Delta Amacuro

State of Venezuela

The Orinoco River delta

Flag

Motto: La Paz en la Federación
(English: The Peace in the Federation)

Anthem: Himno del Estado Delta Amacuro

Location within Venezuela

Country

Venezuela

Created

1991

Capital

Tucupita

Government

• Governor

Lizeta Hernández (2008–2012)

Area

• Total

40,200 km² (15,500 sq mi)

Area rank

7th

4,39% of Venezuela

Population (2011 census)

• Total

167,676

• Rank

0.42% of Venezuela

Mangle rojo (Rhizophora mangle)

^[c] Prior to this date, Delta Amacuro had Federal Territory status, granted in 1884.

Delta Amacuro State (Spanish: Estado Delta Amacuro, IPA: [esˈtaðo ˈðelta amaˈkuɾo]) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, and is the location of the Orinoco Delta. The Paria Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean are found to the north, Bolívar State is found to the south, the Atlantic Ocean and Guyana are found to the east, and Monagas State is found to the west. The state capital city is Tucupita.

Delta Amacuro State covers a total surface area of 40,200 km² and, in 2007, had a census population of 167,676.

The Warao people have lived in this region since well before the Europeans arrived in America. Thanks to the remoteness of the Delta, the Warao managed to keep a certain independence from the European and later criollo colonizers.

Columbus arrived at the coast off the Delta on 1 August 1498 during his third voyage to America. He wrote about the macareo, the noise that occurs when a large river flow (the Orinoco river) meets the ocean currents.

As the Delta connects to the Orinoco, it became the point of entry from the Ocean to Guayana.

Diego de Ordaz explored the territory from June 1531, when he sailed upstream the Orinoco River with several ships. Antonio Berrío traveled through the region in the 1580s. Fernando de Berrío, Antonio Berrío's son, initiated expeditions going through the area in search for El Dorado. Walter Raleigh crossed the Delta in 1594, 1595 and finally on his last expedition, in 1616.

During Colonial Venezuela the Delta was part of New Andalusia Province. Alexander von Humboldt wrote in his Voyages to the Equinoccial Regions that the Waraos were the only Native Americans still free from control from the Spanish authorities in the province. He said people calculated the Warao population in the Delta at around 6.000-7.000 individuals, although he thought there were less.

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Wikipedia