Falcón State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Coro.
The state was named after Juan Crisóstomo Falcón.
History
Early history Present day Falcón State was first explored in 1499 by Juan de la Cosa and Américo Vespucio, as part of an expedition supervised by Alonso de Ojeda. In 1527, the city of Coro was founded by Juan Ampíes, who named it "Santa Ana de Coro". In 1811, when Venezuela declared its independence from Spain, Coro remained faithful to the Spanish Crown and was merged with the Province of Maracaibo. In 1815, King Fernando VII created the Province of Coro. In 1821, the province was liberated from Spain by Josefa Camejo during the Venezuelan War of Independence. The area then became a province of the department of Zulia of the Republic of Gran Colombia. In 1830, with the separation of Venezuela from Gran Colombia, the Falcón area became a separate province of that nation.
By 1856, the province contained the cantons of Coro, San Luis, Casigua, Costa Arriba, Cumarebo and the Paraguaná Peninsula. In 1859, after the Federal War began on 20 February in Coro, the area was declared the Independent State of Coro. In 1864, it became a federal state, part of the United States of Venezuela.
Falcón State In 1872 the province was renamed Falcón State, in honor of the Federal War leader Juan Crisóstomo Falcón. In 1879, along with Lara and Yaracuy, minus the Department of Nirgua, it became part of the Western Northern State. Between 1881 and 1890 is formed, with Zulia, the state of Falcón-Zulia.
In 1891 Falcón was reestablished as a separate state. In 1899 its name changed, and for a short period of time, it retook its historical denomination of Estado Coro; returning in 1901 to Falcón .
In 1899, the territory comprising the towns of Tucacas and Chichiriviche, was annexed by Falcón. Lara State received the municipality of Urdaneta.
Coro, the capital, founded with the name of Santa Ana de Coro, was declared National Monument in 1950, and UNESCO has named it Cultural Patrimony of the Humanity in 1993.
Geography Falcón State is located in the north of the Corian System. To the south, Falcón contains medium-altitude mountain ranges configured from east to west, which in the eastern part of the state reach the Caribbean Sea, forming maritime valleys.
West from the city of Coro, a coastal plain runs parallel to the Gulf of Venezuela. To the north lies one of the most characteristic geographic features of the Venezuelan coast: the Paraguana Peninsula, linked to the mainland by the isthmus of Médanos de Coro National Park.
Climate A hot arid climate (BWh according to the Köppen climate classification) of very low rainfall dominates the western coast and the Paraguaná Peninsula. Coro receives of rain per year, which frequently fails in dry years, with an average temperature of , while in Punto Fijo there is just of annual rainfall with average temperatures of .
The extremely dry, desert conditions, with rainfall of less than , are recognized on the western coasts of Coro and above all on the isthmus of Los Médanos de Coro, with average annual temperatures of between . In the eastern coastal sectors, rainfall increases from per year, always with high temperatures. Somewhat more favourable, with temperatures between , are the climatic conditions of the mountainous foothills, recognizing a sub-humid climate in the higher altitudes of the Sierras de San Luis and Churuguara, with an annual rainfall of and average temperatures of . On 29 April 2015, Coro recorded a temperature of , which is the highest temperature to have ever been recorded in Venezuela.
Soils On the coastline the soils are calcareous, and between the Lara and Falcón mountains, they are clay. They vary in quality, but in general, the availability of land for traditional agriculture can be classified as low, with 89% of very low potential, 3% of low potential and 6% of moderate potential.
Only 2% of it is located in the southeast valleys and alluvial areas, basins with very high potential. The limitations of the arid and semi-arid soils come from salinity, dryness caused by low rainfall, low concentration of organic matter and the influence of climatic agents such as wind.
Relief The Corian System of Falcon State presents a diversity of landscapes ranging from coastal plains on its Caribbean side to mountain ranges formed by valleys and hills, in an area of transition between the two major mountain systems of the country. The Sierra de San Luis have the highest altitude of the entire system, but are of very modest height; the highest does not exceed 1600 meters ().
Cerro Santa Ana is another natural landmark, located in the center of the Paraguaná peninsula. Unlike the rest of the peninsula, the characteristics of Santa Ana Hill are the contrast between its greenness and the xerophytic vegetation of the Paraguaná area. It has three peaks: the Santa Ana (the highest, that ascends to about 830 meters above sea level), the Buena Vista and Moruy.
Hydrography
The state's hydrography is very poor. All the rivers flow north, either into the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Venezuela. However, the main Venezuelan river of the Caribbean basin, the Tocuyo, bathes a large area of the state before flowing into the Caribbean on the east coast of the state after travelling 423 km. Another river worth mentioning that flows into the Caribbean is Rio Aroa, with a length of 130 km. From the basin of the Gulf of Venezuela, the main ones are the Matícora (201 km) and the Mitare with 120 km.
Main rivers: Tocuyo, Aroa, Güigüe, Hueque, Matícora, Mitare, Pedregal, Remedios, Ricoa, San Luis. Lakes: under the San Luis mountain range in the Cueva del Toro, there is an underground lake, the largest known in Venezuela, called "Río Acarite".
Flora and fauna The Caribbean marine life off the coast is very rich. There is a great diversity of algae on the rocky shores and on the reef bottoms. The rich fishing grounds have been known for centuries; among the species that are caught locally are various shrimp, octopus, squid, mackerel, corocoro, mullet, horse mackerel, lebranche and dogfish.
Other species in the area are endangered and highly protected, such as several types of sea turtle and the critically endangered Orinoco crocodile. The latter inhabits the coastal mangroves of Morrocoy, Cuare Wildlife Refuge, and the isthmus, along with the numerous species of wading and seabirds, such as shearwater, herons, scarlet ibis, gannets and the Caribbean flamingo. Among the many invertebrates, the Hueque scorpion (Tityus falconensis), named after the region and discovered in the caves of the Juan Crisóstomo Falcón National Park, is found throughout Falcón; the Scolopendra gigantea, which is the largest centipede in the world, and the vivid greenbottle-blue tarantula (Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens), of Paraguaná, are also native to the region.
In the cactus and spiny forests that encompass the lowlands, plants heavily armed with thorns predominate, such as (Falcón's emblematic tree), broom, yabo, , Opuntia (also known as tuna, e.g. prickly-pear) and Pachycereus pringlei (or cardones). Introduced succulents, such as Aloe vera and sisal plants, are scattered throughout the region. Fauna in this habitat includes bats, rabbits, foxes, rodents, iguanas and lizards; among the birds are the vermilion cardinal and the tropical mockingbird, also known as paraulata llanera or chuchube (Mimus gilvus).
On the upper slopes of the mountains, cloud forests dominate, and an enormous variety of ferns and other plants grow. In the limestone formations of the Sierra, you can find the guácharo, or oilbirds, which live inside the caverns. Also found are the blacksmith's bellbird and the keel-billed toucan, and numerous amphibians and reptiles, such as the nibbling turtle, endemic to the mountains of the Sistema Coriano.
Geology Early Cretaceous rocks cover the pre-existing sedimentary units in the south, in what is one of the thickest sections in South America. The rounded hills of the Cocodite table are supported by an ancient igneous-metromorphic complex and a poorly-metamorphosed Jurassic succession.
To the east of Vela de Coro and Cumarebo, the foothills are supported by outcrops of the young Tertiary, also present to the north of Urumaco, where the stones are rough and darkened by iron oxide; while the plains concentrated in the lower part of the rivers are alluvial.
The arid plain presents quaternary earthquakes, with elevations sustained by rocks from the upper tertiary.
Politics and government As a federal state, it is autonomous and equal in political terms to the other members of the Federation. It organizes its administration and public powers through the Federal Constitution of Falcón State of 2004, issued by the Legislative Council.
Executive power
It is composed of the Governor of the State of Falcón and a group of State Secretaries of his confidence appointed and removed by the regional government. The Governor is elected by the people through a direct and secret vote for a period of four years and with the possibility of immediate reelection for equal periods, being in charge of the state administration before the Legislative Council.
The first elected governor of Falcon was Aldo Cermeño of the Social Christian Party (Copei), who governed between 1989 and 1992. The current state governor is Victor Clark, of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) party, elected for the 2017-2021 period.
Like the other 23 federal entities of Venezuela, the State maintains its own police force, which is supported and complemented by the National Police and the Venezuelan National Guard.
Legislative power
The state legislature is the responsibility of the Falcón State Legislative Council. It is a unicameral and autonomous body, elected by the people through direct and secret vote every four years, and maybe re-elected for two consecutive periods, under a system of proportional representation of the population of the state and its municipalities. It has 11 legislators, of whom 3 are list and 8 are nominal.
Municipalities and municipal seats Falcon State is subdivided into 25 municipalities (municipios), listed below with their administrative capitals, areas and populations.Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, Caracas.
Municipality Administrative Capital Area (km2) PopulationCensus 2011 Estimate 30 June 2016 Acosta San Juan de los Cayos 757 19,045 21,272 Bolívar San Luis 295 8,539 9,420 Buchivacoa Capatárida 2,657 22,897 25,470 Cacique Manaure Yaracal 190 10,874 12,149 Carirubana Punto Fijo 684 239,444 276,251 Colina La Vela de Coro 582 41,510 46,631 Dabajuro Dabajuro 1,144 23,388 26,364 Democracia Pedregal 2,602 9,944 11,293 Falcón Pueblo Nuevo 1,577 46,215 55,196 Federación Churuguara 1,084 29,251 33,138 Jacura Jacura 1,842 11,232 12,492 Los Taques Santa Cruz de Los Taques 231 41,579 45,681 Mauroa Mene de Mauroa 1,904 24,920 27,488 Miranda Santa Ana de Coro 1,805 211,537 239,961 Monseñor Iturriza Chichiriviche 907 19,300 21,927 Palmasola Palmasola 194 7,077 8,306 Petit Cabure 1,025 13,725 15,316 Píritu Píritu 1,168 10,628 11,685 San Francisco Mirimire 346 11,030 12,219 Silva Tucacas 537 32,193 41,826 Sucre La Cruz de Taratara 840 5,781 6,379 Tocópero Tocópero 83 5,519 6,010 Unión Santa Cruz de Bucaral 975 15,660 17,441 Urumaco Urumaco 752 8,349 9,044 Zamora Puerto Cumarebo 619 33,210 37,868 Estado Falcón Coro 24,800 902,847 1,030,827
The Paraguaná Peninsula comprises the municipalities of Carirubana, and Falcón.
Demographics