Arauca is a municipality and capital city of the Arauca Department of

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. Its full name is Villa de Santa Bárbara de Arauca, it is located at N 07° 05′ 25″ - W 70° 45′ 42″. The Municipality of Arauca has a total population of 85,585 (2018 census).

History

The Arauca region was explored by the German conquistador Jorge de la Espira, or

Georg von Speyer Georg von Speyer (1500, Speyer, Holy Roman Empire – 11 June 1540, Coro, Klein-Venedig) was a German conquistador in New Granada and Venezuela. His birth name was Georg Hohermuth but he chose to call himself after his place of birth. H ...

, in 1536. The early Spanish did not stay because they were on the quest for

El Dorado El Dorado () is a mythical city of gold supposedly located somewhere in South America. The king of this city was said to be so rich that he would cover himself from head to foot in gold dust – either daily or on certain ceremonial occasions � ...

. However, they were later followed by

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and land-grantees who founded the first settlements. Arauca was founded on December 4, 1780, by Juan Isidro Daboín on the site of an indigenous hamlet of about ten families called Guahibo. Arauca was named after the

Arauca River The Arauca River () rises in the Andes Mountains of north-central Colombia and ends at the Orinoco in Venezuela. For part of its run it is the boundary between Colombia and Venezuela. The major city on its banks is Arauca, Arauca, Arauca, Col ...

, which now separates it from

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, which river in turn was named for the indigenous people the Arauca. The area is flat and subject to frequent flooding from the river. At one point, it was the capital of the New Granada Province of Casanare which was much larger than the current Department of Casanare. In addition, the Villa de Santa Bárbara de Arauca, has been: * Capital of the Republic, under the revolutionary government, constituted July 16, 1816; * Capital of the Police District (Comisaría especial) since 1911; * Capital of the Province (Intendencia Nacional) of Arauca, 1955–1991; * Oil capital of Colombia since 1986; * Capital of the Department of Arauca since 1991.

Climate

Demographics

Ethnic groups

The

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

and

Mestizo ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...

people dominate the city making up 92.4% of its population together. Blacks make up 5.9% of the city and

Indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

make up 1.7% of the city.

Economy

Since its founding, Arauca's primary business has been the raising of cattle, and this is still true. But increasingly, since 1984 it is the exploitation of nearby petroleum (

oil sands Oil sands are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. They are either loose sands, or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, soaked with bitumen (a dense and extremely viscous ...

) that has provided the bulk of municipal income in recent years. The building of the bridge, Puente José Antonio Páez, connecting it with

stimulated the economy, as did completion of the highway to Bogotá, known as ''The Route of the Liberators'' (''La Ruta de los Libertadores''). Arauca is now on the main surface route between

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (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 northern p ...

and

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

Transportation

* Santiago Perez Airport

References

External links

Official website of the Arauca municipality

Arauca News

Arauca llanera music
{{Coord, 7, 05, 25, N, 70, 45, 42, W, type:city, display=title Municipalities of Arauca Department Populated places established in 1780 Colombia–Venezuela border crossings Capitals of Colombian departments 1780 establishments in the Spanish Empire