Nueva Cádiz
Encyclopedia
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Cubagua
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 km north of Araya Peninsula, the closest mainland area....
, off the coast of 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...
. Established around 1515, it was one of the first settlements in the Americas
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
.
As early as 1502, ranchería
Ranchería
The Spanish word ranchería, or rancherío, refers to a small, rural settlement. In the Americas the term was applied to native villages and to the workers' quarters of a ranch. English adopted the term with both these meanings, usually to designate the residential area of a rancho in the American...
s were established on Cubagua, occupied for 3–4 months each year during trading. The island was of particular interest because of its rich pearl oyster
Pearl oyster
Pearl oysters are saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs of the genus Pinctada in the family Pteriidae. They have a strong inner shell layer composed of nacre, also known as "mother of pearl"....
beds. Eventually, the settlement became permanent and, by 1520, after the great Indian uprising, its resident population surpassed 300. On September 12, 1528 by a royal decree issued by Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, Nueva Cádiz was incorporated and became a city named Nueva Cádiz. It became the first Spanish town in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
.
By 1530 Nueva Cádiz had a population of 223 Europeans and 700 natives. At its peak (around 1535), it had over 1500 people. The depletion of the pearl
Pearl
A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...
oyster beds, however, became increasingly acute, causing the Spaniards to limit pearl production. In combination with the discovery of new pearl oyster beds on the Guajira Peninsula
Guajira Peninsula
Guajira Peninsula , is a peninsula in northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea...
, this led to a decline of Nueva Cádiz. By 1539 there were less than 50 people left on Cubagua. After a hurricane destroyed the remaining buildings in 1541, the colony was completely abandoned.
The ruins, which are partly submerged beneath the sea, were declared a National Monument of Venezuela in 1979. In the 1950s and 1960s the area was examined by José María Cruxent who published works such as Nueva Cádiz, testimonio de piedra (1955) and Cubagua y el poblamiento oriental de Venezuela en las comienzos (1961) on Nueva Cádiz. The Museo de Nueva Cádiz in La Asunción
La Asunción
La Asunción is a city in Venezuela. The capital of Nueva Esparta state, it lies on the Isla Margarita in the Caribbean Sea, off the South American mainland.Owing to its settlement by Spain in 1524, many colonial buildings still remain....
contains relics unearthed at this site.