Ciudad Ojeda is a city located in the northeastern shore of

Lake Maracaibo Lake Maracaibo () is located in northwestern Venezuela, between the states of Zulia, Trujillo, and Mérida. While Maracaibo is commonly referred to as a lake, its current hydrological characteristics may better classify it as estuary and/or ...

Zulia State Zulia State (, ; Wayuu language, Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the States of Venezuela, 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Vene ...

in northwestern

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. It is the

shire town A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equivalent term, shire town, is used in ...

of the Lagunillas Municipality. Its population as of the 2005 census was listed as 128,941.

History

Ciudad Ojeda was founded on January 19, 1937, by President

Eleazar López Contreras José Eleazar López Contreras (5 May 1883 – 2 January 1973) was the president of Venezuela between 1935 and 1941. He was an army general and one of Juan Vicente Gómez's collaborators, serving as his War Minister from 1931. In 1939, Contr ...

as a settlement for the inhabitants of Lagunillas de Agua. Today, it is a major center for the

oil and gas industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest volume products ...

in the

region. On 13 November 1939, an important fire destroyed Lagunillas de Agua, causing over 200 fatalities. There are several hypotheses about the cause of the fire that prompted the final and decisive transfer of population to the mainland. The truth is that the oil industry was an oily layer on the lake, which had the potential to ignite the wooden houses built on stilts in the lake. One hypothesis is the accidental fall of a kerosene lamp to the lake from the Bar Caracas. Another is a fire caused by an oil company when he was going to beat his concession, that company helped reconstruction and retained the award after all, there is no evidence of this fact. :es:Lagunillas de Agua

Origin of the name

Ciudad Ojeda was named in honor of

Alonso de Ojeda Alonso de Ojeda (; c. 1466 – c. 1515) was a Spanish explorer, governor and conquistador. He is famous for having named Venezuela, which he explored during his first two expeditions, for having been the first European to visit Guyana, Curaçao ...

, the Spaniard who was the first European to discover Lake Maracaibo.

Population

Ciudad Ojeda is medium-sized among Venezuelan cities, with a population of approximately 130,000 inhabitants. The majority of ''Citojenses'' are of

Venezuelan Venezuelans (Spanish language, Spanish: ''venezolanos'') are the Citizenship, citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connect ...

origin. It is also home to numerous foreign communities of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, Portuguese, Chinese and

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

who have the biggest commercial businesses in the city.

Places of interest

* (Church of Santa Lucia) * (House of Culture) * (Containment Wall of the ''Lago de Maracaibo'') * (Alonso de Ojeda Square) * (Simón Bolívar Square) * (The Biggest Mural)

Colleges and universities

Universidad Alonso de Ojeda
- (''Uniojeda'')
Universidad Nacional Experimental Rafael María Baralt
- (''UNERMB'')
Instituto Universitario Pedro Emilio Coll
- (IUTPEC)

Notable people

Denyse Floreano Denyse del Carmen Floreano Camargo (born August 26, 1976) is a Venezuelan model and beauty pageant titleholder who was Miss Venezuela 1994 and Top 6 finalist at Miss Universe 1995. Pageantry ;Miss Venezuela Floreano competed in 1994 as Miss Co ...

– Miss Venezuela 1994 * Eddie Pérez – former Major League Baseball player and currently a catching coach for the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

* Mariángel Villasmil – Miss Venezuela 2020

References

Cities in Zulia Populated places established in 1937 1937 establishments in Venezuela Ciudad Ojeda {{Venezuela-geo-stub