Guigue (pronounced Gwigwe) is a city in the south of the

Valencia Lake Lake Valencia (), formerly Lake Tacarigua, is a lake within Carabobo State and Aragua State in northern Venezuela. Geography Lake Valencia is the third largest lake in Venezuela, after Lake Maracaibo and Lake Guri reservoir. The lake is locate ...

, in

Carabobo Carabobo State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The state capital city is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is and ...

, Venezuela. It is the capital of the

Carlos Arvelo Municipality The Carlos Arvelo Municipality (named after Carlos Arvelo, Dr. Carlos Arvelo) is one of the 14 Municipalities of Venezuela, municipalities (municipios) that makes up the Venezuelan state of Carabobo and, according to the 2011 census by the Nationa ...

and of the Guigue parish. The Guigue River flows through the city, draining in Lake Valencia.

Etymology

According to the Venezuelan polygraph Dr. Lisandro Alvarado, the etymology of Güigüe comes from the indigenous Caribbean toponymy "UIUE", which means axe, or thunderstone, origin attributable to the indigenous people of the contours of the Lake of Tacarigua or Valencia.

History

The origin Güigüe, until now, has remained uncertain, but most historians say that Güigüe was founded in 1724, in the church of Our Lady of Rosary the oldest book found by Bishop Mariano Martí is a parish record book that was from 1724, when the parish was served by a priest named Cura Capellán. And this book was written on its front page in calligraphy the following sentence: "3 de mayo de 1724 en el valle de Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Güigüe" (''May 3rd, 1724 in the Valley of Our Lady of the Rosary of Güigüe''). On the other hand, Don Torcuato Manzo Núñez, who in his book "Historia del estado Carabobo", cites that Güigüe was founded in 1747.Historia del estado Carabobo 1981, p. 173

Geography

Güigüe is located in the central region of Venezuela in the state of Carabobo. It is south of Lake Valencia, 151 km southwest of

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (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 the northern p ...

. Its lowest elevation is 445 m and its highest elevation is 667 m. The closest cities to Güigüe are Tacarigua (15.3 km west), San Joaquin (20.2 km north),

Guacara Guacara is a city in Carabobo State, Venezuela, seat of Guacara Municipality. It was officially founded 1624, although it was already a settlement of indigenous people. It has an estimated population for July 2009 of 178,000 inhabitants. It is ...

(23.7 km northwest),

Mariara Mariara is a city in Carabobo State, Venezuela, the shire town of the Diego Ibarra Municipality. It was founded by bishop Mariano Marti on 3 December 1781. History Europeans found Carib tribes when they arrived to this region in the middle ...

(23.8 km northeast), and

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

(25.3 km northwest). The nearest airports are

Arturo Michelena International Airport Arturo Michelena International Airport is an airport serving the city of Valencia in Venezuela. The airport was named after artist Arturo Michelena, who was born in Valencia. It is a hub for Turpial Airlines and was once a secondary hub for A ...

in Valencia (17.9 km northwest) and

Mariscal Sucre Airport Mariscal Sucre International Airport is an international airport serving Quito, Ecuador. It is the busiest airport in Ecuador. It is located in the Tababela parish, about east of Quito, and because of its location it is also colloquially know ...

Maracay Maracay () is a city in north-central Venezuela, near the Caribbean coast, and is the capital and most important city of the state of Aragua. Most of it falls under the jurisdiction of Girardot Municipality. The population of Maracay and its ...

(23.4 km northeast). The limits of the Municipality of Güigüe are, north: Lake of Valencia, with the islands El Burro, Caiguire, Otama, El Fraile. South: la serranía de Cerro Azul, east: the state of Aragua, west: the Tacarigua parish of the Carlos Arvelo municipality.

Demographics

As of 2005, the urban parish of Güigüe has a little bit over 60,000 inhabitants.

Tourism

* Benedictine Abbey of Saint Joseph, Güigüe: this monastery is famous for its architecture as well as its Gregorian chants and the agricultural products it offers. * Plaza Arvelo and Chapel of the Savior of the World, it has the bronze bust of the eponymous, inaugurated in October 1962, on the occasion of the centenary of the death of Carlos Arvelo. In the temple located in front of it, contains the adolescent image of Jesus, Salvador del Mundo (Savior of the world), he is celebrated on January 1 of each year. *Casa de la Cultura, Cultural building, where there is the artistic pictures of local painters and painters from the central region of Venezuela. But lately it has been discovered that "Casa de la Cultura" is abandoned since it is not being funded or getting aid from the municipality of Carlos Arvelo even though a meeting was arranged between Leonardo Crociata, president of the cultural institution and Raúl Bracamonte, mayor of Carlos Arvelo where he said that in the talks it was agreed to grant due encouragement to the arts and culture. Plus props, furniture, paint materials have been stolen.

Notable people

* Dr. Carlos Arvelo - Military Surgeon

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guigue Cities in Carabobo Populated places established in 1724 1724 establishments in the Spanish Empire