The Rosario de Perijá Municipality is located in
Zulia
Zulia State ( es, Estado Zulia, ; Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Venezuela's states. It ...
,
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 ...
. It was founded in 1989. The municipality has a total surface of 3543 km² and it has some 67 712 inhabitant (2001 census). Its capital is Villa del Rosario. The municipality is made of three civil parishes: Donaldo García (7.489 inhabitants), El Rosario (53.953 inhabitants) and Sixto Zambrano (6.270 inhabitants).
The local economy is based primarily on cattle raising. There is also an important exploitation of limestone for the cement industry.
Population
The majority of the population is made up of average mixed-race Venezuelans, but there are Native American communities in the Western and Northern parts:
Yukpa
Yukpa is an Amerindian ethnic group that inhabits the northeastern part of the Cesar Department in northern Colombia by the Serranía del Perijá bordering Venezuela. Their territory covers the eastern areas of the municipalities of Robles La Pa ...
and
Wayuu
The Wayuu (also Wayu, Wayúu, Guajiro, Wahiro) are an Amerindian ethnic group of the Guajira Peninsula in northernmost part of Colombia and northwest Venezuela. The Wayuu language is part of the Maipuran (Arawak) language family.
Geography
...
Indians. There is also a small community of Japrería Indians.
There has been a serious conflict for several decades between the Native American population and the cattle ranchers for the use of the lands.
Climate
Minimum monthly temperature varies with elevation between 6.9 and 23.4 °C while maximum temperatures are between 17.9 and 33.4 °C. Annual precipitation is between 1228 and 2151 mm, with most rainfall between September and November, and the driest quarter between January and March.
Fauna, flora and vegetation
The municipality of Rosario de Perijá lies in the Cordillera Oriental Montane Forests ecoregion, and the major natural habitat type is
tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Description
TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...
.
[''The Nature Conservancy'' (2009) TNC terrestrial ecoregions]
Based on: Olson, D. M. and E. Dinerstein. 2002. The Global 200: Priority ecoregions for global conservation. (PDF file) Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 89:125-126.
Common birds include Great Egret (''
Ardea alba
The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and ...
''), Mealy Parrot (''
Amazona farinosa''), Bicolored Wren (''
Campylorhynchus griseus''), Brown-throated Parakeet (''
Aratinga pertinax''), Tropical Kingbird (''
Tyrannus melancholicus''), Carib Grackle (''
Quiscalus lugubris'').
At least 28 species of
dung beetles have been reported in systematic surveys, including ''
Canthon.mutabilis'', ''
Canthidium.lebasi'', ''
Onthophagus.marginicollis'', ''
Dichotomius.agenor'', ''
Coprophanaeus.gamezi'', ''
Canthon.lituratus''.
Politics
Colombian media announced on 17 July 2010 that
FARC had a camp in this area. The Venezuelan government denied it.
[http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Colombia/acusa/Venezuela/proteger/jefes/FARC/elpepiint/20100717elpepiint_3/Tes El País sobre el campamento de las FARC (Spanish)]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosario de Perija
Municipalities of Zulia
1989 establishments in Venezuela