The Río Negro Municipality ( es, Municipio Río Negro) is one of the seven

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

(

municipio ' (, ) and ' () are country subdivisions in Italy and several Hispanophone and Lusophone nations, respectively. They are often translated as "municipality". In the English language, a municipality often is defined as relating to a single city or ...

s) that makes up the southern

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 and, according to the 2011 census by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, the municipality has a population of 2,300. The town of San Carlos de Río Negro is the

shire town A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

of the Río Negro Municipality.http://www.ocei.gov.ve/secciones/division/Amazonas.zip

History

The town of San Carlos de Río Negro was founded in 1759 around a mounted camp by the expedition captained by José Solano that moved to that area in the extent of the works of exploration of the limits between the Crowns of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

requested by the Treaty of Madrid. José Solano set up his exploration base in that place, in the margins of the Rio Negro, and there he settled with the few men that had survived the ascent along 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 ...

, since most, 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 ...

that accompanied the expedition, they had succumbed prey of the tropical diseases, especially the

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. ...

. San Carlos de Río Negro was visited from May 7 to May 10, 1800, for the expedition of

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 ...

, constituting the most southern point of their (périplo) for the Amazon Basin.

Demographics

The Río Negro Municipality, according to a 2007 population estimate by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, has a population of 2,660 (up from 2,314 in 2000). This amounts to 1.9% of the state's population. The municipality's population density is .

Government

The mayor of the Río Negro Municipality is Luis Alirio Avaristo, elected on October 31, 2004, with 37% of the vote. Avaristo had been serving as the acting mayor of the Río Negro Municipality since August 13, 2002, following the resignation of Pedro Zerpa. The municipality is divided into four

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

es; Capital Río Negro, Solano, Casiquiare, and Cocuy (previous to December 18, 1997, the Río Negro Municipality contained only a single parish).

References

External links

rionegro-amazonas.gob.ve

Municipalities of Amazonas (Venezuelan state) {{venezuela-geo-stub

History

Demographics

Government

See also

References

External links