Jaji, Venezuela
Encyclopedia
Jají is a community in the Campo Elías Municipality
of Mérida state
in Venezuela
, in the foothills of the Cordillera Oriental, at an altitude of 1781 m. It is 34 kilometers from the city of Mérida
.
The town was founded in 1580 by Bartolomé Gil Naranjo
with the name San Pedro de Jají. García Varela refounded the town in 1610 with the name of San Miguel de Jají.
It is now a planned village, restored in the twentieth century in Spanish Colonial style, and a major tourist destination. It has guest houses, a museum and a colonial style church. Jají opened in 1971 after its reconstruction was started in 1968. The restoration salvaged the facades and retained doors, windows and original bars more than 400 years old.
Campo Elías Municipality
The Campo Elías Municipality is one of the 23 municipalities that makes up the Venezuelan state of Mérida and, according to a 2007 population estimate by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, the municipality has a population of 100,192...
of Mérida state
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 :...
in 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...
, in the foothills of the Cordillera Oriental, at an altitude of 1781 m. It is 34 kilometers from the city of Mérida
Mérida, Mérida
Santiago de los Caballeros de Mérida, Venezuela, is the capital of the municipality of Libertador and the state of Mérida, and is one of the principal cities of the Venezuelan Andes...
.
The town was founded in 1580 by Bartolomé Gil Naranjo
Bartolomé Gil Naranjo
Don Bartolomé Gil Naranjo was a Spanish Judge who founded several settlements in the province of Mérida in what is today Venezuela in the late 16th century. His purpose was to gather the indigenous people in villages under Spanish control in part to facilitate religious indoctrination, in part to...
with the name San Pedro de Jají. García Varela refounded the town in 1610 with the name of San Miguel de Jají.
It is now a planned village, restored in the twentieth century in Spanish Colonial style, and a major tourist destination. It has guest houses, a museum and a colonial style church. Jají opened in 1971 after its reconstruction was started in 1968. The restoration salvaged the facades and retained doors, windows and original bars more than 400 years old.