 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ciudad Bolivar
Ciudad Bolivar Ciudad Bolivar is the capital of Venezuela's southeastern Bolivar State. It was founded with the name Angostura in 1764, renamed in 1846, and, as of 2005, had an estimated population of 338,250. The town lies at a narrowing of the Orinoco River and the original name was a contraction of the town's full descriptive name, 'Santo Tomé de Guayana de Angostura del Orinoco', "Saint Thomas of Guayana of the narrows of the Orinoco." The city lies at a spot where the Orinoco narrows to about 1 mile (1.6 km) in width, and is the site of the first bridge across the river. Another bridge has recently been constructed downstream at Puerto Ordaz. Ciudad Bolivar's historic centre is in a good state of preservation, with original colonial buildings around the "Plaza Bolivar", including a cathedral. It today serves as an important port on the Orinoco River for the eastern regions of Venezuela. One of the Orinoco Basin's chief commercial centres, its main products include gold, iron ore, cattle, hides and rare woods. The town also gave its name to the Angostura tree (Cusparia febrifuga) which grows in the area. The bark of the small shrub-like tree was traditionally used as a bitter tonic and fever reducer. Angostura bitters were invented there, though the company which produced them has since moved to Trinidad and Tobago. In 1973 a Museum of Modern Art opened. It was designed by Carlos Raúl Villanueva and was named after the city's famous son, the kinetic sculptor Jesus Rafael Soto. Ciudad Bolivar
(English: "The door to southern Venezuela") Motto: No encontrarás otra de más variada riqueza. (English:"You won't find another with such a variety of wealth") Coordinates: 8°07'19?N 63°33'00?W Country: Venezuela State: Bolivar Municipality: Heres Founded: 1764 Area: - Total 591 km² (228.2 sq mi) Elevation: 43 m (141 ft) Population: (2001) - Total 292,833 - Density 495.5/km² (1,283.3/sq mi) - Demonym Bolivarense Time zone: VST (UTC-4:30) - Summer (DST) not observed (UTC-4:30) Postal code: 8001 Area code(s): 0285 *The area and population figures are for the municipality Website: Ciudad Bolivar Online (Spanish) History Ciudad Bolivar was originally founded, as Santo Tome de Guayana by Antonio Berrio around 1595, at a different site from that which it occupies today. The city underwent changes throughout its history, until 1764, when the city transferred to the narrowest part of the Orinoco, assuming the name of Santo Tome de la Guayana de la Angostura del Orinoco. This move was undertaken with the aid of the Crown of Spain which financed the construction of the church and government buildings. The city received its Coat of arms in 1795, from King Carlos IV, with the inscription No encontraras otra de mas variada riqueza. Due to its river-accessible location, in the period up to 1795 the town suffered attacks by pirates, in search of El Dorado. In 1800, the town was visited by Alexander Humboldt, who described it as a calm city bordered by a mighty river, and one of the richest places that he had visited in the country, regarding natural resources. The narrowing of the Orinoco at this point increased its strategic importance making it one of the key sites in the struggle for independence. On April 19, 1810, against the opposition to the Supreme Assembly of Caracas, the authority of Angostura depended upon the outcome of a Provisional Committee, an event much influenced by Bishop Jose Ventura Cabello. Due to its geographic location the town represented a site which was difficult to conquer in the fight for independence. In 1817 after many attempts and battles, troops under the command of Simon Bolivar and Manuel Piar, managed to overcome the Spanish troops, installing the Supreme Headquarters of the Republic, on October 15, 1817, and incorporating the province of Guayana into Venezuela. On the following day, Piar was executed in the Plaza Mayor of the city, by order of a court martial. On November 20, 1818, Bolivar presided a great civic-military assembly at which the declaration of the Republic of Venezuela was approved, against the possible intervention of the powers of the Holy Alliance, which backed Spain. The city served as the headquarters for the national revolutionary government, fighting its War of Independence against imperial Spain. On February 15, 1819, the Congress of Angostura declared Simon Bolivar, the South American military leader and revolutionary, the President of Venezuela, and on December 17, 1819, declared the creation of the Republic of Gran Colombia, with Bolivar as president. Bolivar's famous address to the congress, distinguished the Venezuelan character from the North American one, with its "weak and complicated system" of government, and emphasizing the Venezuelan revolutionaries' extraordinary and complicated position ("We are not Europeans; we are not Indians"), and advocated a parliamentary system based on the British model, with a hereditary senate. In 1846, the Congress of the Republic decreed that the city of Angostura, Capital of the Province of Guayana, would henceforth be called Ciudad Bolivar in honour of Simón Bolivar. Law and government Ciudad Bolivar has one municipality: Heres Municipality, Venezuelan law specifies that municipal governments have four main functions: executive, legislative, comptroller, and planning. The executive function is managed by the mayor, who is in charge of representing the municipality's administration. The legislative branch is represented by the Municipal Council, composed of seven councilors, charged with the deliberation of new decrees and local laws. The comptroller tasks are managed by the municipal comptroller's office, which oversees accountancy. Finally, planning is represented by the Local Public Planning Council, which manages development projects for the municipality. Geography Ciudad Bolivar is located at 43 meters of altitude on the south shore of the Orinoco river, in its narrower part, fluvial port of the east of Venezuela. Its northern limit is the Orinoco river, in the south it borders Raúl Leoni municipality, to the east the municipalities Caroni and Piar, and to the west Sucre municipality. Ciudad Bolivar is constituted by the parishes Catedral, Agua Salada, Sabanita, Vista Hermosa, Marhuanta, José Antonio Páez, Orinoco, Panapana, and Zea. Geologically, the city presents a great tectonic stability, because the ancient lands, which have survived a series of collapses, also present forms of level earth relief. Vegetation The morichales are found at the shores of the rivers, the chaparral. Species including the carob tree, the sarrapia, and the merecure are prevalent, whereas the fauna is represented by such species as capibara, morrocoy, herons, parrots, lapa, iguanas, and others. A high percentage corresponds to fluvial species, like the fishes: curbinata, dorado, lau- lau, morocoto, palometa, sapoara. Climate The temperature average varies between 26 and 30 °C. This climatic variety is represented by the periods of rain and drought, presented in high and variable forms, greater rainfall in regard to the high temperatures that cause a strong evaporation, arriving at 1022 mm annual. These high amounts favor the presence of rivers of great volume like the Orinoco, as well as others of minor volume: Orocopiche, Marcela, and La Candelaria, for example. 
Economy and services Ciudad Bolivar is a region dominated by agriculture and animal husbandry on a small scale. Maize, yucca, mango, yam, and watermelon are characteristic products cultivated in the zone. Cattle activity is represented by the bovine and pig. The fluvial fishing is carried out in a small proportion, the tourism has been receiving economic importance, which comes to reinforce the productive sector of the zone, among others economic activities of the city are, the commerce, services, transports, fast food chains, like McDonalds and Wendy's, and distributors of national and international industries, such as: Plumrose, Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola, Empresas Polar, Bloque de prensa de Armas, as well as the Supermarket chains Central Madeirense and Koma, among others. Ciudad Bolivar is the seat of the state government of the Bolivar state. Paseo Orinoco, part of the shopping district of the city. The Angostura Bridge has great importance as a communicational infrastructure, since it unites this locality with the rest of Venezuela. Also important is the freeway that connects Ciudad Bolivar with Ciudad Guayana. Another representative infrastructure is the General José Tomás de Heres airport. The city hosts hotels such as Laja Real, La Cumbre, El Bolivar Gran Hotel, El Salto Angel, Posada Amor Patrio, Posada Angostura, and others. The hospital infrastructure is represented among others by: Thorax Hospital, Ruiz y Páez Hospital, Red Cross. Centres of education include the universities Universidad Nacional Experimental Simón Rodriguez, Universidad de Oriente, Universidad Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho, Universidad Nacional Abierta, etc, and institutes of primary and secondary education. Nevertheless, Ciudad Bolivar lacks the required infrastructure to obtain true economic and social progress, because the competent organisations have not developed a work plan that really responds to the exigency of the city, as capital and seat of the political power of the Bolivar state. Among the services of the locality are drinking water, electricity, telephone, transport, mail, Internet, banks, and malls, among others, that influence the profit of the economic development, and the well-being of the population. The communications are represented by the roads and the media, that facilitate commerce and the relations between the people. Examples of these mass media are television (Bolivar Vision, TV Rio), radio, Internet, and newspapers (El Bolivarense, El Expreso, El Progreso, El Luchador), among others. The most important routes of transport are terrestrial, as much extraurban and interurban, covering national routes, and the fluvial, represented mainly by boats that cover the passage from Ciudad Bolivar to Soledad, as well as other small towns. Culture Ciudad Bolivar's historical zone is a great touristic attraction featuring houses and public buildings that date from the colonial period. The Jesus Soto Museum of Modern Art, named after the sculptor and painter Jesus Rafael Soto, features a collection of modern works by Venezuelan and international artists. In musical matters, Ciudad Bolivar is the place of birth of artists like: Cheo Hurtado, Iván Pérez Rossi, Antonio Lauro (guitarist, considered to be one of the foremost South American composers of the 20th century), also is the seat of groupings like Serenata Guayanesa, Ensamble Orinoco, and the Cestari family composed of Italian-Venezuelan singers and musicians. In events and fairs, the city lodges every year since 1971, the Orinoco Fair, this is a touristic event, that is part of a tribute to the Orinoco River. The city is also home to an array of immigrants from but not limited to: Spain, Italy, Portugal, the Middle East, Germany, China, and Latin American countries. Gastronomy One of the traditions of the region's cuisine are the desserts and preserves made of cashew nuts, which can also be tasted alone or roasted with salt. The cassava bread prepared in the area is also famous as well as several meals made of tortoise such as the Carapacho de Morrocoy Guayanés (baked tortoise in its shell). A culinary delight with alleged aphrodisiac power is the Catara sauce, which is a spicy sauce made of cassava juice or yare, species, and the so called big-butt ant. Sites of interest * Plaza Bolivar of Ciudad Bolivar * San Isidro Museum * House of the Congress of Angostura * Ciudad Bolivar Cathedral * Piar house * Jesus Soto Museum of Modern Art * Plaza Miranda * Orinoco´s Naval Army building * Universidad de Oriente * Universidad Nacional Experimental de Guayana * Universidad Simón Rodriguez * Universidad Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho * Instituto Universitario Tecnologico del estado Bolivar * Universidad Nacional Abierta * Instituto Universitario Tecnológico Rodolfo Loero Arismendi * Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela * Tribunals of Ciudad Bolivar * Simón Bolivar Monument * Botanic Garden Transportation * Buses are the main means of mass run by several companies on most streets and avenues * Bus; large buses. * Buseta; medium size buses. * Microbus or Colectivo; vans or minivans. * Perrera; a modified pick-up, for mass transportation. * José Tomás de Heres Airport; is located in the centre of the city.
Site Index Back to Top Photos Index Thanks for coming, I hope you
have enjoyed it, will recommend
it to your friends, and will come
back later to see my site developing
and expanding.
|
