El Tocuyo is a fertile valley and city in west-central

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 ...

at elevation. It is located in south-central

Lara State Lara State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. Lara is located in the Central-Western Region, Venezuela. The state capital is Barquisimeto. Lara State covers a total surface area of and, in 2015, had a census population of 2,019,211. ...

about 60 km southwest of

Barquisimeto Barquisimeto (; ) is a city in Venezuela. Barquisimeto is located in the Central-Western Region, Venezuela. It is the capital of the state of Lara (state), Lara and head of Iribarren Municipality. It is an important urban, industrial, commercial a ...

. The town of El Tocuyo was founded by

Juan de Carvajal ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Phili ...

in 1545 on the banks of the

Tocuyo River The Tocuyo River () is a river of Venezuela. It drains into the Caribbean Sea. The river drains part of the Lara-Falcón dry forests ecoregion. See also *List of rivers of Venezuela This is a list of rivers in Venezuela. By drainage basin Th ...

and it was the administrative capital of

Venezuela Province The Venezuela Province (or Province of Caracas) was a province of the Spanish Empire (from 1527), of Gran Colombia (1824–1830) and later of Venezuela (from 1830), apart from an interlude (1528–1546) when it was contracted as a concession by t ...

from 1546 to 1548. Its original name was Nuestra Señora de la Pura y Limpia Concepción del Tocuyo. El Tocuyo is now just the municipal seat of Morán. Its population is 41,327 (2001). The surrounding area has good soil and an ideal climate for agriculture, dry and warm with plenty of water available from the Tocuyo River. The area has been occupied since prehistoric times. When 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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

arrived they found the Gayones Indians, who inhabited this valley, sowing corn and other agricultural products as cotton and yucca. After the Spanish came, sugar cane was, for centuries, the biggest crop; but since 1980 vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, chiles, and potatoes are taking its place.

History

Foundation

In 1545,

Philipp von Hutten Philipp von Hutten (18 December 1505 – 17 May 1546) was a German adventurer and an early European explorer and conquistador of Venezuela. He is a significant figure in the history of Klein-Venedig (1528 - 1546), the concession of Venezuela Prov ...

, a German captain general representing the

Welser Welser was a German banking and merchant family, originally a patrician family based in Augsburg and Nuremberg, that rose to great prominence in international high finance in the 16th century as bankers to the Habsburgs and financiers of Cha ...

bankers of Augsburg, embarked on an expedition in search of

El Dorado El Dorado () is a mythical city of gold supposedly located somewhere in South America. The king of this city was said to be so rich that he would cover himself from head to foot in gold dust – either daily or on certain ceremonial occasions � ...

, leaving

Santa Ana de Coro Coro is the capital of Falcón, Falcón State and the second oldest city in Venezuela (after Cumaná). It was founded on July 26, 1527, by Juan de Ampíes as Santa Ana de Coro. It was historically known as Neu-Augsburg (from 1528 to 1546) by the ...

, where Spanish relatives faced hardships.

, a Crown notary since around 1530, opposed the Welsers, denouncing their exploitations. Carvajal, having served in

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

, returned to Coro in 1544 as lieutenant governor, and led an expedition to found a new city, El Tocuyo, in 1545, due to Coro's inhospitable conditions.

Notable people

Lisandro Alvarado Lisandro Alvarado (September 19, 1858 – April 10, 1929) was a Venezuelan medical doctor, naturalist, historian, ethnologist, and linguist. Biography He was born in the city of El Tocuyo, in Morán Municipality ( Lara). His parents were ...

(b. 1858 - d. 1929) - Doctor, Naturalist, Historian, Ethnologist, and Linguist. * Mariam Habach (b. 1996) - Dentist, psychologist, former Miss Venezuela 2015, and

Miss Universe 2016 Miss Universe 2016 was the 65th Miss Universe pageant, held at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines on January 30, 2017. This was the second time that the pageant skipped a year, after Miss Universe 2014 was held i ...

contestant. * Zulmarys Sánchez (b. 1987) - Venezuelan olympic sprint canoer.

References

External links

"Historia de Venezuela para nosotros: El Tocuyo" ''Fundación Empresas Polar''
in Spanish, title "History of Venezuela for us: El Tocuyo" * https://web.archive.org/web/20160303220628/http://www.eltocuyo.8m.com/ Cities in Lara (state) Populated places established in 1545 1545 establishments in the Spanish Empire El Tocuyo {{venezuela-geo-stub