La Tortuga Island (; "La Tortuga" means "the turtle") is an uninhabited island of

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 ...

, the largest in the

Federal Dependencies of Venezuela The Federal Dependencies of Venezuela ( es, link=no, Dependencias Federales de Venezuela) encompass most of Venezuela's offshore islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Venezuela, excluding those islands that form the State of Nueva Espa ...

. It is part of a group of islands that include the Tortuguillos and Cayo Herradura. Isla La Tortuga has an area of .

History

The island was visited by

Amerindians The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...

from the coast of present-day Venezuela to exploit its natural resources including salt, fish and turtles, well before Spanish colonization of the New World. It is not known by which European explorer the island was first seen and named, yet the name derives from the large numbers of

marine turtles Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, ...

that come to lay eggs on its long sandy beaches every year. Cayo herradura isla la tortuga Venezuela

The island was seasonally visited by the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

who came there to exploit the

salt evaporation ponds A salt evaporation pond is a shallow artificial salt pan designed to extract salts from sea water or other brines. The Salt pans are shallow and large of size because it will be easier for sunlight to travel and reach the sea water. Natural s ...

on the east of the island between 1624 and 1638. They constructed a fort on the island to guard their salt works and repel the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

who were eager to keep the Dutch off the island. They were definitively expelled in 1638 when the Spanish governor of Cumaná,

Benito Arias Montano Benito Arias Montano (or Benedictus Arias Montanus; 1527–1598) was a Spanish orientalist and polymath that was active mostly in Spain. He was also editor of the '' Antwerp Polyglot''. He reached the high rank of Royal Chaplain to King Philip II ...

, and his forces destroyed their facilities and flooded the salt pans. Since then, with the exception of fishermen who visit the island seasonally, the island has remained unpopulated and largely untouched. There is some tourism on the island.

Gallery

La Tortuga Island Federal Dependencies Venezuela (1).jpg La Tortuga Island Federal Dependencies Venezuela (2).jpg La Tortuga Island Federal Dependencies Venezuela (3).jpg La Tortuga 2010 007.jpg Isla La Tortuga Dep Fed Venezuela 1.jpg

References

External links

Official websiteLa Tortuga Foundation
{{Coord, 10, 55, 54, N, 65, 18, 29, W, region:VE_type:isle, display=title Uninhabited islands of Venezuela Federal Dependencies of Venezuela Venezuelan islands of the Leeward Antilles

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links