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Cubagua
Cubagua or Isla de Cubagua is the smallest and least populated of the three islands constituting the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, after Isla Margarita and Coche.
Geography
The island is 24 km in area, and is essentially barren and flat.. The island is dry, with sparse desert-like vegetation supporting a small population of goats and hares. It lacks surface water bodies. The coast consists of sandy beaches and of cliffs up to 24 meters high.
History
Cubagua, discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1498, did have resources, pearls. Nueva Cadiz, founded in 1528 was the site of the first Spanish settlement in Venezuela, and one of the earliest in the Americas. This settlement, Nueva Cadiz, was destroyed in an earthquake in 1541.
The ruins have been declared a National Monument of Venezuela in 1979.
Administration
Cubagua is part of the municipality of Tubores, one of eleven municipalities of the state of Nueva Esparta.
Population
Human activity dates from the 24th century BC, but the first people did not settle here in a permanent fashion. Instead the island was used as a source of oysters, for food, and for pearls. The lack of vegetation or fresh water made permanent settlement nearly impossible. Today the island still has temporary fisherman, but few to no permanent residents.
According to an inofficial census of population by the Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural in August of 2007, the island had a population of 51, of which 19 were children. This population resides in four sub-communities in the northeast of the island, from west to east:
Playa Falucho
Playa Charagato (the largest settlement)
Punta Charagato
Punta la Cabecera (close to the ruins Nueva Cadiz)
In addition, on some maps a settlement called Punta Arenas appears in the southwest. Satellite images reveal about five buildings at that site.
If the itinerant fishermen from Nueva Esparta and Sucre are included, the population exceeds 300 during the year.
External link
Information about Cubagua Island (Spanish)
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Cubagua
