Acarigua (), founded as San Miguel de Acarigua, is a city in northwestern

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, in the northern part of the state of Portuguesa. Formerly the state capital, it is a major commercial center for the northern

Llanos The Llanos ( Spanish ''Los Llanos'', "The Plains"; ) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical grassla ...

region of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. It is contiguous with the neighboring city of

Araure Araure () is a town in the Venezuelan state of Portuguesa. This town is the shire town of the Araure Municipality and, according to the 2001 Venezuelan census, the municipality has a population of 111,908. History Araure was founded on July 6, ...

Demographics

The city's population was 116,551 in 1990 and was estimated at 208,495 in 2008.

Religion

Its

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

''Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Corteza'' is the episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Acarigua–Araure.

Climate

Ecology

Fauna

The ''

Thysania agrippina ''Thysania agrippina'' is a species of moth in the family Erebidae. It was described by Maria Sibylla Merian in her 1705 publication ''Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium,'' and Pieter Cramer provided the Species description, formal descripti ...

'' is one of the world's largest moths, with wings in size.

Flora

The saman or ''

Samanea saman ''Samanea saman'', also sometimes known as the rain tree, is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, now in the Mimosoid clade and is native to Central and South America. Its range extends from Mexico south to Peru and Brazil, ...

'' is the most widespread tree throughout the city.

Protected areas

* Parque Musiu Carmelo * Parque Mittar Nakichenovich * Balneario Sabanetica * Balneario el Mamón * Parque Curpa, popularly known as José Antonio Páez Park.

Production

Acarigua is a principal commercial center of the northern portion of the Llanos (plains), in which cattle, peanuts, sorghum, cashews, beans, cotton, corn (maize), and rice are the principal products.

Media

Acarigua is home to 3 regional newspapers, and the community TV station Siguaraya TV.

Transport

Acarigua is served by the

Oswaldo Guevara Mujica Airport Oswaldo Guevara Mujica Airport ( es, Aeropuerto General de Brigada Oswaldo Guevara Mujica) , is an airport serving Acarigua, a city in the Portuguesa state of Venezuela. The Acarigua VOR-DME (Ident: AGV) and non-directional beacon (Ident: AGV) a ...

Sports

It is home to

Portuguesa FC Portuguesa Fútbol Club, usually known simply as Portuguesa, is a Venezuelan football (soccer), football club based in Acarigua. History The club was founded on April 10, 1972, in Acarigua in the northern part of the state of Portuguesa. Riva ...

, whose home stadium is the

Estadio General José Antonio Paez The Estadio General José Antonio Páez is a sports infrastructure stadium in Acarígua, Venezuela. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and is the home stadium of Portuguesa Fútbol Club the building was built in t ...

Notable people

* Luis Antonio Herrera Campins (1925-2007), was President of Venezuela''Gaceta Oficial de Venezuela'', period 1979-1984.

References

External links

https://web.archive.org/web/20130518175934/http://acarigua-araure.net/
Cities in Portuguesa (state) Populated places established in 1620 1620 establishments in the Spanish Empire {{Venezuela-geo-stub