Los Roques Archipelago

The Los Roques Archipelago (Spanish: Archipiélago de Los Roques) is a federal dependency of Venezuela consisting of approximately 350 islands, cays, and islets in a total area of 40.61 square kilometers. The archipelago is located 128 kilometers (80 mi) directly north of the port of La Guaira, in the Caribbean Sea.

The islands' pristine coral reef attracts many wealthy visitors, especially from Europe, some of whom come in their own yachts and anchor in the inner, protected shallow waters. Development and tourism are controlled.

Because of the wide variety of seabirds and rich aquatic life, the Venezuelan government declared Los Roques a National Park in 1972.

Its first settlers were the Caribbean aborigines who visited the islands to collect botutos, fish, hunt turtles and extract salt. There are still some constructions of salt flats with dikes, stone paths and remains of houses that were created at this time known as the time of exploitation of salt. But the permanent occupation arises with the arrival of fishermen from Margarita Island, who were bringing their families and settling in Los Roques. The names of the keys and islands originated from the mixture of cultures that grew up on these islands. The indigenous word "cayo" was translated by English-speaking buccaneers to "key" and this ended up being written phonetically in Spanish as "qui". This is where many of the names came from, some examples of this are: Frank's key that became Francisquí. Crab's key in Crasquí; and mixing the French word "soeur" (sister) with "key" gave rise to the name of the key that today is known as Sarquí.

Spanish Colonization

The islands were sighted by early Spanish navigators, and in 1589 the governor of the Venezuelan province ordered the formal takeover of these islands on behalf of the colony.

The Dutch considered Los Roques to belong to their island territory of Curaçao because of its proximity to Bonaire which also belonged to the Dutch. The author M.D. Teenstra in 1836 still writes (in his book The Dutch West Indies): "The Government of Curaçao also includes the uninhabited islets and rocks Little Curaçao, Aves, Roques and Orchilla."

In the 18th century, the Sociedad Mercantil Real Compañía Guipuzcoana was established on the islands and the first islands of the archipelago (Gran Roque, Carenero, Cayo Sal, etc.) were given their names. Also at that time, temporary fishermen began to arrive, and in the 19th century the exploitation of salt mines and guano began.

Independent Venezuela

In 1871 the Venezuelan president Antonio Guzmán Blanco created by decree the Territorio Colón (Columbus Territory) which included Los Roques and other adjacent islands. The island of Gran Roque was named as the center of territorial government.

Around the year 1886 there is reference to the arrival of inhabitants coming from the nearby Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, Curaçao, etc. They left as a legacy some of the exotic names given to some islands or keys (for example Francisquí, Madrisquí, Krasquí, Selesquí). The suffix "quí" corresponds to the English term (and other languages) "key", which means Island.

At the beginning of the 20th century an epidemic of bubonic plague in La Guaira caused the Venezuelan government to authorize the use of the island of Gran Roque as a quarantine site.

In 1910, the town of Gran Roque began to consolidate with families from Margarita Island, mainly fishermen.

On 20 July 1938 the islands were integrated into the Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, and it was only on 8 August 1972 that the archipelago was declared a national park.

 El Gran Roque Island

The small population of 484 that inhabited it in 1941 grew to 559 in the year 1950.

After its declaration as a national park, the Los Roques scientific foundation (Fundación Científica de Los Roques) was created, which established its laboratories and facilities on the island of Dos Mosquises, to carry out works on archeology, fish, turtles, mollusks, corals, sponges, fishing and oceanography.

In 1978 the marine delimitation agreement between Venezuela and the Kingdom of the Netherlands was signed.[1]

In 1987, the Los Roques Scientific Foundation carried out a registry, which allowed them to conclude that there were 847 inhabitants in Gran Roque. Only 663 of these were permanent inhabitants, and the remainder were sailors residing on Isla Margarita.

Autonomy

In order to give greater dynamism to its administration and promote the sustainable development of the islands on 2 November 1990, according to Presidential Decree 1214, the figure of the Single Authority of Los Roques Area (Autoridad Única de Área) was created, which would continue as part of the Federal Dependencies but with a special administrative status.

In October 2011 all the islands of the Los Roques archipelago are integrated to the Miranda Insular Territory (Territorio Insular Francisco de Miranda) according to presidential decree 8549 of 1 November 2011, published in the official gazette N° 39797, a subdivision of the Federal Dependencies with capital in Gran Roque.

In 2012 the Venezuelan National Navy named a Damen Stan Lander 5612 landing craft after the islands.[citation needed] In 2012, the Organic Regulations of the Head of Government of the Insular Territory of Miranda were approved, which establishes the organization of the government in Los Roques, La Orchila and Las Aves.[2] In 2014 the government of the Territory together with the inhabitants of Los Roques established the Norms of Communal Coexistence of the Insular Territory Francisco de Miranda in the Archipelago of Los Roques.[3]

In September 2019[4] a new airport was inaugurated in Los Roques, with an expanded runway, new facilities with a national and international area, waiting room and other related structures.[5]

^ "Boundary delimitation Treaty between the Republic of Venezuela and the Kingdom of the Netherlands (with map), 31 March 1978 (entry into force: 15 December 1978; registration #: 17901; registration date: 17 July 1979; link to UNTS)". ^ "JEFATURA DE GOBIERNO DEL TERRITORIO INSULAR FRANCISCO DE MIRANDA – PDF Descargar libre". docplayer.es. Retrieved 24 January 2021. ^ "Normas de Convivencia Comunal del Territorio Insular Francisco de Miranda (Parque Nacional Archipiélago Los Roques) (Gaceta Oficial Nº 40.366 del 6 de marzo de 2014)" (PDF) (in Spanish). 2014. ^ "En marcha en Venezuela el nuevo aeropuerto de Los Roques". Expreso (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 January 2021. ^ Noticias, Últimas (18 September 2019). "Gobierno Nacional inauguró Aeropuerto en Los Roques". Últimas Noticias (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 January 2021.
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