Coro, Venezuela

Coro
Capital City
Santa Ana de Coro
Country	Venezuela
State	Falcón
Municipality	Miranda

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Coro and its Port
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List
Location	Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iv, v
Reference	658
UNESCO region	Latin America and the Caribbean
Coordinates	11°25′01″N 69°40′12″W / 11.417°N 69.67°W / 11.417; -69.67Coordinates: 11°25′01″N 69°40′12″W / 11.417°N 69.67°W / 11.417; -69.67
Inscription history
Inscription	1993 (17th Session)
Endangered	2005–present
Location of Coro, Venezuela in Venezuela.

Coro is the capital of Falcón State and the oldest city in the west of Venezuela. It was founded on July 26, 1527 by Juan de Ampíes as Santa Ana de Coro. It is established at the south of the Paraguaná Peninsula in a coastal plain, flanked by the Médanos de Coro National Park to the north and the sierra de Coro to the south, at a few kilometers from its port (La Vela de Coro) in the Caribbean Sea at a point equidistant between the Ensenada de La Vela and Golfete de Coro.

It has a wide cultural tradition that comes from being the urban settlement founded by the Spanish conquerors who colonized the interior of the continent. It was the first capital of the Venezuela Province and head of the first bishop founded in South America in 1531. As Neu-Augsburg, it was the first German colony in the Americas under the Welsers. The precursor movement of the independence and of vindication of the dominated classes in Venezuela originated in this region; it is also considered to be the cradle of the Venezuelan federalist movement in the Republican era.

Thanks to the city's history, culture and its well-preserved Colonial architecture, "Coro and its port La Vela" was designated in 1993 as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, thus becoming the first site in Venezuela to be vested with this title. Since 2005 it is on the UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger.

At its founding the town was called Santa Ana de Coro (now the colonial name of the city is being unsuccessful campaign for its redemption) in the Spanish style that was named the new cities in America according to the Catholic calendar, and that in turn accompanying a name of Indian origin. According to the tradition the word coro derives from the Caquetio word curiana, meaning "place of winds". However, according to the authoritative DRAE Spanish dictionary, the word coro in its second meaning means "wind of the northwest", and comes from the Latin caurus.