Manaure also known as Balcón del Cesar (Cesar's Balcony) is a Colombian town and municipality located in the northeastern region of the

Cesar Department Caesar Department ( es, Departamento del Cesar, links=no) or simply Caesar () is a department of Colombia located in the north of the country in the Caribbean region, bordering to the north with the Department of La Guajira, to the west with th ...

on the

Serranía del Perijá The Serranía del Perijá, Cordillera de Perijá or Sierra de Perijá is a mountain range, an extension of the eastern Andean branch ( Cordillera Oriental), in northern South America, between Colombia and Venezuela Venezuela (; ), offici ...

Geography

Manaure borders to the north with the municipality of La Jagua del Pilar in the

Department of La Guajira La Guajira () is a department of Colombia. It occupies most of the Guajira Peninsula in the northeast region of the country, on the Caribbean Sea and bordering Venezuela, at the northernmost tip of South America. The capital city of the departm ...

; to the east with

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 ...

and to the south with the municipality of Los Robles La Paz. The Municipality of Manaure is predominantly mountainous with higher altitudes ranging from 1000 to 2500 m oversea level on the eastern side of the municipality and decreasing to the west. The municipality has two main rivers; the

Manaure River Manaure was the name of an indigenous chief or Cacique in Coro (Venezuela) (Venezuela) it may also refer to: *Manaure, Cesar a town and municipality in Colombia *Manaure, La Guajira a town and municipality in Colombia * Manaure River a river in Co ...

and the Chiriaimo River.

History

Pre-Columbian

Prior to the

Spanish colonization of the Americas Spain began colonizing the Americas under the Crown of Castile and was spearheaded by the Spanish . The Americas were invaded and incorporated into the Spanish Empire, with the exception of Brazil, British America, and some small regions ...

the region was inhabited by the Bohures indigenous group, descendants of the

Caribs “Carib” may refer to: People and languages *Kalina people, or Caribs, an indigenous people of South America **Carib language, also known as Kalina, the language of the South American Caribs *Kalinago people, or Island Caribs, an indigenous pe ...

which arrived to the region from what is present-day Venezuela crossing the

mountain range.

Republicanism

The area of Manaure was initially under the jurisdiction of Los Robles La Paz. The village of Manaure was founded by a farmer named Buenaventura Maya on January 1, 1874. Founder Buenaventura Maya named the village in honor of the Cacique Manaure which ruled

Maracaibo ) , motto = "''Muy noble y leal''"(English: "Very noble and loyal") , anthem = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_alt = ...

. Manaure acquired importance due to the cultivation of coffee and cocoa in the late 18th century. In 1913 Manaure became a corregimiento of the municipality of Los Robles La Paz. During the period of civil war " La Violencia" in the late 1950s, Manaure received migrations from different regions of Colombia specially from the

Department of North Santander North Santander (Spanish: Norte de Santander) () is a department of Northeastern Colombia. It is in the north of the country, bordering Venezuela. Its capital is Cúcuta, one of the country's major cities. North Santander is bordered by Vene ...

. These immigrants became proprietors of farms in the corregimiento of Manaure and further developed the coffee plantations. These North Santander immigrants also lobbied to segregate the corregimiento of Manaure from the municipality of Los Robles La Paz, some of these local leaders were Guillermo Araque, Arturo Navarro, Arturo Acosta, Julio Maestre and José Ángel Pacheco. They collected 600 signatures of the 200 needed as requisite to formalized the petition which also complied with the "Law of Frontiers" which gave certain benefits to certain villages near the border with other nations. This petition was fully supported by the then Governor of Cesar; José Guillermo Castro Castro. Manaure was then proclaimed a municipality of the Department of Cesar by Ordinance 28 of November 28, 1980 by the Department Assembly of Cesar and signed the Law project on December 21 of the same year. The first mayor was Alfonso Murgas, appointed by Department decree and later mayors Guillermo Araque García, Enrique Campo Mieles, Claudio Morón, Orlando Velásquez, Jesús Palmera, Jaider López, Claudio Morón. The first mayor elected by popular vote was Enrique Campo Mieles. Campo Mieles was later replaced by José Maria Castro for three months. Then Virgilio Ardila was elected mayor and was picked as the best mayor of Colombia. Then mayors José Perpiñan, reelected Virgilio Ardila, Gonzalo Aguirre, Hilis Plata and Henry Oñate Fragozo. Manaure Balcon del Cesar: History

Politics

Veredas

Manaure is the only municipality in the Department of Cesar without corregmientos. Manaure has four veredas. *Canada *Sabana de Leon *Honda del Rio *Via del Cerro

References

External links

Manaure Balcon del Cesar official website
{{coord, 11, 47, N, 72, 27, W, region:CO_type:city, display=title Municipalities of Cesar Department Populated places established in 1874 1874 establishments in Colombia