Coquivacoa or Coquibacoa is an indigenous name for an area in north-west

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 ...

– either the

Gulf of Venezuela The Gulf of Venezuela is a gulf of the Caribbean Sea bounded by the Venezuelan states of Zulia and Falcón and by La Guajira Department, Colombia. The western side is formed by the Guajira Peninsula. A strait connects it with Maracaibo Lake to ...

(as used by Colombian President

Alfonso López Michelsen Alfonso López Michelsen (30 June 1913 – 11 July 2007) was a Colombian politician and lawyer who served as the 24th President of Colombia from 1974 to 1978. He was nicknamed "El Pollo" (The Chicken), a popular Colombian idiom for people with ...

in 1974) or

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 ...

(as others argue Miguel Angel Burelli Rivas said that the term had never been applied to the Gulf of Venezuela and actually referred to Lake Maracaibo - Leandro Area, Elke de Stockhausen (2001), ''El Golfo de Venezuela'', Instituto de Estudios Políticos, Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas, Universidad Central de Venezuela, p128) or possibly the wider region. It may also be the name of an indigenous people itself, in particular the people fought by

Ambrosius Ehinger Ambrosius Ehinger, also (Ambrosio Alfínger in Spanish) Dalfinger, Thalfinger, (ca. 1500 in Thalfingen near Ulm – 31 May 1533 near Chinácota in modern-day Colombia) was a German conquistador and the first governor of the Welser conces ...

before his 1529 establishment of

Maracaibo Maracaibo ( , ; ) is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the largest city in Venezuela and is List of cities in Venezuela by population ...

; the name "Maracaibo" may derive from a Coquivacoa chieftain killed by Ehinger. This people may be related to (or even identical to) the

Wayuu The Wayuu (also Wayu, Wayú, Guajiro, Wahiro) are an Indigenous ethnic group of the Guajira Peninsula in northernmost Colombia and northwest Venezuela. The Wayuu language is part of the Arawakan language family. Throughout their history, they ...

or the Caquetio people. The Spanish ''conquistador''

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 ...

had been appointed Governor of Coquibacoa in 1501 (june, 10th), a position that only lasted a few months. He had applied the term ''Coquibacoa'' to the

Guajira Peninsula The Guajira Peninsula (, also spelled ''Goajira'', mainly in colonial period texts, ) is a peninsula in northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela in the Caribbean. It is the northernmost peninsula in South America and has an area of exte ...

, which Ojeda erroneously thought was an island.

Legacy

A parish in Maracaibo is named ''Coquivacoa''. Gran Coquivacoa is a Gaita Zuliana group founded in 1968. There is a regional television station named Coquivacoa Televisión. Singer

Alí Primera Ely Rafael Primera Rosell (31 October 1941–16 February 1985) known artistically as Alí Primera, was a Venezuelan musician, composer, poet, and political activist. He was born in Coro, Falcón State, Venezuela and died in Caracas. He was o ...

wrote a song called ''Coquivacoa''. There is a city named

Chivacoa Chivacoa is the capital city of Bruzual Municipality in Yaracuy State, Venezuela. Its population is 52,620, as per 2011 census. Festival This town is famous for mystic rituals in Sorte Mountain, run by devotees of Maria Lionza Maria may refe ...

Yaracuy Yaracuy (, ;) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, states of Venezuela. Yaracuy is located in the Central-Western Region, Venezuela. It is bordered by Falcón State, Falcón in the north, in the west by Lara State, Lara, in the south by Portug ...

state, founded by Caquetio people.

References

16th century in Venezuela Circum-Caribbean culture {{Venezuela-stub