San Carlos de Río Negro is a town in Venezuela's Amazonas State. San Carlos de Río Negro is a small city of about 1200 inhabitants in the

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 ...

n state of Amazonas. It serves as the administrative capital of the municipal district of Río Negro, inhabited primarily by Amerindian people, in particular the

Yanomami The Yanomami, also spelled Yąnomamö or Yanomama, are a group of approximately 35,000 indigenous people who live in some 200–250 villages in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Venezuela and Brazil. Etymology The ethnonym ''Yanomami' ...

and Baniwa (Kurripako) peoples. It sits on the opposite side of the Rio Negro from the Colombian city of San Felipe.

History

The city of San Carlos de Río Negro was founded in 1759 as a camp set up by the expedition captained by

José Solano y Bote José de Solano y Bote, 1st Marquess of Socorro (March 6, 1726 – March 24, 1806), was a Spanish naval officer. Biography He served an extensive career in the Spanish Navy starting at the age of 16 until his death in 1806. Shortly after joi ...

. The expedition moved into the area to explore the extent of the limits of exploration as defined by the Treaty of Madrid between the Crowns of Portugal and Spain. José Solano y Bote set up his exploration base there on the banks of the Rio Negro with the few men that had survived the trek up the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

. Most of the men that accompanied the expedition, including the famous Swedish botanist

Pehr Löfling Pehr Löfling (31 January 1729 – 22 February 1756) was a Swedish botanist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Biography Löfling was born in Tolvfors Bruk, Gävle, Sweden. He studied at the University of Uppsala where he attended courses taugh ...

, succumbed to tropical diseases, especially

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

. In May 1800, the explorers

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, ...

and

Aimé Bonpland Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland (; 22 August 1773 – 11 May 1858) was a French explorer and botanist who traveled with Alexander von Humboldt in Latin America from 1799 to 1804. He co-authored volumes of the scientific results of their ex ...

visited the town, constituting the southernmost point of their expedition of the Amazon Basin.

Geography

The city is located a few kilometers from the mouth of the

Casiquiare canal The Casiquiare river () is a distributary of the upper Orinoco flowing southward into the Rio Negro, in Venezuela, South America. As such, it forms a unique natural canal between the Orinoco and Amazon river systems. It is the world's largest ...

, an important fluvial artery that connects the Amazon Basin with the Orinoco River, thus uniting

, Colombia and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, and is above sea level. Within the city is a rocky formation called Piedra del Cocuy, an excellent climbing place in one of the most bio-diverse areas on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

Travel

Because of its remote location, there are few ways to get into and out of the city. There is only one small road that connect the city to the small fluvial port in the nearby town of Solano, located on the banks of the Casiquiare. The city can also be reached by air taxis and private plane.

Climate

The climate is

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equa ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

'' Af''), with an annual median temperature of and a median precipitation of /year.

External links

Tourist information
{{DEFAULTSORT:San Carlos De Rio Negro Populated places in Amazonas (Venezuelan state) Populated places on the Rio Negro (Amazon) Populated places established in 1759 1750s establishments in the Viceroyalty of New Granada 1759 establishments in South America