Clarines is a town in

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 ...

Anzoátegui State ) , anthem = '' Himno del Estado Anzoátegui'' , image_map = Anzoategui in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_a ...

, located on the right bank of the

Unare River The Unare River is a river of Venezuela. It drains into the Caribbean Sea. In the 17th century the Dutch had a fort at the mouth of the river. It was constructed to protect their salt collection in the area. The other Dutch fort ever to stand on w ...

. It serves as the administrative centre for the surrounding Manuel Ezequiel Bruzual Municipality. It is located on Venezuela Route 11 (Troncal 11) and Route 9 (Troncal 9). Route 9 connects it to

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as 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 ...

to the west and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

to the east. The town is from Puerto La Cruz, and from Puerto Piritu. The estimated population was 15,000 in 2007.

History

When the town was officially founded on 7 April 1594 by Francisco de Vides, a

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 Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

adventurer who came from the

Province of Huelva Huelva () is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by Portugal, the provinces of Badajoz, Seville, and Cádiz, and the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital is Huelva. Its area is 10,1 ...

, there was already a Palenques Indian village there. The town was named after Our Lady of Los Clarines, the patron saint of

Beas Beas is a riverfront town in the Amritsar district of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Punjab, India, Punjab. Beas lies on the banks of the Beas River. Beas town is mostly located in revenue boundary of Budha Theh wit ...

in Huelva, Andalusia. In 1650 when the Franciscan friars arrived, Clarines was still essentially an Indian village. It was not until the oil boom of the 1960s that Clarines began to change. In 1852, the population of Clarines was 4,289, including 72 people identified as white and 3,321 people identified as indigenous. Alfredo Armas Alfonzo, Venezuelan historian and critic, was born in Clarines in 1921.

Jaime Lusinchi Jaime Ramón Lusinchi (27 May 1924 – 21 May 2014) was a Venezuelan politician who was the president of Venezuela from 1984 to 1989. His term was characterized by an economic crisis, growth of the external debt, populist policies, currency dep ...

, former president of Venezuela, was born in Clarines in 1924.

Attractions

The Museo de Clarines (museum) has items of historical interest including a collection of armaments.

Economy

The local population practices subsistence farming growing plantains, yuca, beans, china, cotton, cassava, and corn. Until the exploitation of oil, the only exports were cattle and mules. Nowadays, many small companies that service the oil fields operate out of Clarines.

Notes and references

Sources

* Memoria de la Direccion General de Estadistica al Presidente de los Estados Unidos de Venezuela en 1873

he first national census of Venezuela He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

* Morse, Kimberly J. (2003) "When the Priest Does Not Sympathize with El Pueblo: Clergy And Society in El Oriente Venezolano, 1843–1873" ''The Americas'' – Volume 59, Number 4, April 2003, pp. 511–535.

External links

Mayor of Clarines official page
Populated places in Anzoátegui Populated places established in 1594 {{venezuela-geo-stub