Ciudad Ojeda is a city located in the northeastern shore of

Lake Maracaibo Lake Maracaibo (Spanish: Lago de Maracaibo; Anu: Coquivacoa) is a lagoon in northwestern Venezuela, the largest lake in South America and one of the oldest on Earth, formed 36 million years ago in the Andes Mountains. The fault in the northern se ...

Zulia State Zulia State ( es, Estado Zulia, ; Wayuu language, Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the States of Venezuela, 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest popu ...

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 ...

. Its population as of the 2005 census was listed as 128,941.

History

Ciudad Ojeda was founded on January 19, 1937, by former president

Eleazar López Contreras José Eleazar López Contreras (5 May 1883 – 2 January 1973) was the president of Venezuela between 1935 and 1941. He was an army general and one of Juan Vicente Gómez's collaborators, serving as his War Minister from 1931. In 1939, López C ...

as a settlement for the inhabitants of Lagunillas de Aguas Today, it is a major center for the

oil and gas industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest ...

in the

region. On November 13, 1939, a terrible fire destroyed Lagunillas de Agua, causing over 200 fatalities. There are several hypotheses about the cause of the fire that prompted the final and decisive transfer of population to the mainland. The truth is that the oil industry was an oily layer on the lake, which had the potential to ignite the wooden houses built on stilts in the lake. One hypothesis is the accidental fall of a kerosene lamp to the lake from the Bar Caracas. Another is a fire caused by an oil company when he was going to beat his concession, that company helped reconstruction and retained the award after all, there is no evidence of this fact. :es:Lagunillas de Agua

Origin of the name

Ciudad Ojeda was named in honor of

Alonso de Ojeda Alonso de Ojeda (; c. 1466 – c. 1515) was a Spanish explorer, governor and conquistador. He travelled through modern-day Guyana, Venezuela, Trinidad, Tobago, Curaçao, Aruba and Colombia. He navigated with Amerigo Vespucci who is famous ...

, the Spaniard who was the first European to discover Lake Maracaibo.

Population

Ciudad Ojeda is medium-sized among Venezuelan cities, with a population of approximately 130,000 inhabitants. The majority of ''Citojenses'' are of

Venezuelan 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 ...

origin. It is also home to numerous foreign communities of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

and

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...

who have the biggest commercial businesses in the city.

Places of interest

* (Church of Santa Lucia) * (House of Culture) * (Containment Wall of the ''Lago de Maracaibo'') * (Alonso de Ojeda Square) * (Simón Bolívar Square) * (The Biggest Mural)

Colleges and universities

Universidad Alonso de Ojeda
- (''Uniojeda'')
Universidad Nacional Experimental Rafael María Baralt
- (''UNERMB'')
Instituto Universitario Pedro Emilio Coll
- (IUTPEC)

Notable people

Denyse Floreano Denyse del Carmen Floreano Camargo (born August 26, 1976) is a Venezuelan model and beauty pageant titleholder who was Miss Venezuela 1994 and Top 6 finalist at Miss Universe 1995. Miss Venezuela Floreano competed in 1994 as Miss Costa Oriental i ...

–

Miss Venezuela 1994 Miss Venezuela 1994 was 41st Miss Venezuela pageant, was held in Caracas, Venezuela on September 2, 1994, after weeks of events. The winner of the pageant was Denyse Floreano, Zulia, Miss Costa Oriental. The pageant was broadcast live on Venevisi ...

* Eddie Pérez – former Major League Baseball player and currently a catching coach for the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

* Mariángel Villasmil –

Miss Venezuela 2020 Miss Venezuela 2020 was the 67th edition of the Miss Venezuela pageant. It was held on September 24, 2020 at the Estudio 1 de Venevisión in Caracas. There were two pageants during one night: Miss Venezuela World 2020 and Miss Venezuela 2020 ...

References

Cities in Zulia Populated places established in 1937 {{Venezuela-geo-stub