts to settle Coche was made in the early 16th century, there was previous population of refugees originating from the city of Nueva Cádiz which was destroyed by a tropical storm on Cubagua Island. All settlers, mostly the pearl daughters, abandoned Isla Coche in 1574, the next successful settlement took place in the 19th century, and from this date Coche is still habitated. To the west of the island the conditions for windsurfing and kiteboarding and it can see the effect of strong winds and continued in the sparse vegetation of the island, as seen in the image of San Pedro de Coche. On the road can be practiced the cycling, naturally with sunscreen to prevent sunburn, the temperature, though high, is pleasant in the fresh sea air, considering that breeze rages precisely in the hottest hours of the afternoon. On the island there are good quality hotels that offer all the necessary facilities for a pleasant stay. It also offers rides and tours both aquatic and terrestrial, tourist purposes, Coche Island maintains close communication with Margarita Island and the Venezuelan mainland Sucre State. The story of the Polish writer Arkady Fiedlers novel Robison Crusoe Island took place in Coche Island, the protagonist Jan Bober, a half-Polish half-English Virginia pioneer, fled from government pursuit by a pirate ship. However it ran into water and wrecked near the island. Jan and his two Arawak companions Arnak and Wagura, the survivors of the shipwreck, lived in 1725-1726 in the island. Later they received in the island a group of fled slaves from Margarita Island and with combined forces defeated Spanish slaver pursuers, fearing Spanish revenge, Jan and his followers left the island on the captured ship. Their adventures continued in the two next Arkady Fiedlers novels Orinoco and The White Jaguar
15.
Cubagua
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Cubagua or Isla de Cubagua is the smallest and least populated of the three islands constituting the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, after Isla Margarita and Coche. It is located 16 kilometres north of Araya Peninsula, the closest mainland area, the island is 9.2 by 3.6 km in size, an elliptical shape with the longer axis east-west. The coast consists of beaches as well as cliffs from 5 to 7 metres high in the south. The highest elevation of the island reaches 32 metres. It is dry and lacks surface water bodies, annual precipitation is 250 millimetres, which is the value of a dry desert. Temperatures are close to 25 °C year-round with little fluctuation, the island has small populations of hares, feral goats and a large population of dogs. The island of Cubagua has no streets or roads and it is served by ferries and other boats from Punta de Piedras, the capital of the municipality of Tubores located 8 km to the northeast on Isla Margarita. The passage takes less than 2 hours, the boat landing pier is located at the eastern end of Playa Charagato, the main settlement of Cubagua. The first human settlement on Cubagua has been dated to 2325 BC, in 1498, Cubagua was discovered by Christopher Columbus. In 1528, Cristóbal Guerra founded the city of Nueva Cádiz, the city became a synonym for the suppression by the Hispanic Conquistadores in South America. Nueva Cádiz, which reached a population between 1000 and 1500, was destroyed in an earthquake followed by a tsunami in 1541, the ruins have been declared a National Monument of Venezuela in 1979. Cubagua is part of the municipality of Tubores, one of 11 municipalities of the state of Nueva Esparta, human activity dates from the 24th century BC, but the first people did not settle here in a permanent fashion. Instead the island was used as a source of oysters, for food, the lack of vegetation or fresh water made permanent settlement nearly impossible. Today the island still has temporary fisherman, but few to no permanent residents, according to an unofficial population census conducted by the Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural in August 2007, the island had 51 residents of which 19 were children. Satellite images reveal about 5 buildings at that site, a small settlement of about 4 buildings can be made out about midway between Punta La Horca and Punta Arenas south of Punta El Lamparo. A pair of buildings can be seen on the bay of Manglecito just east of Punta Manglecito. The population exceeds 300 during the year when seasonal fishermen from the Venezuelan mainland state of Sucre are included. In 2015, Venezuelan director Jorge Thielen Armand made a documentary about the island of Cubagua
16.
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
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Macanao Peninsula Municipality
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The Macanao Peninsula is a geographic peninsula landform, that forms the western end of the Isla Margarita in the Caribbean Sea, in northern Venezuela. It is also a Venezuelan municipality, the Municipality of Macanao Peninsula, the municipal seat is Boca de Río. The peninsula is connected to the rest of Isla Margarita by a strip of land in Laguna de la Restinga National Park. Sixty years ago, it was an island, the peninsula has an area of 330 square kilometres, rising from sea level to 745 metres at the peak of Cerro Macanao. A ridge of land runs along the peninsula from east to west. The main east-west crest is sharp and narrow, the mountains are smaller than in Maragarita, but are much more rugged, with many steep-sided valleys cutting through the mountain sides. The more remote beaches can only be reached via dirt roads, the climate of Margarita as a whole is hot and tropical, with little rainfall. The Macanao peninsula is particularly arid and dry, in the 1950s, the mountains in the central range were forested up to about 650 metres. Vegetation today is mainly open cactus-chaparral, with forests in the seasonal riverbeds. The mean average temperature is 27 °C, and mean annual rainfall is 500 millimetres, trade winds blow from the northeast, so rainfall is highest on the northern side. Macanao Peninsula is relatively newly formed, in the northern part of the peninsula, littoral deposits from the early Pleistocene form a terrace 30 metres high made of a sandy marl 1 metre that contains the bivalves Lyropecten arnoldi. In the south, a littoral terrace 18 to 21 metres high dates to the mid-Pleistocene, there are many raised beaches from the Holocene. The highlands of the peninsula contain amphibolite and eclogite mafic rocks which, admiral Garcia Álvarez de Figueroa, governor of Margarita Province between 1626 and 1630, was known for his enjoyment of the trade in pearls from Cubagua and the Macanao peninsula. The Guayqueria Indians are indigenous to the island, when Alexander von Humboldt visited in 1799 he was met by eighteen Guayqueria men. He described them as of very tall stature and they had the appearance of great muscular strength, and the colour of their skins was something between a brown and a copper colour. As of 1964, the population was about 6,500, water was delivered by barge at no charge, but with only a few liters per capita for all uses. The Macanao peninsula is sparsely populated, tourists may take horseback rides, or visit picturesque beaches with fishing boats, such as Punta Arenas. The La Pared beach is pleasant and little used, divers prefer Punta Arenas beach at the far west, where the water is warmest and where giant starfish may be found
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Mountain range
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A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys, individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport. The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift
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Cabo Negro
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Cabo Negro, also known as Golf Beach Cabo Negro or Cabo Negro Beach and Golf Resort is a beach resort in northern Morocco, to the north of Tetouan, southeast of MDiq, just north of Martil. The Royal Golf Club of Cabo Negro is considered to be the golf resort in Morocco. The club originally had 9 hotels, designed in 1978 by M. Cabell, robinson, but has since been expanded into a full golf course. The resort of Cabo Negro is described by Baedeker as the most modern, along with restaurants, hotels and holiday houses, there are also nightclubs, tennis courts, horse-riding facilities and a 9-hole golf course. La Ferma Hotel lies to the northwest
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Laguna de la Restinga
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Laguna de la Restinga is a national park on the Isla Margarita, Nueva Esparta state, Venezuela. The main part of the park is a salt lagoon, rich in fish. It is on the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance, the park lies between the eastern part of Margarita island and the Macanao Peninsula, which are connected only by a thin bar, or strip of land. The bar stretches more than 15 miles from La Guardia on the island to Punta Tigre on the peninsula. The park was created by government decree on 6 February 1974 and it features a 2,500 hectares saline lagoon fringed by mangroves and holding large mangrove islands, with 18 kilometres of channels. The shallow lagoon is separated from the sea to the north by a bar of sand, to the south a broad channel connects the lagoon with the sea. The west coast is rocky, with cliffs and small beaches, the climate is arid or semi-arid, with mean annual temperature of 27 °C and mean annual precipitation of 300 to 400 millimetres. The park is in Venezuelan Dry Forest biogeographical province, inside the lagoon there are mangrove forests covering 910 hectares containing red mangrove, black mangrove and 1 hectare of white mangrove. The sandbar has buttonwood mangrove and various types of grass, the land surrounding the saltwater is covered by xerophytes. The semi-desert tropical climate supports thornwood and shrub forest, the lagoon, at most 8 feet deep, is home to red snappers, gruntfish, sardines, swordfish and black mullets. Oysters cling to the mangrove roots, birds that feed in the lagoon include scarlet ibis, red-legged tinamous, frigatebirds, blue herons, green herons, great egrets, ground doves, cormorants and flamingos. Three endemic land species are present, the deer Odocoileus carriacou margaritae, the rabbit Sylvilagus floridanus margaritae, tourists can reach the embarkation pier in the lagoon by bus from Porlamar. Five seat motorboats from there take visitors for a trip through the channels through the mangroves. The boats take visitors to an open-air shack serving fresh fried fish on a shell beach
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Breast-shaped hill
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A breast-shaped hill is a mountain in the shape of a human breast. Some such hills are named Pap, a word for the breast or nipple, mostly breast-shaped hills are connected with local ancestral veneration of the breast as a symbol of fertility and well-being. Travelers and cartographers in colonial times often changed the names of such hills. Mamelon is a French name for a breast-shaped hillock, fort Mamelon was a famous hillock fortified by the Russians and captured by the French as part of the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War of the 1850s. The word mamelon is also used in volcanology to describe a particular formation of volcanic origin. The term was coined by the French explorer and naturalist Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent, african Great Lakes Mount Elgon on the Uganda-Kenya border Sweet Sixteen, Matthews Range, Laikipia district, Rift Valley Province, northern Kenya. China Rushan is a mountain in Weihai, Shandong Province, China, Middle East Tell Sader al-Arus is a mountain in the Golan Heights Philippines Bundok ng Susong Dalaga, Maidens Breast Mountain, Occidental Mindoro. Mt. Tagapo, Talim Island, two huge conical hills that are the highest peaks of Talim Island, chocolate Hills, more than a thousand unusual geological formations in Bohol. A popular tourist destination named for their colour in the summer. Khao Nom, was one of the names of Khanom. Khao Nom Nang, a hill at Huai Krachao, Kanchanaburi, 14°18′00″N 99°43′00″E Khao Nom Nang, a hill north of Pak Phraek, Kanchanaburi. 14°05′00″N 99°34′00″E Khao Nom Nang, a hill between Nong Pet and Chong Sadao, Kanchanaburi, 14°21′02″N 99°12′53″E Khao Nom Nang, an isolated hill in Khok Samae San, Lopburi. 15°19′00″N 100°51′00″E Khao Nom Nang, a large hill in Khao Kala. 15°34′00″N 100°17′00″E Khao Nom Nang, the name of two hills west of Doeng Bang Nam Buat, Suphan Buri, 14°51′00″N 100°04′00″E Khao Nom Sao, female breast mountain, a mountain located in Ranong Province, Thailand. Khao Nom Sao, a hill east of Phet Kasem road in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. 10°59′00″N 99°22′00″E Khao Nom Sao, a mountain in Chumphon Province, 09°46′00″N 98°43′01″E Khao Nom Sao, a hill in Phang Nga Province, part of a greater mountain system. 08°58′00″N 98°28′00″E Khao Nom Wang, a hill just east of the main road at Phanom Wang, Khuan Khanun District. 07°40′58″N 100°01′01″E Ko Nom Sao are twin islands located in the Phang Nga Bay, Phang Nga Province, Ko Nom Sao in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province
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Sea level
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Mean sea level is an average level of the surface of one or more of Earths oceans from which heights such as elevations may be measured. A common and relatively straightforward mean sea-level standard is the midpoint between a low and mean high tide at a particular location. Sea levels can be affected by factors and are known to have varied greatly over geological time scales. The careful measurement of variations in MSL can offer insights into ongoing climate change, the term above sea level generally refers to above mean sea level. Precise determination of a sea level is a difficult problem because of the many factors that affect sea level. Sea level varies quite a lot on several scales of time and this is because the sea is in constant motion, affected by the tides, wind, atmospheric pressure, local gravitational differences, temperature, salinity and so forth. The easiest way this may be calculated is by selecting a location and calculating the mean sea level at that point, for example, a period of 19 years of hourly level observations may be averaged and used to determine the mean sea level at some measurement point. One measures the values of MSL in respect to the land, hence a change in MSL can result from a real change in sea level, or from a change in the height of the land on which the tide gauge operates. In the UK, the Ordnance Datum is the sea level measured at Newlyn in Cornwall between 1915 and 1921. Prior to 1921, the datum was MSL at the Victoria Dock, in Hong Kong, mPD is a surveying term meaning metres above Principal Datum and refers to height of 1. 230m below the average sea level. In France, the Marégraphe in Marseilles measures continuously the sea level since 1883 and it is used for a part of continental Europe and main part of Africa as official sea level. Elsewhere in Europe vertical elevation references are made to the Amsterdam Peil elevation, satellite altimeters have been making precise measurements of sea level since the launch of TOPEX/Poseidon in 1992. A joint mission of NASA and CNES, TOPEX/Poseidon was followed by Jason-1 in 2001, height above mean sea level is the elevation or altitude of an object, relative to the average sea level datum. It is also used in aviation, where some heights are recorded and reported with respect to sea level, and in the atmospheric sciences. An alternative is to base height measurements on an ellipsoid of the entire Earth, in aviation, the ellipsoid known as World Geodetic System 84 is increasingly used to define heights, however, differences up to 100 metres exist between this ellipsoid height and mean tidal height. The alternative is to use a vertical datum such as NAVD88. When referring to geographic features such as mountains on a topographic map, the elevation of a mountain denotes the highest point or summit and is typically illustrated as a small circle on a topographic map with the AMSL height shown in metres, feet or both. In the rare case that a location is below sea level, for one such case, see Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
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Margarita Island
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Margarita Island is the largest island in the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, situated off the northeastern coast of the country, in the Caribbean Sea. The capital city of Nueva Esparta, La Asunción, is located on the island, primary industries are tourism, fishing and construction. Christopher Columbus was the first European to arrive on Margarita Island in 1498, the local natives were the Guaiqueries people. The coast of the island was abundant in pearls, which represented almost a third of all New World tribute to the Spanish Crown, Margarita Island was fortified against the increasing threat of pirate attacks, and some fortifications remain today. It was the center of Spanish colonial Margarita Province, established in 1525, in 1561, the island was seized by Lope de Aguirre, a notoriously violent and rebellious conquistador. Around 1675, the island was captured again, this time by Red Legs Greaves and he captured a fleet of Spanish ships off port, before turning the guns on the forts which he stormed and claimed a large booty of pearls and gold. Construction of the fort Santa Rosa was ordered by the governor, Juan Muñoz de Gadea, the island gained independence from the Spanish in 1814 after the collapse of the First Republic of Venezuela. It became the first permanently free territory in Venezuela, simón Bolívar was confirmed as Commander in Chief of the Second Republic of Venezuela on the island in 1816. From there he started a campaign to free Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru. Located in the Caribbean Sea between latitudes 10°52N and 11°11N and longitudes 63°48W and 64°23W, the island, along with the islands of Coche and Cubagua, the island is split into two peninsulas joined by an 18 kilometres long isthmus and covers an area of 1,020 km². It is 78 kilometres long and measures roughly 20 kilometres at its widest, the climate is sunny and dry with average temperatures ranging from 24 to 37 °C. Most of the islands 420,000 residents live in the developed eastern part of the island. The island can be reached by flights from Caracas or ferries from Puerto La Cruz, Cumaná. There are no flights to the island at present. The Macanao peninsula to the west has a mountain range in the east-west direction. The highest altitude is 760 metres at Pico de Macanao, several smaller ranges derive from this axis following a north-south orientation with deep valleys between them. The most notable of these valleys is San Francisco in the part of the peninsula. The Paraguachoa peninsula to the East is formed by a range in the north-south direction from Porlamar to Cabo Negro
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Pampatar
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Pampatar is a city on Isla Margarita, Nueva Esparta State, Venezuela. It is located in the Maneiro Municipality, Pampatar lies 10 km northeast of Porlamar. A coastal town which was founded 1552 and its strategic importance becomes clear when visiting the Castillo de San Carlos de Borromeo on the waterfront in the center of town. Constructed entirely of coral, the fort, built by the Spanish in 1662 after the original was destroyed by the Dutch, nowadays this town is very famous for its malls and its commercial activity 24 hours a day. Media related to Pampatar at Wikimedia Commons Pampatar travel guide from Wikivoyage
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Margarita Island travel guide from Wikivoyage
