Aragua: Difference between revisions

{{Other uses|Aragua (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox settlement

| official_name = Aragua

| website = {{url|1=http://www.aragua.gob.ve}}

| footnotes =

}}

[[File:Aragua mapa municipal.jpg|250px|thumb|Municipalities of Aragua]]

'''Aragua State''' ({{lang-es|Estado Aragua}}, {{IPA-es|esˈtaðo aˈɾaɣwa|IPA}}) is located in the north-central region of [[Venezuela]]. It has plains and [[jungle (terrain)|jungles]] and [[Caribbean]] beaches. The most popular are Cata and Choroni. It has Venezuela's first national park which is called [[Henri Pittier National Park|Henri Pittier]].

[[File:Antiguo Acueducto Hacienda Tiquire Flores Siglo XVII, El Consejo, Municipio Jose Rafael Revenga (file split).JPG|thumb|Old Aqueduct of the Hacienda Tiquire Flores XVII Century, El Consejo, Aragua State]]

 

Aragua State covers a total surface area of {{cvt|7,014|km2}} and, based on the 2011 census information, the estimated population of Aragua State in 2012 is 1,630,308 inhabitants.

Maracay was founded in 1701.

 

 

[[Alexander von Humboldt]] referred to the fact that the population by 1800 in the area of the valleys of Aragua - which at that time included both sides of Lake Valencia - was mostly composed of brown and creole people, apart from zambos and [[Slavery in the Spanish New World colonies|slaves]] and that there were still approximately 5000 registered Indians, most of whom were concentrated in [[Turmero]] and Guacara. None of them spoke their ancestral languages anymore.

In 1864 Aragua became an independent state until 1866, when it merged with Guárico to form the state of Guzmán Blanco. Its capital changed to [[Villa de Cura]] in 1881. Finally in 1899 Aragua recovered its status as an autonomous state

[[File:Iglesia San Martin de Tours II.jpg|thumb|Church of San Martin de Tours, [[Colonia Tovar]]]]

===XX Century===

In 1917 its capital was moved from La Victoria to Maracay. The dictator [[Juan Vicente Gómez]] stayed most of his time in Maracay and it was there that he died in 1935.

 

The main rivers in the state are the [[Aragua River|Aragua]], the [[Guárico River|Guárico]], the [[El Limón River|El Limón]], the [[Tuy River|Tuy]], the Pao and the [[Turmero River|Turmero]]. They flow into the Caribbean Sea, Lake Valencia, or feed the vast [[Orinoco River]] network. The Camatagua reservoir is one of the main reservoirs supplying Caracas.

===Geology===

 

===Area===

 

 

===Relief===

 

===Climate===

Due to its diversity in relief and altitudes that it possesses in all its extension, there are different thermal floors in which the temperature tends to have different climatic characteristics and temperatures that decrease with the increase of the altitude, in the coastal strip dominates a semi-arid and warm climate, as it is evidenced in Turiamo and Puerto Maya, Although orographic rainfall occurs at elevations on the northern flank of the Serranía de Litoral, allowing for cooler and more humid conditions, which make possible the formation of cloud forests in the Henri Pittier National Park, local conditions allow for greater humidity and warmer temperatures in some coastal coves, such as Chuao, Choroní and Ocumare, which are used in traditional cocoa plantations.

 

 

===Soils===

The lands of the valleys of Aragua are rich in minerals, as well as fertile; even the mountainous areas are suitable for certain types of crops. There you can find soils with a medium accumulation of organic matter and clay. The banks of the lake show a formation of calcium content due to the presence of fossils. Due to these characteristics, the soil of the state of Aragua is one of the most fertile in the country.

[[File:Llamado de olas..jpg|thumb|Chuao, Aragua State]]

===Vegetation===

 

== Municipalities and municipal seats ==

Aragua State, with 8.28% of the country's total population, is the sixth most populated state in Venezuela. The total population of the state is 2,093,224 inhabitants by the year 2015.

The population is located on the coast and in the lower valleys, being the valleys of Aragua one of the most populated regions of Venezuela, due to the rapid process of industrialization of the city of Maracay and its important metropolitan area of more than 2.1 million inhabitants, of which a little more than 230,000 inhabitants, are part of its area of influence spread between the states of Carabobo and Guárico.

=== Race and ethnicity ===

 

| Other race || {{n/a}} || style="text-align:right;"|1.1

|}

 

The population in the region is very diverse, due to the influence of immigration that existed from the 1950s until the present day. Most of its population is a product of the crossbreeding between Spaniards and local natives or Spaniards and Africans In the northern part of the state, where the highest population density and the largest urban area in the state are found, the majority of whites are present, especially in the municipalities: [[Tovar Municipality, Aragua|Tovar]], [[Mario Briceño Iragorry Municipality|Mario Briceño Iragorry]] and [[Girardot Municipality, Aragua|Girardot]].

 

==Transport==

[[File:Locomotoras del Gran Ferrocarril Venezuela. El Consejo - Aragua.jpg|thumb|Old trains of the Gran Ferrocarril de Venezuela. El Consejo, Aragua]]

 

*Maracay Opera House: the work was entrusted to the architect Luis Malaussena, who together with Carlos Raúl Villanueva developed the monumental project full of sobriety within its spectacular nature where horizontal lines predominate while some free spaces compensate for the heaviness of this predominance.

[[File:Neblina en la Cumbre.jpg|thumb| [[Henri Pittier National Park]]]]

==Tourism==

The state of Aragua is famous within Venezuela especially for the variety and beauty of its beaches, natural monuments, extensive green areas and for the [[Colonia Tovar]], a territory colonized by the Germans.

It is one of the highest peaks of the Coastal Range and is characterized by rainforest vegetation on its slopes. It takes its name from the Italian naturalist-cartographer and geographer [[Agostino Codazzi|Agustín Codazzi]] who arrived in Venezuela in 1827. It was he who promoted the mobilization of German farmers to that area, giving rise to the [[Colonia Tovar]].

[[File:Choroni en la tarde.jpg|thumb|Playa Grande (Grande Beach), [[Choroni Beach|Choroni]]]]

===Natural heritage===

*Onoto Hot Springs

*Aroa.

[[File:Torre Sindoni5.jpg|thumb|[[Sindoni Tower]]]]

===Built heritage===

*Sindoni Tower.

As a federal state, it is autonomous and equal in political terms to the other members of the [[Politics of Venezuela|Federation]], it organizes its administration and public powers through the [[Constitution of Aragua]] State, which was adopted in 2002. The same establishes the division of powers into executive and legislative. This Constitution can only be reformed totally or partially by the legislative power of Aragua, and to be approved, they need the absolute majority of the state deputies.

[[File:Cuartel Mariano Montilla.jpg|thumb|Mariano Montilla Barracks, La Victoria, Aragua State]]

===Executive branch===

 

Since direct elections for [[List of Governors of States of Venezuela|Venezuela state governors]] in 1989, Aragua has been governed by the [[Movement for Socialism (Venezuela)|Movement for Socialism]] and [[For Social Democracy|PODEMOS]] (1989 - 2008). The current governor is [[Rodolfo Clemente Marco Torres]] of the [[United Socialist Party of Venezuela|PSUV]].

* [[File:Baseball.svg|20px]] [[Tigres de Aragua]]

* [[File:Ru ball marron.svg|20px]] [[Proyecto Alcatraz Rugby Club]]

==Media==

===Regional Television===

*NOVA TV

*Aragua TV

===Newspapers===

[[File:Tarde en Puerto Maya.JPG|thumb|Puerto Maya, Aragua]]

*El Clarín de La Victoria.

*Ciudad MCY.

===Radio===

 

* Aragueña 99.5 FM

* Rutas 90.7 FM

 

== See also ==

* [[States of Venezuela]]

* [[Dancing devils of Corpus Christi]]

 

== External links ==

{{Wikivoyage|Aragua}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080410030615/http://www.mcy.com.ve/ Ciudad Maracay. Information about Maracay and Aragua State]

* {{in lang|es}} INE, [http://www.ine.gob.ve/documentos/see/sintesisestadistica2010/estados/Aragua/index.htm Population statistics for Aragua]

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[[Category:Aragua| ]]

[[Category:States and territories established in 1899]]