Apure
Encyclopedia
Apure State is one of the 23 states (estados)
into which Venezuela
is divided. Its territory formed part of the provinces of Mérida
, Maracaibo
, and Barinas
, in accordance with successive territorial ordinations pronounced by the colonial authorities. In 1824 the Department of Apure was created, under jurisdiction of Barinas, which laid the foundations for the current entity. In 1856 it separated from Barinas and for the first time Apure appeared as an independent province, which in 1864 acquired the status of state. In 1881, however, a new territorial division combined Apure and Guayana
to form a single state named Bolívar. In 1899 it reestablished its autonomy and finally, by means of the Constitution of 1909, gained its current borders.
The territory was famous for heron plumes, which adorned European courts. At the same time, it was the scene of armed encounters that marked the evolution of the War for Independence, as well as numerous battles during the civil war. In the Apurean environs, Rómulo Gallegos
was inspired to write his novel Doña Bárbara
, which describes the magnitude of this land.
The state capital is San Fernando de Apure
.
Based on the 2001 census information, the estimated population of Apure State in 2007 is 473,900 inhabitants.
but the name of the State, and obviously the name of the State of Apure comes from the name of the Apure River. The work of friar Jacinto de Carvajal (1648) makes reference to the discovery of the Apure River and this name was already known between the Spanish from the first half of the sixteenth century, that is, well before the Venezuelan name of the region, province, or state.
One of the most comprehensive works about Venezuelan etymology, which refers exhaustively to the toponymy of the river and the state of Apure, is that by Tulio Chiossone. It states that, "The state of Apure as a federal entity takes its name from the Apure River." ("El estado Apure como entidad federal, toma su nombre del Río Apure."
along with Franciscan missionaries from Andalucia and others missionaries and landowners that would "pacify" and remove the natives by the sword or converting them to christianity.
In the colonial era, Apure was part of the Province of Mérida del Espíritu Santo de la Grita. When it was attached to Maracaibo, it was called Maracaibo Province
. In 1856 it was established as a province, and in 1864 it was given state status.
Apure is an independent state from 1864, when the Venezuelan territory organized itself as los Estados Unidos de Venezuela, or United States of Venezuela. In 1881 it formed part of the state of Bolívar along with Guayana, but it recovered the category of independent state.
Apure has existed as a state as of 1864.
, Barinas
, and Guárico
, on the east and southeast by the states of Bolívar and Amazonas
and on the south and west by Colombia
.
(Neogene
) and Quaternary
(Pleistocene
) Periods, the llanos
(plains) of Apure are formed by sediments of little or no consolidation, with sandy and clayey deposits built up by floods in recent times. On the banks of the Orinoco
one finds outcroppings of rocks, from the Archean
era, which are part of the Guiana Shield and appear at heights called galleys. Likewise, in the Andean
foothills, rocks from the Terciary Period form hills and short slopes in the mountain range.
A large part of the state of Apure is constituted by an extensive field of dunes (occupying some 30,000 km²), which has the peculiarity of not being a desert climate but a savannah, with natural grasslands alternating with corridors of jungle and voluminous rivers with sand dunes of more than 100 km in length and 20 m in height. Some of these dunes are used by llanero
s to establish dairy farms, which, in addition to processing milk, prepare a group of cattle to go to the head of the pack (which in the llanos is referred to as the godmother of the herd), according to the work of Calzadilla Valdés. Also, they allow the livestock to take refuge from the floods. So too, this very strange and picturesque ecosystem in the savanna is the result of having been modeled by the wind (aeolian processes). It is not, as noted in the Atlas of Venezuela: A Spatial Image (Atlas de Venezuela: Una imagen espacial, also known as El Atlas de Petróleos de Venezuela), an ecosystem of "paleodunas", literally 'old dunes,' formed in an environment with a much drier climate than the current one, but a mechanism of dune formation that acts only in the dry season since the lowering of the water level of the Orinoco at the rivers' lowest point, especially that of those that originate in the llanos, extensive beaches of fine sand are left behind, that the trade winds very quickly will transfer to the southeast, forming what now constitutes el Parque Nacional Santos Luzardo (the Santos Luzardo National Park), which takes its name from one of the main characters in the famous novel Doña Bárbara
by Rómulo Gallegos
.
(Eastern Andean Range) that borders Estado Táchira
.
river basin. The Apure River
, the most important of these, is at the same time the main Venezuelan tributary of the Orinoco from its left border, and the second longest in the country: it covers some 1000 km from its source to its mouth. All of the lands in the south of the state constitute a zone where the springs, the branches, the rivers, the lagoons, and the swamps extraordinarily complicate the hydrography. Apure relies on an abundant phreatic zone
that supplies the cities and towns with potable water, and a few decades ago networks of modules were created that allowed water storage for use in periods of drought. The most important rivers in the state are: the Apure for which the state is named; the Arauca, at more than 700 km long, which has its source in Colombia and forms the border between the two countries for a stretch, and unites the Apure by means of various branches and springs before flowing into the Orinoco; the Orichuna Channel at more than 500 km long; the Capanaparo, Cinaruco, Cunaviche, Matiyure, and Meta. The upper courses of the Apure River are formed by the Uribante and the Sarare, whose lower parts are found in the state of Apure.
States of Venezuela
Venezuela is divided into 23 states , 1 Capital District and the Federal Dependencies that consist of a large number of Venezuelan islands...
into which Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
is divided. Its territory formed part of the provinces of Mérida
Mérida (state)
Mérida State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Mérida.Mérida State covers a total surface area of 11,300 km² and, in 2007, had an estimated population of 843,800.- Climate and Vegetation :...
, Maracaibo
Maracaibo
Maracaibo is a city and municipality located in northwestern Venezuela off the western coast of the Lake Maracaibo. It is the second-largest city in the country after the national capital Caracas and the capital of Zulia state...
, and Barinas
Barinas (state)
Barinas State is one of the 23 states into which Venezuela is divided. The state capital is Barinas. Current President Hugo Chávez was born in this state...
, in accordance with successive territorial ordinations pronounced by the colonial authorities. In 1824 the Department of Apure was created, under jurisdiction of Barinas, which laid the foundations for the current entity. In 1856 it separated from Barinas and for the first time Apure appeared as an independent province, which in 1864 acquired the status of state. In 1881, however, a new territorial division combined Apure and Guayana
Guayana Region
The Guayana Region is an administrative region of Venezuela.The region has a population of 1,383,297 inhabitants and a territory of 458,344 km². It borders the independent nation of Guyana which forms part of The Guyanas...
to form a single state named Bolívar. In 1899 it reestablished its autonomy and finally, by means of the Constitution of 1909, gained its current borders.
The territory was famous for heron plumes, which adorned European courts. At the same time, it was the scene of armed encounters that marked the evolution of the War for Independence, as well as numerous battles during the civil war. In the Apurean environs, Rómulo Gallegos
Rómulo Gallegos
Rómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire was a Venezuelan novelist and politician. For a period of some nine months during 1948, he was the first cleanly elected president in his country's history....
was inspired to write his novel Doña Bárbara
Doña Bárbara
Doña Bárbara is a novel by Venezuelan author Rómulo Gallegos, first published in 1929. It was described in 1974 as "possibly the most widely known Latin American novel"....
, which describes the magnitude of this land.
The state capital is San Fernando de Apure
San Fernando de Apure
San Fernando de Apure is a city in Apure State in Venezuela. The population of the municipality area is 175,056 . The 18th century exports included heron feathers and animal hides....
.
Based on the 2001 census information, the estimated population of Apure State in 2007 is 473,900 inhabitants.
Toponymy
The origins of the name Apure have not been unanimously accepted: certain sources point to a shrub called apure as inspiration; others to an ancient aboriginal chief named Apur. However, in this specific case, it is not about the name of the Apure RiverApure River
The Apure River is a river of southwestern Venezuela, formed by the confluence of the Sarare and Uribante near Guasdualito, in Venezuela, at , and flowing across the llanos into the Orinoco...
but the name of the State, and obviously the name of the State of Apure comes from the name of the Apure River. The work of friar Jacinto de Carvajal (1648) makes reference to the discovery of the Apure River and this name was already known between the Spanish from the first half of the sixteenth century, that is, well before the Venezuelan name of the region, province, or state.
One of the most comprehensive works about Venezuelan etymology, which refers exhaustively to the toponymy of the river and the state of Apure, is that by Tulio Chiossone. It states that, "The state of Apure as a federal entity takes its name from the Apure River." ("El estado Apure como entidad federal, toma su nombre del Río Apure."
History
The conquest of these wild lands started mid XVII when the land was populated by many indian tribes like the peaceful Arawaks and the dangerous Caribs among others. Actual settlement did not start until early XVIII with large cattle foundations started by landowners looking to expand their already crowded cattle ranches in San Carlos de Austria and other cities. Some of the most famous were Jose Ignacio Pumar (Marquee of Pumar) , Joseph Blanco Y SalazarLa Blanquera
La Blanquera is a beautiful barroque-colonial style building in the city of San Carlos in Venezuela. This house was built by a wealthy family of cattle ranchers from the lands of Andalucia, Spain by the name of Blanco y Salazar during the second half of the 18th century...
along with Franciscan missionaries from Andalucia and others missionaries and landowners that would "pacify" and remove the natives by the sword or converting them to christianity.
In the colonial era, Apure was part of the Province of Mérida del Espíritu Santo de la Grita. When it was attached to Maracaibo, it was called Maracaibo Province
Maracaibo Province (Venezuela)
Maracaibo Province was a province of Venezuela from 1830 to 1864. Before 1830 the area was named Zulia Department. In 1864 the area was named Maracaibo State, which shortly after was renamed to Sovereign State of Zulia and in 1874 Zulia State....
. In 1856 it was established as a province, and in 1864 it was given state status.
Apure is an independent state from 1864, when the Venezuelan territory organized itself as los Estados Unidos de Venezuela, or United States of Venezuela. In 1881 it formed part of the state of Bolívar along with Guayana, but it recovered the category of independent state.
Apure has existed as a state as of 1864.
Geography
The state of Apure is located to the southwest of Venezuela, positioned between 06º03’45’’ and 08º04’22’’ latitude North and 66º21’45’’ and 72º22’30’’ longitude West. It is bordered on the north by the states of TáchiraTáchira (state)
Táchira State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is San Cristóbal.Táchira State covers a total surface area of 11,100 km² and, in 2007, had an estimated population of 1,177,300....
, Barinas
Barinas (state)
Barinas State is one of the 23 states into which Venezuela is divided. The state capital is Barinas. Current President Hugo Chávez was born in this state...
, and Guárico
Guárico
Guárico State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is San Juan de Los Morros. Guárico State covers a total surface area of 64 986 km² and, in 2007, had an estimated population of 745,100.-Municipalities and municipal seats:...
, on the east and southeast by the states of Bolívar and Amazonas
Amazonas (Venezuelan state)
Amazonas State is one of the 23 states into which Venezuela is divided.The state capital is Puerto Ayacucho. The capital until the early 1900s was San Fernando de Atabapo. Although named after the Amazon River, most of the state is drained by the Orinoco. Amazonas State covers a total surface...
and on the south and west by Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
.
Geology
Originating in the TertiaryTertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
(Neogene
Neogene
The Neogene is a geologic period and system in the International Commission on Stratigraphy Geologic Timescale starting 23.03 ± 0.05 million years ago and ending 2.588 million years ago...
) and Quaternary
Quaternary
The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
(Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
) Periods, the llanos
Llanos
The Llanos is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the Flooded grasslands and savannas Biome....
(plains) of Apure are formed by sediments of little or no consolidation, with sandy and clayey deposits built up by floods in recent times. On the banks of the Orinoco
Orinoco
The Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes called the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3% of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia...
one finds outcroppings of rocks, from the Archean
Archean
The Archean , also spelled Archeozoic or Archæozoic) is a geologic eon before the Paleoproterozoic Era of the Proterozoic Eon, before 2.5 Ga ago. Instead of being based on stratigraphy, this date is defined chronometrically...
era, which are part of the Guiana Shield and appear at heights called galleys. Likewise, in the Andean
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
foothills, rocks from the Terciary Period form hills and short slopes in the mountain range.
A large part of the state of Apure is constituted by an extensive field of dunes (occupying some 30,000 km²), which has the peculiarity of not being a desert climate but a savannah, with natural grasslands alternating with corridors of jungle and voluminous rivers with sand dunes of more than 100 km in length and 20 m in height. Some of these dunes are used by llanero
Llanero
A llanero is a Venezuelan or Colombian herder. The name is taken from the Llanos grasslands occupying western Venezuela and eastern Colombia. The Llanero were originally part Spanish and Indian and have a strong culture including a distinctive form of music.During the wars of independence,...
s to establish dairy farms, which, in addition to processing milk, prepare a group of cattle to go to the head of the pack (which in the llanos is referred to as the godmother of the herd), according to the work of Calzadilla Valdés. Also, they allow the livestock to take refuge from the floods. So too, this very strange and picturesque ecosystem in the savanna is the result of having been modeled by the wind (aeolian processes). It is not, as noted in the Atlas of Venezuela: A Spatial Image (Atlas de Venezuela: Una imagen espacial, also known as El Atlas de Petróleos de Venezuela), an ecosystem of "paleodunas", literally 'old dunes,' formed in an environment with a much drier climate than the current one, but a mechanism of dune formation that acts only in the dry season since the lowering of the water level of the Orinoco at the rivers' lowest point, especially that of those that originate in the llanos, extensive beaches of fine sand are left behind, that the trade winds very quickly will transfer to the southeast, forming what now constitutes el Parque Nacional Santos Luzardo (the Santos Luzardo National Park), which takes its name from one of the main characters in the famous novel Doña Bárbara
Doña Bárbara
Doña Bárbara is a novel by Venezuelan author Rómulo Gallegos, first published in 1929. It was described in 1974 as "possibly the most widely known Latin American novel"....
by Rómulo Gallegos
Rómulo Gallegos
Rómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire was a Venezuelan novelist and politician. For a period of some nine months during 1948, he was the first cleanly elected president in his country's history....
.
Terrain
It is almost entirely flat, with extensive plains from the convergence of the Apure, Arauca, and Capanaparo Rivers with the Orinoco to the foothills of the Andes. With little unevenness of terrain, the altitude fluctuates between 40 and 200 meters above sea level. The Apurean llanos feature several important physiographic events, generated by the type of soil, climate, and its hydrological pattern. Protruding between them are zones of dunes, delta plains, and such features as shoals, banks, and estuaries, which are very prone to floods during the rainy season. Furthermore, in the west of the territory, one finds foothills and mountains with altitudes of greater than 3 km, in a portion of the Cordillera Oriental AndinaAndes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
(Eastern Andean Range) that borders Estado Táchira
Táchira (state)
Táchira State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is San Cristóbal.Táchira State covers a total surface area of 11,100 km² and, in 2007, had an estimated population of 1,177,300....
.
Hydrography
The state is sliced by numerous rivers of great length and breadth, all of which are part of the OrinocoOrinoco
The Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes called the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3% of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia...
river basin. The Apure River
Apure River
The Apure River is a river of southwestern Venezuela, formed by the confluence of the Sarare and Uribante near Guasdualito, in Venezuela, at , and flowing across the llanos into the Orinoco...
, the most important of these, is at the same time the main Venezuelan tributary of the Orinoco from its left border, and the second longest in the country: it covers some 1000 km from its source to its mouth. All of the lands in the south of the state constitute a zone where the springs, the branches, the rivers, the lagoons, and the swamps extraordinarily complicate the hydrography. Apure relies on an abundant phreatic zone
Phreatic zone
The phreatic zone, or zone of saturation, is the area in an aquifer, below the water table, in which relatively all pores and fractures are saturated with water. The phreatic zone may fluctuate with changes of season and during wet and dry periods....
that supplies the cities and towns with potable water, and a few decades ago networks of modules were created that allowed water storage for use in periods of drought. The most important rivers in the state are: the Apure for which the state is named; the Arauca, at more than 700 km long, which has its source in Colombia and forms the border between the two countries for a stretch, and unites the Apure by means of various branches and springs before flowing into the Orinoco; the Orichuna Channel at more than 500 km long; the Capanaparo, Cinaruco, Cunaviche, Matiyure, and Meta. The upper courses of the Apure River are formed by the Uribante and the Sarare, whose lower parts are found in the state of Apure.
Municipalities and municipal seats
- AchaguasAchaguas MunicipalityThe Achaguas Municipality is one of the seven municipalities that makes up the Venezuelan state of Apure and, according to a 2007 population estimate by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, the municipality has a population of 65,081...
(AchaguasAchaguasAchaguas is a small town in Apure State in Venezuela, in the Achaguas Municipality. It is located west of San Fernando de Apure, the capital city of the state....
) - BiruacaBiruaca MunicipalityThe Biruaca Municipality is one of the seven municipalities that makes up the Venezuelan state of Apure and, according to a 2007 population estimate by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, the municipality has a population of 54,233...
(BiruacaBiruacaBiruaca is a city in Apure State in Venezuela.It is sited on the Apure River, a tributary of the Orinoco River, close to the larger city of San Fernando de Apure, 400 km south of the national capital Caracas....
) - MuñozMuñoz MunicipalityThe Muñoz Municipality is one of the seven municipalities that makes up the Venezuelan state of Apure and, according to a 2007 population estimate by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, the municipality has a population of 30,197....
(BruzualBruzualBruzual is a city in Apure State in Venezuela....
) - PáezPáez Municipality, ApureThe Páez Municipality is one of the seven municipalities that makes up the Venezuelan state of Apure and, according to a 2007 population estimate by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, the municipality has a population of 111,059. The town of Guasdualito is the shire town of the...
(GuasdualitoGuasdualitoGuasdualito is a city in Apure State in Venezuela.Guasdualito has a population of approximately 50,000 inhabitants and is the capital of Páez Municipality in the Distrito Especial Alto Apure...
) - Pedro CamejoPedro Camejo MunicipalityThe Pedro Camejo Municipality is one of the seven municipalities that makes up the Venezuelan state of Apure and, according to a 2007 population estimate by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, the municipality has a population of 31,187.. The town of San Juan de Payara is the shire...
(San Juan de PayaraSan Juan de PayaraSan Juan de Payara is a city in Apure State in Venezuela....
) - Rómulo GallegosRómulo Gallegos Municipality, ApureThe Rómulo Gallegos Municipality is one of the seven municipalities that makes up the Venezuelan state of Apure and, according to a 2007 population estimate by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, the municipality has a population of 23,839. The town of Elorza is the shire town of...
(ElorzaElorzaElorza is a small town in Apure State in Venezuela. It is located at and is close to the Colombian border.In August 2001, Venezuela completed a nationwide conversion of land-line phones to three-digit area codes and seven-digit local numbers. Elorza, Mantecal and Bruzual now have the area code 240....
) - San Fernando (San Fernando de ApureSan Fernando de ApureSan Fernando de Apure is a city in Apure State in Venezuela. The population of the municipality area is 175,056 . The 18th century exports included heron feathers and animal hides....
)
See also
- States of VenezuelaStates of VenezuelaVenezuela is divided into 23 states , 1 Capital District and the Federal Dependencies that consist of a large number of Venezuelan islands...