Puerto Carreño (), translation is the departmental capital city, and a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

combined of the department of Vichada in the

Llanos The Llanos ( Spanish ''Los Llanos'', "The Plains"; ) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical grasslands, ...

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 ...

located on the Orinoco River. Puerto Carreño is best-known as a tourist gateway to hundreds of adventure,

ecological Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

and

sustainable tourism Sustainable tourism is a concept that covers the complete tourism experience, including concern for Impacts of tourism, economic, social, and environmental issues as well as attention to improving tourists' experiences and addressing the needs o ...

destinations, it is well-known for peacock bass fishing on the Vita River, Indigenous artisans from the Orinoquia, as a river port trade center, and as a frontier settlement that has become the capital of the second largest department (province) in Colombia. Puerto Carreño is also known as the Colombian city with more trees than most, it is known agriculturally for marañon fruit (cashew) and in the city limits there are more than a dozen different types of mango tree varieties.

History

In 1913 the Colombian government created the province (comisaria) of Vichada and it was decided that its capital should be at the convergence of the

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

and Meta rivers where there was a small village known locally as El Picacho del Orinoco. In 1934 "El Picacho" was officially renamed after Pedro María Carreño, the Colombian Minister of External Relations from 1912 to 1913. The "municipio" (similar to county in the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

) was created in 1974. On July 5, 1991, Vichada's status was updated to "departamento" under the Colombian Constitution and Puerto Carreño was ratified as its capital. The DANE (Colombian government's bureau for statistics) projected Puerto Carreño's municipal population to be around 10,034 for 2005, based on the 1993 Census. There are several Indigenous tribes within Puerto Carreño's administrative region as well, Indigenous peoples account for 54% of the local population.

Geography

The municipality of Puerto Carreño is located on the extreme northeastern part of the Department of Vichada bordering to the north and east with

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 ...

using the Meta and Orinoco rivers as borders. To the south Puerto Carreño limits with the municipality of Cumaribo and to the west with the municipality of La Primavera. Puerto Carreño: Geography
The area of the municipality is uniformly flat, although there is a very slight rise at the town which gave it its original name. The climate is hot and humid, averaging a temperature of with a heavy rain season from April through September. The area of the municipality is within the

llanos The Llanos ( Spanish ''Los Llanos'', "The Plains"; ) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical grasslands, ...

plains which cover large areas in Colombia and Venezuela that are rich in biodiversity. Geologically the municipality of Puerto Carreño lies on the

Guiana Shield The Guiana Shield (; ; ; ) is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a 1.7 billion-year-old Precambrian geological formation in northeast South America that forms a portion of the northern coast. The higher elevations on ...

mostly made up by

Cenozoic The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, insects, birds and angiosperms (flowering plants). It is the latest of three g ...

and Precambric formations, with some low altitude mountains such as the Mounts of Casuarito and the Hormiga and Guaripa mountains.

Economy

Economic activity is based on agricultural and ranching activities, tourism, fishing, and mining. There is some international trading activity with

Venezuelan Venezuelans (Spanish language, Spanish: ''venezolanos'') are the Citizenship, citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connect ...

towns across the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

international border: Puerto Carreño often trades commercially with the neighboring town of Puerto Páez in

. Puerto Carreño: Economy
Main products of the region are

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

yuca ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although a perennia ...

and plantain. Sportfishing is practiced on private ranches, agritourism and ecotourism on large farms which have become tourist destinations. There are

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

, coltan and

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

mines, exploited in a rudimentary way.

Tourism

Aside from being a small town, a tourist gateway to other destinations, an outpost on Colombia's frontier and a fluvial river port city; Puerto Carreño has become a tourist destination on its own merit with a growing list of tourist attractions, regional celebrations and annual local events. International visitors in Puerto Carreño can eat 3 meals a day in restaurants and sleep in a nice hotel room all for less than $50 per day (2023). Private creative ecotourism (adventures) based on a spending limit of under $250 USD per day are the most attractive sustainable experiences that accountably pay 30% to 60% back into Indigenous community development, improve tourism infrastructures and agroforestry programs. Those looking for a good

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

experience are assured that their participation and patronage as a tourist is being well received and helping the community being visited. The newly remodelled Germán Olano Airport due to be completed by the end of 2023 is expected to boost the tourism industry for Puerto Carreño making it a climate adjustment center and hub for adventurous overnight travellers, as well as budget minded visitors looking for a getaway vacation or complete escape from civilization.

Climate

Puerto Carreño has a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Am'') with a hot to sweltering

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...

from December to March, and a hot and very humid

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...

from April to November.

References

External links

Puerto Carreño Tourism Council

Puerto Carreño Municipal Government
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puerto Carreno Municipalities of Vichada Department Colombia–Venezuela border crossings Capitals of Colombian departments