Parapara or Parapara de Ortíz is a small city in

Guárico ) , anthem = '' Himno del Estado Guárico'' , image_map = Guarico in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_a ...

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 ...

. Parapara is also a parish (''parroquia'') of the Juan Germán Roscio Municipality. The city takes its name from an indigenous word for the fruit of the ''paraparo'' tree (''

Sapindus saponaria ''Sapindus saponaria'' is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree native to the Americas. Common names include wingleaf soapberry, western soapberry, jaboncillo, sullukuLouis Girault, ''Kallawaya - guérisseurs itinérants des Andes. Recherches s ...

'').

History

It was founded in 1660.

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, ...

travelled through this region in 1800 and described it in his ''Personal narrative of travels to the equinoccial regions''. At the time the village's main source of income was the exploitation of

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywal ...

, which was sent to Caracas. President

Joaquín Crespo Joaquín Sinforiano de Jesús Crespo Torres (; 22 August 1841 – 16 April 1898) was a Venezuelan military officer and politician. A member of the Great Liberal Party of Venezuela, he served as the president of Venezuela from 1884 to 1886 and ag ...

spent many years of his life here.

Important buildings

House of Culture Felix Manuel Belisario

Important people

Place of birth of the famous and beloved ''Papaito''

External links

Parapara's House of Culture

Parapara in Venezuelan politics (New York Times)
Populated places in Guárico Populated places established in 1660 1660 establishments in the Spanish Empire {{Guárico-geo-stub