San Carlos del Zulia is the capital of Colón Municipality, located in Zulia State, 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...

. Founded on March 14, 1778, by Captain Nicolás José Antúnez Pacheco y de la Cruz y Velasco, alderman of the city of 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...

, accompanied by lieutenant Ramón Hernández de la Calle, in charge of the pacification of Motilón Indians populating the area.

Description

After the ceremonies of foundation, the site was platted and occupied on March 27, of the same year when the first 13 plots of land were demarcated and distributed among some of the earliest settlers. Captain Antúnez Pacheco also appointed its first mayor, Rafael Echeverria, and the members of its first city council or Cabildo

Cabildo (council)

For a discussion of the contemporary Spanish and Latin American cabildo, see Ayuntamiento.A cabildo or ayuntamiento was a former Spanish, colonial administrative council that governed a municipality. Cabildos were sometimes appointed, sometimes elected, but were considered to be representative of...

. The plans for the layout of the city had been sent to, and received approval from, the royal courts in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 the preceding year. Work on its construction commenced with the appointment of the new council and the religious destinies of the city were trusted to the Capuchin Order.

San Carlos del Zulia grew to become an important livestock and food distribution center for the northern Andean region and Apure State. Its growth joined together a few neighboring populations like Santa Bárbara del Zulia

Santa Bárbara del Zulia

Santa Bárbara del Zulia is a city of some 80,000 inhabitants in Zulia State in Venezuela. It is located at 09° 00' N, 71° 54' W, to the south-west of Maracaibo Lake, in the Sur del Lago region of the state...

, forming a single urban center which now includes various industries: from sawmill

Sawmill

A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

s to meat packing. Modern-day San Carlos is a medium size city with a population of over 50,000 souls. It is served by an airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

, a thermal power station

Thermal power station

A thermal power station is a power plant in which the prime mover is steam driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator. After it passes through the turbine, the steam is condensed in a condenser and recycled to where it was heated; this...

, and first rate educational and medical facilities. Famous for its beautiful natural sites, some of its most popular ones are: the Catatumbo

Catatumbo River

The Catatumbo River is a river rising in northern Colombia, flowing into Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. The Catatumbo River is approximately 210 miles long...

, and Escalante rivers; the bogs of San Miguel de Agua Clara and Valderrama, and the Birimbay lagoon. San Carlos famous festival of Our Lady of Carmen takes every year place on July 16 and those of Santa Bárbara and San Carlos on November 4.