Arauca is a municipality and

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

city of the Arauca Department of

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

. Its full name is Villa de Santa Bárbara de Arauca, it is located at N 07° 05′ 25″ - W 70° 45′ 42″. The Municipality of Arauca has a total population of 85,585 (2018 census).https://www.dane.gov.co/files/varios/informacion-capital-DANE-2019.pdf

History

The Arauca region was explored by the German conquistador Jorge de la Espira, or

Georg von Speyer Georg von Speyer (1500, Speyer, Holy Roman Empire – 11 June 1540, Coro, Klein-Venedig) was a German conquistador in New Granada and Venezuela. His birth name was Georg Hohermuth but he chose to call himself after his place of birth. ...

, in 1536. The early Spanish did not stay because they were on the quest for

El Dorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king ...

. However, they were later followed by

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

and land-grantees who founded the first settlements. Arauca was founded on December 4, 1780, by Juan Isidro Daboín on the site of an indigenous hamlet of about ten families called Guahibo. Arauca was named after the

Arauca River The Arauca River ( es, Río Arauca) rises in the Andes Mountains of north-central Colombia and ends at the Orinoco in Venezuela. For part of its run it is the boundary between Colombia and Venezuela. The major city on its banks is Arauca, Col ...

, which now separates it from

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, which river in turn was named for the indigenous people the Arauca. The area is flat and subject to frequent flooding from the river. At one point, it was the capital of the

New Granada New Granada may refer to various former national denominations for the present-day country of Colombia. * New Kingdom of Granada, from 1538 to 1717 *Viceroyalty of New Granada, from 1717 to 1810, re-established from 1816 to 1819 *United Provinces of ...

Province of Casanare which was much larger than the current

Department of Casanare Casanare Department (, es, Departamento de Casanare) is a department in the central eastern region of Colombia. Its capital is Yopal, which is also the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Yopal. It contains oil fields and an 800& ...

. In addition, the Villa de Santa Bárbara de Arauca, has been: * Capital of the Republic, under the revolutionary government, constituted July 16, 1816; * Capital of the Police District (Comisaría especial) since 1911; * Capital of the Province (Intendencia Nacional) of Arauca, 1955–1991; * Oil capital of Colombia since 1986; * Capital of the Department of Arauca since 1991.

Climate

Demographics

Ethnic Groups

The

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

and

Mestizo (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though thei ...

people dominate the city making up 92.4% of its population together. Blacks make up 5.9% of the city and

Indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

make up 1.7% of the city.

Economy

Since its founding, Arauca's primary business has been the raising of cattle, and this is still true. But increasingly, since 1984 it is the exploitation of nearby petroleum (

oil sands Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and wate ...

) that has provided the bulk of municipal income in recent years. The building of the bridge, Puente José Antonio Páez, connecting it with

stimulated the economy, as did completion of the highway to Bogotá, known as ''The Route of the Liberators'' (''La Ruta de los Libertadores''). Arauca is now on the main surface route between

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in th ...

and

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

Transportation

Santiago Perez Airport Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

References

External links

Official website of the Arauca municipality

Arauca News

Arauca llanera music
{{Coord, 7, 05, 25, N, 70, 45, 42, W, type:city, display=title Municipalities of Arauca Department Populated places established in 1780 Colombia–Venezuela border crossings Capitals of Colombian departments 1780 establishments in the Spanish Empire