It is named after the tribe that inhabited the Caracas Valley, one of the coastal valleys adjoining the current city by its north, a toponym still in force. This tribe was known by Spaniards who settled on the perliferous island of Cubagua because of their slave expeditions on that coast between 1528 and 1540, so it became a usual word among Spaniards from the east of the country as a reference for the whole area and with it the name was generalized to the lands of the Caracas area.

Many were the attempts, and also the failures of this process. But it wasn't until 1557, when an expedition came to the valley from El Tocuyo preceded by Captain Diego de Losada, who managed to establish a town named Santiago de Leon de Caracas.

However, there are several theories about the source that led to Santiago de Leon's name in Caracas. The most widespread is that the city bears the name Santiago in honor of Santiago el Mayor, by the traditional apostle of the Spanish reconquest, which was the military saint of Spain; León, in honor of the last name of the governor of the Province of Venezuela at the time, Pedro Ponce de León; and Caracas by the Aboriginal people who populated the province at the time of founding. As can be seen, if the name León was taken as a case to explain the city's name, it could be argued that it should have been Ponce and not León the chosen surname, an argument that some authors claim to disqualify this hypothesis, since there is as an example the city of Ponce named and founded by a Ponce de León in Puerto Rico. ^{[Appointment Required]}

Another thesis, the one that has taken on more relevance, follows the theory that Santiago de Leon comes from the aforementioned origins but that the name Caracas was taken from a flower that the indigenous people called caraca, which was abundant in the valley where the city is today. This flower, actually an herb, also locally called "pira," is the well-known amaranth or Chenopodium quinoa, which has a high nutritional value for its high protein content. In reality, the name Caracas is taken by the captain of the people who owns the name of the province, and, as I said at the beginning of these lines, it comes in turn from the name of an ethnicity on its coast. The Pimentel Relationship of 1578 offers an explanation of Caracas' name as the kindness given to that tribe, and reports that it actually alludes to that plant and that ethnicity is as abundant as pyre or amaranth to whom other Aboriginal ethnicities compare it, giving them the name Caracas. ​

A third hypothesis alleges that Santiago's name was decided by Diego de Losada, the city's founder, after the Spanish victory in the Battle of Maracapana in memory of the day when the indigenous Caracas of the coast gave the peace, or surrendered in July 1567 to the king's representative, Diego de Losada, since it appears that act of protocoloring surrender these Caracas were launched on July 25, 1567, Santiago Day. The name of León should be added to the day the city was founded, San León Day, according to this novel thesis, which liturgically takes place on March 1. The shield of the city reminds the shield of the Kingdom of Leon.

Foundation

Idealized scene of the Caracas Foundation, by Tito Salas, located in the National Pantheon of Venezuela.

Forthcoming of Caracas by Governor Juan de Pimentel, 1578.

The background of the founding of Caracas dates back to the herd of San Francisco, which established the mestizo Francisco Fajardo in 1560. The foundation was made from another previous population founded on the coast of Caracas by Fajardo himself, and as a result of his attempts to populate the Toromaimas Valley or San Francisco, to support and defend the exploitation of gold mines discovered last year in the nearby area of Los Teques, where Cacique Guaicaipura lived. Fajardo departed twice, in 1555 and 1558, from Margarita, his native island, to establish towns on the mainland, using his familiarity and friendship with the indigenous people who inhabited the north-eastern and north-central coasts of Venezuela, and taking advantage of the advantage of dominating the language of the indigenous Caracas, their relatives on the coast.

At the time when the Spanish conquistador Juan Rodríguez Suárez arrived in the San Francisco hato, the region was at war with the Spanish invaders, and daily the herd was attacked with the consequent loss of people and animals. In order to strengthen this facility and use it as a strategic base for the future conquest of the territory, Rodríguez Suárez makes it Villa de San Francisco, appoints mayor and councilors, and distributes land among soldiers. However, the foundation did not survive the attack of the indigenous peoples of the Teques, Mariches, Toromaimas and other inhabitants of the province confederated by Guaicaipura.

In 1567, the Spanish conqueror Diego de Losada, following a Royal ballot issued in 1562, following the depopulation of San Francisco, villages the place, orders its rebuilding and formally reinforces the city on July 25, 1567 under the name Santiago de Leon de Caracas, which pertains it lasts until the present day, taking the aforementioned name of Caracas from the name taken by the indigenous people who inhabited the region upon the arrival of the conquerors and the name of the apostle Santiago for the date of the founding and for the evocation of Santiago "el matamoros" to serve as spiritual guide in the struggle against the natives.

Colonial period

Our Lady of Caracas, guardianship image of the city.

Events of the Revolution of April 19, 1810, by the painter Juan Lovera (1835).

Shortly after its founding, the city would become the head of the province, mainly due to its climate and effective mountain defense against pirates and pirates. Around 1576, Governor Juan de Pimentel established it as his residence, which meant the third change of the administrative capital of the province of Venezuela, initially Choro on the western coast of the country, then El Tocuyo (though not in real law) in 1545 and then Caracas in 1578. Since then, the city maintained the capital of the Province of Venezuela and, at the end of the eighteenth century, with the administrative changes made by the Spanish Empire, it would become part of the General Capitania of Venezuela. In 1577, Pimentel himself had drawn the urban foreground of the city, designed in accordance with the Felipe II Ordinances, which painstakingly established the dimensions of the streets, squares, blocks or apples and the orthogonal arrangement (i.e. in grid) of the entire city, indicating how it should be widened over time. The plane of Pimentel of 1578, which is only preserved from the trace of the city until 1760, shows a small Castilian city ordered by blocks in grid with 4 streets and 25 blocks around a Plaza Mayor, as was the norm in the Hispanic cities of Indias.

In 1595, a failed attempt at invasion by the English corsair Amías Preston, who, in command of 500 men, managed to storm and then burn the city, was the only time in Caracas.

By 1600, the church of San Francisco, annexed to the convent of the same name, calicanto and solid stone, already dominated the landscape of the city, dwarfing the old church, now the Cathedral of Caracas.

In 1641, the city was shaken by the destructive San Bernabé earthquake, which destroyed the construction. Reconstruction will be slow and labor-intensive, with many of the major buildings being erected after several decades.

In 1678, a defensive wall of enclosure began to be manufactured, surrounding the city, for the fear of French corsaries who have more than once tried to take it. The remains of this never-finished project of a wall and military defense are due to the names of corners of Caracas that still last, such as those of Luneta and the corner of Reducto.

At the beginning of the 18th century, a new district of Canarian islanders, La Candelaria, in the east of the city, is home to a large part of the Canarian immigrants who, as "whites on the verge of the sea", did the work that the Mantuans despised, or native whites, children of the descendants of the conquistadores.

In the summer of 1777, Governor Luis de Unzaga and Amézaga 'the Conciliador', who had just arrived from New Orleans, created the General Capitania of Venezuela, grouping together territories of Guyana, Trinidad, etc. and establishing as capital this city that would then be called the "Mariana City of Caracas"; New Orleans is currently a twin with Caracas. Between 1778 and 1779 the enlightened and precursor of liberalism Luis de Unzaga created several public schools in Venezuela, among them in Caracas ​.

On July 24, 1783, the Venezuelan Liberator, Simón Bolívar, was born in a house between the corners of San Jacinto and Traposos in the center of the city. Today, Casa Natal de Bolívar is considered the city's historic heritage and national monument, and is used as a museum, retains many original pieces of the house and some of the Liberator's garments.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the city had about 30,000 inhabitants. In 1799, it was visited by the naturalists Alejandro von Humboldt and Amadeo Bonpland who carried out important investigations in the city and in the Cordillera de la Costa.

Republican Period

Caracas cartoon in 1812.

View of Caracas from El Calvario (1839), by Joseph Thomas. National Art Gallery.

On April 19, 1810, Venezuela's first step toward independence began, when a popular movement in Caracas rejects the newly appointed governor of the province, Vicente Emparan, who had been appointed by King José I of Spain, the eldest brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Cabildo of Caracas and part of the bourgeoisie and the Creole aristocracy do not know the new Captain General, so from the balcony of the town located in the main square, Emparan himself consults the people there so they agreed that he would follow his mandate, the priest José Joaquín Cortés of Madariaga signaled to the population present to "answer No," and that's what happened. So Emparan replied that he didn't want the mandate either, that same day the charter was set up for the establishment of a new government. On July 5, 1811, the Act of Venezuela's Declaration of Independence was signed in the capital, which led to the start of the Venezuelan War of Independence.

In 1812, the city was destroyed almost entirely by a new earthquake, the third in less than two centuries. It is said that more than 10,000 people died, and as a result of this, during the height of the War of Independence, the religious authorities, most of them realistic, used the phenomenon to soup the people, arguing that the earthquake was a divine punishment against the patriots who were trying to emancipate Venezuela, to which Bolívar realized such harmful propaganda in favor of the Spanish king, and indignant responded with celebrated exclamation: If nature opposes it, we will fight against it, and make it obey us!.

In 1821, Caracas lost the capital of the Republic when Gran Colombia was created, which united the current republics of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela. However, the Colombian republic is dissolved and the Constitution of Cucuta is repealed, so in 1830 the city of Caracas becomes the federal capital of Venezuela.

The decades after these breakaway events would give rise to a series of civil wars and revolutions waged by numerous power-hungry warlords.

President Antonio Guzmán Blanco, during his administration, promoted a model of modernization and construction of new public works in the city, as well as the cult of his personality, as evidenced by this statue located in front of the former University of Caracas.

Towards the last third of the nineteenth century, Antonio Guzmán Blanco, an enlightened president influenced by the general effluence of the time, is pushing through a series of urban changes and new constructions, toppling old Hispanic-style convents and building new buildings inspired by the European model instead.

President Guzmán Blanco brought from France several railroad projects, plazas, museums, theaters, and boulevards and wanted to make Caracas his little Paris, so much of the national income went to transform the city's architecture and urbanism, building boulevards, public buildings, arches, and memorial statues, some even in honor Guzmán Blanco himself. The city was given sewers and sewers, although ill advised, and ordered that the Guaire River be used as the main drainage route of the city's wastewater. Also, his government established electrical services and a telephone network.

The Guzman era had its most characteristic feature in the construction of architectural works, giving the city the air of neoclassical eclecticism today in its oldest surviving buildings. Among the most outstanding are the Capitol, the National Pantheon, the Palace of Academies, the Municipal Theater, the Federation Arch, El Calvario, the Santa Capilla, the Basilica of Santa Teresa, the Masonic Temple and on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of the Liberator, the Equestrian statue in Plaza Bolívar.

Antonio Guzmán Blanco's figure remains highly contradictory to this day, with many believing that the legacy of the American Illuster, contributed more than any other predecessor regime to the urban revolution and the cultivation of Caracas, the introduction of the infrastructure changes that the city demanded and the civil character of its government, which ended in the collective aspiration to preserve and project the refinement of the city.

In the late nineteenth century, specifically in 1895, the creation of a new electric company, now known as the Electricity of Caracas, which by that time provided the city with a precarious public lighting system that illuminated its main streets and ports, the capital was not the first to have an electric power service, since other cities in the interior previously had such a service. In 1897, the second hydroelectric power plant in America, called El Encantado, was opened near Caracas, which illuminates the city with a power of 420 kW. ​ ​

20th century

At the beginning of the 20th century, Caracas was still a small agricultural town where commerce was developing, with low-size buildings and red roofs. During the first three decades of this century some advances are introduced for the city and few public works are done. In 1904, the first car was driven around town. The vehicle, which was the first to arrive in the country, was sent to bring from France by President Cipriano Castro, who was the rightful owner, although it was intended for the use of the first lady, Doña Zoila Rosa Martínez ​ ​

Panoramic View of Caracas c. 1900

In 1908, President Castro was suffering from illness, and he was forced to travel to Europe to undergo surgery and begin medical treatment, while in Caracas General Juan Vicente Gómez, Castro's friend and right hand man, was pushing a coup against the government, ignoring the constitution and establishing the strongest dictatorship that the country has ever experienced. During the so-called gomecism in 1912, the first airplane on Caracas, piloted by Frank Boland, few infrastructure works are being launched, coupled with the high rate of corruption, poverty, malnutrition and disease plaguing the nation.

When Gómez died in 1935, the city barely had 136,000 inhabitants, and it is from 1936 ​ that the modernization process of Caracas began, which is being consolidated between 1950 and 1960, giving it the present characteristics of the city. ​

During the first year of the mandate of President Eleazar López Contreras, several urban plans were presented for the reordering of Caracas, the government decided to hire a group of French architects to order the future expansion of the city. In 1939 they approved the Monumental Plan of Caracas, popularly known as Plan Rotival, which among some of their approaches included the reordering of the historic center, the construction of government buildings within a central axis of the city, the construction of large avenues and the expansion of existing ones. However, the government did not approve the plan in its entirety, but only the road map, so it could not be fully realized in the end.

Plaza Bolívar in 1910.

Corner of Gradillas a Sociedad, 1950.

In the early 1940s, President Isaías Medina Angarita ordered the start of the construction of the University City of Caracas, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

During the following years of economic boom and start of democracy, the exodus of peasants to the city begins and the arrival of a large number of European immigrants, mostly Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, to Caracas, due to the misery and famine that had left the post-war on the old continent.

In 1951, the government of Germán Suárez Flamerich rehired Maurice Rotival and the group of French architects who planned in 1939 the Summer Plan to produce a new plan of urban reordering in the capital, with a theoretical base that is much more modern and rationalistic than the previous one. That same year they created the Regulatory Plan, an ambitious road map that prior to the construction of more than a dozen avenues and large highways with their symbolic distributors, the idea of making such a city was to decongest and distribute the population, to make Caracas a more healthy​ ​

Marcos Pérez Jiménez's coming to power in 1952 and his developmental model consolidated the changes initiated in the city since 1936 and brought a tremendous contribution to the modernization of infrastructure.

During the Perezjimenist government, important measures were implemented to transform the physical environment of the city. Works such as the Caracas cable car, Hotel Humboldt, Hotel Tamanaco, the Caracas-La Guaira highway and the Los Proceres, Los Ilustres and Los Precursors were built. Construction of works such as El Helicoide was initiated and other projects such as the Simón Bolívar Center and the University City of Caracas, as well as numerous hospitals and housing developments were completed. In addition, through the Regulatory Plan, a very important road system in the capital was completed, consisting of a network of highways, highways, avenues and road distributors.

On July 29, 1967, during the celebration of the city's fortieth anniversary, a 6.5-magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale with epicenter on the central coast, north of Caracas, hit the city for approximately 35 seconds; minutes later, a new, lesser-intensity earthquake took place, the Quatricentennial Earthquake as it is known, left more than 236 citizens dead (although unofficial media resulted in more than 400 deaths), another hundred missing, 2,000 injured, and billionaire material damage. ​

Urban Complex Central Park.

During the presidency of Luis Herrera Campíns, in the early 1980s, important infrastructure works were completed, such as the Complejo Parque Central (which became the largest housing complex and tallest towers in Latin America but with major maintenance deficiencies), the Teresa Carreño Theater (the largest cultural center in South America), the Brígida Iriarte Stadium and the United Nations Park. In 1983, the mass transportation system Metro de Caracas was partially inaugurated, in connection with the ninth Pan American Games that were held in Caracas.

On February 27 and 28, 1989, a series of strong protests, looting, riots and riots took place in Caracas. This popular movement was called the Caracazo, and it came about because the population rejected the socio-economic measures dictated by President Carlos Andrés Pérez (among them the increase in the cost of gasoline, services and public transportation). Faced with the overflowing violence, the government declared the restriction of constitutional guarantees and ordered the militarization of the capital, as well as other cities in the interior that joined the protest. The violence was crushed with more violence by the military and police, who had been empowered to use weapons of war, in order to suppress demonstrations and control public order. Days later, the government officially counted hundreds of civilian-military deaths in Caracas alone, but this number could be much higher. More than 3,000 deaths have been estimated, partly as a result of the findings of a mass grave at a embankment in the Cementerio General del Sur, known as La Peste, where 68 bodies were identified, initially, and then in September 2009, the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela, then President Hugo Chong perhaps the investigations would continue, identifying another 127 bodies. The number of victims of the Caracazo has not yet been reached, and this incident has covered other areas around the capital such as Guarenas and Guatire.

In June 1989, the Organic Law of the Municipal Regime was decreed, making the former districts autonomous municipalities, with elected mayors. Similarly, it was established the municipalities Libertador, Sucre and Baruta, which previously operated as districts or departments, and the creation of local parishes or entities that make up them.

In 1992, the municipalities El Hatillo, which until then belonged to the jurisdiction of Baruta, and Chacao, which were dependent until the moment of Sucre, were established.

In 1999, the new Constitution that legalizes the creation of the Metropolitan District of Caracas was approved, bringing together the five municipalities in a decentralized political-space unit under a first district authority, known as the Mayor. The former Federal District is now the Capital District and the state Vargas, which was formerly dependent on the former Federal District, is granted autonomy.

21st century

Partial view of the Liberator Forum, in the background the National Pantheon and the Mausoleum of the Liberator.

In 2000, the mayor was elected for the first time under direct and secret elections, with Alfredo Peña being elected. On October 31, 2004, Juan Barreto was elected Mayor of Metropolitano. On 23 November 2008, Antonio Ledezma was elected. Ledezma was re-elected in 2013, but five days after the municipal elections, the Supreme Court of Justice issued a measure against Ledezma, for alleged illegal firings of workers from the Metropolitan Mayor's Office. Ledezma clarified that "nine thousand people were hired and whose contract expired on December 31, 2008 On February 19, 2015, ​ Ledezma was arrested by a commission of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) and transferred to his headquarters in Plaza Venezuela. After Ledezma's arrest, she served as managing mayor of Helen Fernández, after being sworn in by the Metropolitan Council. ​

Caracas is framed within a valley of the system of the Cordillera de la Costa, separated from the Caribbean Sea about 15 km from the Waraira Repano National Park, a mountainous formation considered by Caracas as an emblem and vegetal lung of the city, as well as one of its main attractions.

View of El Ávila National Park from the hills of Bello Monte.

The valley is relatively small and quite irregular. The city has an area of 845 km². Sea-level altitude varies from one point of the city to another, between 870 and 1443 m s. n. m. in the urban area, 900 m in its historical center. The highest point is the Pico Naiguatá, at 2765 m s. n. m. of height, followed in descending order by the Eastern Peak (2640 m s s. n. m.), Galindo (2600), Las Llaves (2480), Western Peak (2478), Goering (2460), El Avila Hill or Humboldt Peak (2159) and Santa Rosa (2150). ​ El Waraira Repano it is connected to the city through a modern cable car system, the Caracas cable car, which is one of the city's biggest tourist attractions.

The city is crossed by the Guaire River, 22 miles long, which follows the path of the valley that flows into the Tuy River and is fed by the El Valle and San Pedro rivers. In addition to numerous gorges coming down from Avila, there is also the Mariposa Reservoir, at the southern central exit of the city, which feeds water to some part of Caracas, although most of it is extracted from the Guárico River, in the reservoir of Camatagua, located in the population of the same name located in the state of Aragua.

The Caracas Valley is a seismic zone as a whole, as it is located very close to the limit of two tectonic plates, the Caribbean and South American. The telluric movements in the city are characterized by a high rate of microseismicity (events of magnitude less than 3 degrees on the Richter scale) and events of intermediate magnitude (between 3 and 5 degrees), although there have been at least four major earthquakes, among them those of 1812, of scale between 7.7 and 8.0, and the other of 6.5 in year 11 967; in 2009, she was hit by a 6.4-​ quake and on august 21, 2018, she was hit by another 7.3-degree quake, feeling all over the city, causing structural damage to several buildings, including the Confinance Financial Center tower or "Torre de David", whose last 5 floors, were tilted at a 35-degree angle.

Climate

The climate of Caracas is tropical savannah climate. According to the m.s.n.m. varies from cold to warm with precipitation ranging from 900 to 1300 mm per year, in the city itself, and up to 2000 mm in some parts of the mountain range; the average annual temperature is 19,7 °C, the mean of the coldest month (january), 14,6 °C (february) and the mean of the warmest month (july) is 21,5 °C, giving a low annual thermal amplitude of only 4 °C. In the months of December, January, and February, abundant cold fog appears on the highest levels and in the mountain range. In the event of climatic alterations, temperatures reach 12 °C (12 °C) in the lower part and 5 degrees in the upper part.

Average climatic parameters of Caracas (1970-1998)
Month	Jan.	Feb.	Sea.	Apr.	May.	Jun.	July.	Aug.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. Aps. (°C)	25.7	28.8	28.0	28.3	29.4	30.1	33.4	29.3	30	30	27.1	27.2	34.5
Temp. max. mean (°C)	20.4	23.6	25.9	28	29.1	29.2	30.1	29.1	26	23.1	22.1	20.2	25.6
Temp. mean (°C)	16.9	18.1	18.2	19	19.2	18.7	19.5	20	19.1	18	16	18.6	18.4
Temp. min. mean (°C)	10.2	12.2	15.4	16.7	17.4	18.8	18.7	17.2	15	15.4	13.1	13	15.3
Temp. min. Aps. (°C)	4.7	8.5	9	9.2	9.1	10.2	14.1	12.2	10	7.1	5.0	5.2	2.5
Rains (mm)	15.3	13.2	11.4	59.2	81.7	134.1	118.4	123.8	115.4	126.3	72.6	41.4	782.8
Rainy days (≥ 1 mm)	6	4	3	7	13	19	19	18	15	15	13	10	142
Sun Hours	111.4	154.5	171.6	132.0	150.9	150.0	174.8	160.0	170.0	162.8	112.0	124.9	1,774.9
Relative humidity (%)	73.7	74.2	73.0	76.3	75.4	75.1	74.1	74.0	74.9	74.7	73.7	74.7	74.5
Source: National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (INAMEH) ​ ​

Hail storms occur rarely, especially between June and November, while electric storms are much more frequent, especially between June and October, because of their closed valley status and the orographic action of Ávila.

According to Weatherbase the average annual number of days below 20 °C is 121 days, and 180 days below 25 °C. While temperatures rarely reach 30°C, the average annual number of days above 30°C is 19 and above 33°C only three days a year. The highest recorded temperature is also 34 °C, and the lowest is 2.5 °C. The average rainy day is 105. ​

Ecology

Every year, different planting or arborization days are held at the Waraira Repano (as it was called by the Aboriginals since before the European conquest, and later known until the beginning of the 21st century as El Avila), which are sponsored by different bodies in both the public and private sectors. The objective of these is to preserve the hill as a vegetable lung of the city of Caracas. Other sports and recreational events take place in the hill and its skirt or edge: the walk to Ávila that takes place in the same, aims to promote health in the population. In the dry season, humidity and temperature are significantly reduced, and on sunnier days, there are fires in the skirts of the Waraira Repano, making the smell and respiratory impact that it causes at the time alarming. This mountain, besides being a symbol of the city, boasts one of the most symbolic structures during the Christmas season, the Cruz del Ávila, ​ symbol that is lit every 1st of December and announces the arrival of Christmas.

During the rainy season, a kind of fog covers the city, due to the high temperature, humidity and uv rays in direct form that the unsuspecting observer confuses with smog. It's actually the calina, a particular set of seawater crystals formed by the combined effect of wind and wave, whose rapid drying makes it suspended in the air. The bars that allow trade winds to pass are responsible for their transport and stay in the Caracas Valley; although it becomes a factor that reduces visibility, it is not really a problem of air pollution. ​ ​

Since 2006, the Mayor's Office signed an international agreement with a group of cities in different parts of the world to curb the impact of global warming and climate change on the planet, the Major Cities Climate Leadership Group, also known as C40 Cities, of which the city of Caracas is an active member. Under the treaty, the respective local governments commit to promote environmental plans through citizen awareness and reduce as much as possible the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions generated in the city. Despite Venezuela's signing of the agreement, the organizations have not yet changed the current emissions rules (Euro 3). It should be noted that Venezuela, as an oil country, fuel tends to be very pure, so regulations should be implemented (Euro 5 and 6) and thus not become a future pollution problem. ​

Hydrography

Satellite map of Caracas showing the flow of the Guaire River throughout the city

The city of Caracas hydrographic network is made up of the Guaire river basin, which is a sub-basin of the Tuy ​ ​ River. This basin crosses the valley where the city of West to East is located (Las Adjunta - Petare). It covers about 655 square kilometers, about 28 miles. it is long and about 9 miles. wide, it is rectangular. The basin is formed by the Valley of Caracas, which is relatively high, narrow and long, surrounded by the high and steep Cordillera de la Costa, which runs parallel to the Litoral ​.

Among the characteristics of the hydrographic network associated with the city of Caracas is the high degree of pollution that the entire network presents in its lower part because the streams of rivers and streams that flow from the Guaire River have been used as collectors of the sewage and sewage system since its creation in 1874 during the government of Antonio Guzmán Blanco ​ to this day. The level of contamination is such that it does not allow the life maintenance of the species that once populated the basin, and it has been extinct or restricted to the highest areas of the basin mainly within the borders of the national park El Ávila ​. Recently, there has been an awareness-raising for the ​ recovery ​ the basin, but much remains to be done before results can be observed.

Among the main rivers and streams that make up the basin are on its northern slope: San Pedro River, Macarao River, Quebrada Caroata, Catuche River, Anauco River, Quebrada Chacaito, Tocome River, Caurimare River; on its south side, we found that among the main tributaries are: Río El Valle, Quebrada Baruta and Quebrada La Guairita. In the upper part of the basin are two reservoirs with the purpose of supplying water to the western part of the city; these are the Macarao dam and the La Mariposa dam.

Informal housing in Petare.

Caracas has exceeded the administrative limits of its perimeter due to rapid population growth, so its most suitable demographic study territory is the Metropolitan District or AMC. According to 2011 calculations by the National Institute of Statistics, the metropolitan city had a population for the 2011 census of 2 923 959 inhabitants. The Metropolitan District represents less than 1 per cent of the national territory and is home to one fifteenth of the country's total population. In percentage numbers, 9.2 per cent of the total population of the nation lives in the five municipalities of the capital, out of the 335 municipalities that the country comprises. ​

The region is called Gran Caracas or Metropolitan Region of Caracas (RMC) satellite cities or adjacent dormitories: the Altos Mirandinos, the Central Littoral of La Guaira, Guarenas, Guatire and the Tuy Valleys. This agglomeration had an estimated population of 4.3 million by 2011.

In the 20th century, an exodus of migrants from the peasantry to the city intensified. In search of improvements in the quality of life, the exodus of the peasantry moved to the capital and other cities, leading to the depopulation of the country's rural areas and the demographic saturation of urban centers, mainly in Caracas. This overpopulation has caused the expansion of marginal areas in the outskirts of the city; however, the lowest unemployment rates in the whole country correspond precisely to the metropolitan area of Caracas.

In 1936, the total population of Venezuela was equal to that estimated by the Great Caracas for the year 2000: almost 6 million people. From 1936 to 1990, Caracas multiplied its population, though well below any other major city in the country, such as Valencia, which in the same time increased its population almost 25 times. ​

Between the 1940s and 1950s, after World War II, a growing wave of European immigrants began, mostly Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, and in other magnitudes there are communities of Germans (Tovar Cologne), French, English, and Eastern Europeans (mainly Jewish). New developments in Caracas were populated mainly by these European immigrants, such as La Florida and Altamira. During the 1960s, President Rómulo Betancourt followed the same policy as the government of Marcos Pérez Jiménez: to promote immigration, particularly in Latin America and elsewhere. These policies were maintained until the late 1980s, with a remarkable influx of Argentines, Uruguayans, Chileans, Cubans, Peruvians, Ecuadorians, Chinese, and Arabs. By the early 1980s, immigration was marked by a strong exodus of Colombians.

The multi-ethnic, cultural and racial mix has marked the city through history. Its ethnic composition is very diverse.

The ecological marginality in topographically rugged terrain is a problem of the city. Similarly, in recent years, poor access to housing in the lowest strata of the Caracas population has led to tens of invasions of vacant land and buildings.

Demographic indicators

• Illiteracy: According to 2011 statistics, it is estimated that 46,577 Caraqueños were illiterate, representing 1.87% of the population: that is, less than half of the national average of 4.92 per cent. The percentage of illiteracy calculated by school age groups was 1.86 per cent in the 7-12 age group, 1.18 per cent in the 13-17 age group, 1.05 per cent in the 18-24 age group and 2.11 per cent in the 25-year age group or older. In the first three groups, the percentage of illiteracy was about half the national average and from the age of 25 was reduced to one third of the national average. This also indicates that there has been a significant decline in illiteracy rates, especially among younger generations. ​

Ethnographic composition

Caracas is the city that presents the most diversity in ethnographic composition because it was one of the main centers that received immigrants from Venezuela since ancient periods, that because it was its capital, received a number of people from different parts of the world (Europe being the most influential), which was impacting the cultural spheres in general of the city, adopting new cultures and traditions that were incorporated as the years went by. There is an imminent majority of people of European descent, influencing significantly the ethnosomatic characteristics of the city's inhabitants. To the west of Caracas, specifically the municipalities Chacao, Baruta, Sucre and El Hatillo, the population is white, covering up to 50% of the population of those municipalities, while to the municipality Libertador, there is a significant percentage of Afro-descendants, black and Amerindians, covering up to 5% of the population, while the mixed and white population reach a total of 990 5% of the population.

3

2

Antique

Caricuao

6

Caucagüite

Chacao

Car

El Cafetal

El Junquito

El Paraiso

Recreation

El Valle

Row of Mariches

La Dolorita

17

La Vega

The Mines

Leoncio Martínez

Macarao

Our Mrs. del Rosario de Baruta

Petare

24

25

26

27

San Pedro

Santa Rosalía de Palermo

31

Sucre

Metropolitan Area

The city of Caracas occupies the entire municipality of Libertador of the Capital District and part of the state of Miranda, specifically the municipalities Baruta, Chacao, El Hatillo and Sucre, which make up the Metropolitan District of Caracas, which enjoys legal personality and autonomy within the limits of the Constitution and the law.

The Mayor of Metropolitano is the first civil, political and administrative authority of the city of Caracas, as are municipal mayors in each of its member municipalities. The Metropolitan District of Caracas is organized in a two-level system of municipal government: metropolitan or district and municipal. The metropolitan area of Caracas or the Metropolitan District of Caracas consists of: Caracas, as the center of the metropolitan area, the cities of Guarenas and Guatire (area of the Netherlands Mirandinos), Cúa, Charallave, Santa Teresa, Los Teques, Carrizal, San Antonio and Paracotos (area of the Hautes Mirandinos). La Guaira, Caraballeda, Catia La Mar, Macuto, Naiguatá (Area of the Coastal Güairense) and Caucagua, Kempis, Cupo, Chuspa, Carenero, Higuerote, Mamporal and Rio Chico (Area of the Costa-Center of Miranda), which has a population of 2.9 million.

Each of these public offices, both of the Mayor, the other municipal mayors, and the municipal and metropolitan councilors, are of popular, universal, direct and secret election, for a four-year term, and may be re-elected and revoked at the middle of their term by a simple majority of the voters.

Federal Legislative Palace, seat of the National Assembly.

The metropolitan level consists of an executive body and a legislative body, whose jurisdiction covers the metropolitan territorial whole of Caracas. His government, administration, and coordination is vested in the Mayor.

In the case of the four municipalities in the eastern part of the city, the Mayor Mayor's Office is responsible for coordination and first-level municipal government, since the authority of these municipalities is primarily vested in the Miranda State Governorate. In this way, the Metropolitan Mayor according to the 1999 Constitution seeks the harmonious growth and integral development of the city, without eliminating the Capital District, nor seceding part of the Miranda State.

The city's legislative function is vested in the Metropolitan Council of Caracas, composed of Metropolitan Councilors.

Capital District

In the case of the Municipality of Libertador de Caracas, the only member of the Capital District, the executive authority is vested in the Head of Government of the Capital District, who is appointed by the President of the ​ Republic.

According to Article 3 of the Law on the Capital District, the legislative function is exercised directly by the Republic through the National Assembly of Venezuela.

Article 3. The special regime of the Capital District is a system of government consisting of an executive body exercised by a Head of Government, and the legislative function shall be the responsibility of the National Assembly

Prior to the creation of the Metropolitan District, the Federal District (now Capital District) had a Governor appointed by the President of the Republic, while the Caracas municipalities of Miranda State governed with their respective mayors in isolation, without any coordinating bodies. In April 2009, the National Assembly amended the Capital District Act, legalizing the establishment of a Head of Government or Governor for the Liberator Municipality appointed by the National Executive, which decreases the powers and budget of the Mayor's Office. The reform of the law was rejected by Mayor Antonio Ledezma and the opposition, which they called illegal, a political retaliation and a ignorance to the will of the people. For the government, it is about filling a vacuum in the authority of the Capital District (which had no authority since 1999) and a legal and constitutional action in accordance with Article 156 of the constitution:

Article 156. It falls within the competence of the National Public Power: 10. The organization and regime of the Capital District and the federal units.

Since the controversial creation of the post of Chief of the Capital District, the position has always been held by people close to the executive and members of PSUV. ​ ​

Crystal Park, on Palos Grandes

In the center of Caracas (Municipality of Libertador) are the headquarters of Banco de Venezuela, Banco Venezolano de Crédito, Banco Mercantil, and Banco Provincial, four major banks of the country; in addition to the headquarters of the Central Bank of Venezuela. The headquarters of the most important public bodies are also located in the center of the city, while private companies, nightclubs and the most luxurious hotels are located in the municipality of Chacao and in the municipality of Baruta. The west and southeast are mainly residential, while the southwest has major industrial zones. In Caracas, there is not much social distinction between areas, since the lack of urban planning has led to the construction of slums alongside industrial, commercial and residential zones.

Caracas is the most expensive cost-of-living city in the country and one of the most expensive in America and the world. ​ Swiss bank UBS and The Economist, between 2012 and 2013 the city ranked as the ninth most expensive capital in the world, the only one on the continent to be in the top ten. ​ Although the Eurocost report ranks it in different positions, the trend it remains: it's the 20th most expensive city in the world and the third in America, after São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. ​ It's important to keep in mind that there are different exchange rates but the official exchange rate is often used as a reference, so there may be distortions.

The City Financial Center is Caracas Golden Mile. It occupies part of the municipalities Chacao and Baruta, covering the urbanizations of Chacaíto, Sans Souci, El Rosal, El Bosque, El Retiro, Campo Alegre, the south of La Castellana, San Marino, Bolívar, the south of Altamira, Estado Leal, El Dorado, the south of Los Palos Grandes, Bello Campo, La Floresta, La Estancia de Chuao, Las Mercedes, Lomas de las Mercedes, Cerro Quintero, Valle Arriba, the Caracas Country Club, part of Chuao and the historic center of Chacao. It is home to Venezuela's major companies and companies (both national and transnational), as well as most embassies located in the country. Office towers and business centers abound in the Golden Mile. Most of the city's most modern buildings are located in the area, with 25% belonging to AAA category. The highest tower is the CorpBanca Tower, 124 meters high. It is expected that it will be overhauled by the Torre de la Corporación Andina de Fomento, which projects 147 meters. The area also houses the best hotels and shopping centers in the city, such as Hotel Eurobuilding, JW Marriott, Embassy Suites, Cayena hotel, Hotel Chacao & Suites, Lidotel, Hotel VIP Caracas, Hotel Caracas Palace, Renaissance La Castellana, among others, while the shopping centers include the San Ignacio Center, Toulon Fashion Mall, Sambil and the CT In this area, El Recreo la Castellana, El Paseo la Castellana and El Hotel ME by Melia will soon be located.

Tourism

Bolívar Mausoleum

Tourism is a subsector that is not remarkable in the economic activity of the city. However, the Capital District is the most visited international tourist destination in Venezuela: ​ 307,159 foreign tourists were registered in 2011. According to the INE, the main reason was to visit family or friends, and their houses were the main type of accommodation. ​ The same year, 1,407,070 national tourists were registered: the motive and type of favorite accommodation were the same. ​ according to a survey of a group of foreign tourists, the capital's main tourist incentives are a pleasant climate, as well as the number of shopping centers, entertainment options and cultural events. The loss of the city's great tourist potential is largely attributable to insecurity and the lack of planning and coordination among political actors (Metropolitan Mayor, Capital District, Miranda State, municipalities and especially the National Government). ​

Caracas shares common points with many Latin American cities: densely populated and with a limited space surrounded by mountains. Because of this, the city has grown vertically. A striking aspect is the number of people living in substandard housing built on the mountainous slopes surrounding the city. These types of dwellings are called ranches, improvised, without any official planning, with deficiencies and with inadequate materials, making a difference between those who live in the valley itself, 45% of the population in 25% of the urban stain lives in these settlements.

The city center, developed around a small historic center, represents less than a quarter of the total city area, which has spread throughout the valley and has also connected in recent years with satellite cities in Miranda and La Guaira states, creating an important metropolitan area known as Gran Caracas. The city's dizzying population growth has resulted in a growing congestion in automobile traffic. To this end, the underground transport system (Caracas Metro), which is currently linked to the Los Teques Metro and in the future with the Guarenas-Guatire Metro system, has been progressively expanded. The Central Railway System "Ezequiel Zamora" also links the Charallave and Cúa communities of the Tuy Valleys with the underground transport of the capital city.

Some areas of the city have a quadrified plot, whether inherited from the colony or developed during the 20th century urban development projects. Other areas, raised in mountainous skirts, do not follow this pattern, but adapt to the irregularities on the ground. These high areas enjoy a mild temperature throughout the year.

The Bolivarian National Police Corps is the main body that guarantees citizen security in the five municipalities of Caracas and is attached to the Ministry of Interior and Justice. Each municipality also has its own police force, and the Miranda State Police fulfills protection functions in all four municipalities in its jurisdiction. Comprehensive security, protection and protection of citizens in the event of emergencies, disasters or natural events also fall on the Metropolitan Fire Corps and the Civil Protection Directorate.

The National Police and the Armed Forces are the first level bodies, which must ensure the establishment of law and order in the city. Otherwise, it would then be the municipal police who would be responsible for this task.

According to various opinion studies, crime is the main problem and concern of the people of Caracas. The violence in the city began to grow from the late 1980s onwards, and has been increasing in the last 15 years, at a rate that is considered one of the most violent and dangerous cities in the world. ​ ​

Since 1993 figures from the Pan American Health Organization show that homicide in Caracas displaced traffic accidents as the first cause of death among men between the ages of 15 and 29. In 1987 the homicide rate in the city per hundred thousand inhabitants was 19.1. Ten years later, in 1997 it was 50.1, an increase of 355%. In 2008 it was already 130, more than 259% increase in eleven years. ​ ​

In 2009, according to the NGO Venezuelan Observatorio de Violencia, 90% of the victims of crimes in Caracas were men. Of that percentage, 65 per cent were among persons between 17 and 32 years old and the majority of the perpetrators included underage men. Every week, at least 800 crimes were recorded in the city, about nine homicides per day in the metropolitan area. Likewise, theft, carjacking, and kidnapping, both express and traditional, had also increased compared to the same period last year ​

In Venezuela, policies of Citizen Security have been implemented that have a comprehensive approach, in which all the agencies and powers of the State participate, according to what has been explained by high officials of the national government, such as the Minister of the People's Power for Interior and Justice, Néstor Luis Reverol, who has pointed out that the "Great Mission To All Life in Venezuela" was designed as a structural policy of the State that advances towards "a social accompaniment that will allow to mass" activities to achieve crime prevention in all communities", however, crime prevention policies have not had the expected results, so much so that Caracas from 2015 to 2018 was considered the most dangerous city in the world, and from 2012 until now it has been the second most dangerous city in the world. ​

Traffic at the Francisco Fajardo Highway.

Main highways and avenues

The highest concentration of road networks in the country is located in the region of Caracas and its adjoining areas, with a large network of highways and avenues in the Metropolitan District and urban, suburban and interurban roads. The road network has become a major crossroads between the West, the East, and the center of the country. Not very advantageous paper for a city saturated with population and vehicles of all kinds, both from the same city and its immediate area of influence (Estado La Guaira, Valles del Tuy, Guarenas-Guatire, Altos Mirandinos) and other parts of the country.

A link is currently being built to connect the Regional Highway of the Center (at km 31) to the Gran Mariscal highway in Ayacucho (Sector Kempis), in order to provide a relief to the city of Caracas and the neighboring Guarenas and Guatire, so that vehicles heading from east to west or center, and vice versa, do not need to enter Caracas. The route of the highway would be from the vicinity of Charallave airport, passing through Saint Lucia and going up to the Kempis area (between Guatire and Caucagua).

It should be noted that traffic in the Caraqueña region is very congested, as it is the city with the most cars in the country, causing traffic jams at any time in the city and being over saturated at peak hours, where Caraqueños last up to 3 hours to get out of congestion.

Caracas Metro

Caracas Metro

It is one of the most important means of transport in the city, as its 47 operating stations carry about 2 million people, according to official figures ​ Caracas Metro system covers the central part of the city from east to west, with lines connecting the southwest and with other surface systems of the Metro system (BusCaracas, MetroCable San Agustín) in addition to the southeast (Petare Cabletrén, Metrocable Marín) iche), Metrobús feeding routes in the vast majority of stations, coupled with the expansion of existing lines (terminal station La Rinconada of line 3 and intermediate of extension; interconnection of the Plaza Venezuela and Capuchino stations - extension of line 2, better known as line 4, as well as the future interconnection with the Metro Guarenas Guatire system, which started with the Bello Monte station) and an appendix that extends to the city of Los Teques (capital of the Miranda state). ​ The three stations that comprise this last line, constitute the Metro system of the ​ Teques. Both systems are operated by the company C. A. Metro de Caracas (Cametro) ​. Although it was a pioneering means of transport during its first decades of operations, the Caracas Metro has been in severe decline during the 2010s, with delays, electrical failures, lack of ticket materials, lack of staff, insecurity, among other problems, part of the daily life of the system. ​ ​

The system opened in 1983 has 71 km and has five lines, one of the longest in Latin America, and expansions are being built towards the towns of Guarenas and Guatire. The expansion plans also include the extension to the municipalities of Baruta and El Hatillo (only in planes to date), in addition to other metrocable systems in the city center and the project under construction, which, although not specific to the metro system, the cable car of Macuto, which will interconnect crucially with the Caracas cable car for the transfer and enjoyment of both the capital city and the Güairense and the country in general.

BusCaracas

BusCaracas is a mass transportation system that connects some areas of the municipality of Libertador de Caracas. It started operations in October 2012 ​, taking as a model other means of transport such as Trolemerida and Transbarca. The construction was undertaken by the Government of Venezuela through the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MOPVI), the company in charge of the construction was VIALPA, until its contract was canceled and replaced by PILPERCA in 2010, and opened on October 3, 2012. The same known as Line 7 of the Caracas Metro has 1 1 stations with two connections to the metro system in La Hoyada and La Flag, lines 1 and 3 respectively ​ ​. Although the initial project involved more parts of the city, it is paralyzed and no official information about the ​ project is available.

Although the initial project would seek to connect the entire transport route in 30 minutes, the BusCaracas situation is currently precarious. Several users report that normally waiting times for a single vehicle can reach 40 minutes ​ The deterioration of other transport systems such as trucks and the cheap fare of BusCaracas generate daily collapses, which, together with the reduction in frequency, often create chaotic situations on the line managed by Metro de Caracas. ​

Metrocable

The Metrocable of Caracas is a cable car system integrated into the Caracas Metro, designed so that residents of the Caracas neighborhoods that are usually located in mountainous areas can transport themselves more quickly and safely to the center of the city. It functions as a metrobus-style food route.

In 2011, a new metrocable system was built in the Parroquia of San Agustin del Sur, where people can freely come and enjoy a view of much of Caracas. ​

Railway system

In addition to the Metro, you will find the station built by the State Railway Institute (IFE). This is the train system between Caracas and the Tuy Medio area, which connects the city with the towns of the Valleys of Tuy (Charallave, Santa Lucia, Ocumare, Santa Teresa, Yare and Cúa): it starts at Caracas Train Station, which is in La Rinconada, where the end of Caracas metro line 3 is located. This railway line is part of Venezuela's Central Railway System.

Ports and airports

About 20 km by road, in the Urimare parish of the state of Vargas, is the Simón Bolívar International Airport, which is Venezuela's main air terminal, as it concentrates the vast majority of international and national flights of the country, serving about 12 000 000 passengers per year. Apart from this, there are three minor aerodromes. One of them, General Air Base Francisco de Miranda, known as La Carlota, is restricted for private and military flights; And it's closing.

With a view to making more human use of the land of the airbase, the first phase of the Bolivar Park was inaugurated in 2017 with the opening to the public of the Independence Bridge that connects the latter with the Generalsimo Grancisco de Miranda Park, redirecting the original use of those land proposed earlier in the Rotival 1939 plan that would accrue in the Regulatory Plan of the same year. Two other private airports are the Metropolitan Airport of Ocumare del Tuy and the Caracas Airport Oscar Machado Zuloaga of Charallave.

In the city of La Guaira, as well as the Simón Bolívar International Airport of Maiquetía, about 20 km away, is the port of the same name, the second in the country for its size and capacity.

Cablatén

View of a section of the Headleaf

El Cabletrén, officially known as Cabletrén Bolivariano (Bolivarian Cabletien) is an Automated People Mover system, part of the C.A. Metro commercial operation in Caracas and built by the Brazilian company Constructora Norberto Odebrecht and the Austrian company Doppelmayr Cable Car. It covers routes south of the Petare parish and will serve in the future as an interconnection line between Caracas metro line 1, the Guarenas Guatire Metro system, and the extension of line 4, better known as line 5, from which Bello Monte station opened in 2015 at the hands of President Nicolás Maduro.

Public surface transport

Metrobús unit.

The Caracas Metro is complemented by a surface transport network: The Metrobús system connects other parts of the city with the metro stations. However, this public transport system does not cover most of the city's roads and in recent years has suffered a considerable deterioration that has paralyzed a significant part of the ​ system. As a result, public transportation is heavily based on small buses that run all over the city and are often fast and efficient, colloquially known trucks or trucks. However, the truck driver system is accused by some of being chaotic and originating in much of the city's traffic problems, for not respecting the areas reserved for loading and unloading passengers. The truck system replaced buses, old and not affiliated with the Metro, which still cover some routes.

The poorly urbanized and irregular topography areas, called hills, have a system of jeeps, rustic vehicles that can accommodate eight or ten people. This transport system is considered to be limited, precarious and insufficient for the population it provides services to. This is one of the problems most directly affecting the population living in these areas.

In 2020, users and staff of trucks and collective transport have denounced the shutdown of operations due to the shortage of gasoline, the control of supply by government authorities and the dollarization of fuel prices in the irregular market. ​ ​

The Metro of Caracas links La Rinconada station with the train station "Libertador Simón Bolívar", from which daily trains leave for the towns of the Tuy valleys.

The mayor of the municipality of Libertador implemented the project to develop and implement a rapid bus system called BusCaracas, consisting of trollebus units that run through the city from northwest to south. Originally designed in 2001, the plan foresees a length of six kilometers and a cost of fifty-one million dollars. In the initial stage of construction, the system estimates that it will transport approximately 100,000 passengers a day throughout twelve stations, starting from the Flower Market, passing through San José, Avenida Fuerza Armadas, La Hoyada, Nuevo Circo, San Agustín, the Helicoide, Cemetery, Prado de María, Avenida Roosevelt, Los Laureles, all the way to Terminal La Bandera ... The installation of this means of transport in the capital city is based mainly on the experience of the TransMilenio in Bogotá or the transportation system in Curitiba, Brazil. It's currently Line 7 of the Caracas Metro. ​

Interstate land transport

Map of current and projected stations of the Caracas Metro.

There are three passenger terminals, which make inland routes on buses or interregional trains.

• For the Eastern Region: the Terminal of the Orient;
• For the Western Region and Los Llanos: the Flag Terminal;
• For the sleeping cities located in the state of Miranda (Charallave, Saint Lucia, Santa Teresa, Cúa, Ocumare del Tuy, Los Teques, San Antonio, Carrizal, Paracotos, Guarenas, Guatire, Caucagua, Rio Chico, Higuerote, etc.): the Terminal of the New Circus or La Hoyada.
• For Saint Lucia, Altagracia de Orituco, Santa Teresa, Guarenas, Guatire, Caucagua, Río Chico, Higuerote, etc.: The Petare terminal (serves as a relief to the collapsed terminal of the New Circus or La Hoyada).
• For La Guaira and Simón Bolívar International Airport: Bus and Taxis Terminal Central Park;
• In addition, there is also the "Libertador Simón Bolívar" railway station which connects with the Tuy Valley region (Charallave, Saint Lucia, Ocumare, Santa Teresa, Yare and Cúa).
• There are also several private terminals with fixed destinations.

Until 1998, the eastern wing of the Terminal of New Circus operated as a destination and exit point for all regions of the country (East, Center, West, Llanos, Andes and Guyana).

University of Caracas
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
CUC spaces
Country	Venezuela  Venezuela
General Data
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iv
Identification	986
Region	Latin America and Caribbean
Official website

In the city of Caracas, 9 public universities and 14 private ​ universities are headquartered. The Central University of Venezuela (UCV) is the oldest university in the country, founded in 1696 by royal mandate under the name of Real and Pontificia Universidad de Caracas ​. Although it has at least 5 different headquarters in the city, its main campus in the University City of Caracas, the work of architect Carlos Raul Villanueva ​ stands out. This campus was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on 2 December 2001 ​ Although it reached 70,000 students in its 89 ​ buildings, UCV is currently experiencing a major process of structural deterioration and a major student dropout, which reached almost 30% of its students in 2018. 0 students (2008) to 32,000 (2018). The main causes of the teaching profession are "official economic policies and the increase in the number of young people forced to interrupt their university studies". ​ ​

Among the main centers of higher education is the private Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB). Its main campus is located south-west of the city, at the edge of the Montalban parish with Antimano ​; although it has minor headquarters in Ciudad Guayana and Los Teques ​. The UCAB was founded in 1953 and is managed by the Company of Jesus and belongs to the Latin American network AUSJAL ​ Although privately, the institution pays a significant part of its expenses through ​ donations and maintains a complex scholarship program for vulnerable students. ​ It is known for its different social projects and has an institutional vocation of service towards vulnerable communities. ​ The current rector of the UCAB CAB is the priest and political scientist Francisco José Virtuoso. ​ ​

Also noteworthy is the Simón Bolívar University, created on July 18, 1967, during the presidency of Dr. Raúl Leoni. ​ His origin as a public institution was based on the deficit of research and knowledge in the areas of Science, Technology and Humanities. ​ The main headquarters is located in southern Caracas, on the grounds of the former Sartenejas Hacienda. It currently has about 6,600 students. ​

Athena of Caracas

Music

Aldemaro Romero leads the Municipal Symphony Orchestra of Caracas.

The beginning of the oil exploitation, at the beginning of the 20th century, gives rise to the exodus of peasants to the most important cities, thus turning Caracas into a center of confluences of the different musical manifestations of the country. The melodies and rhythms of other latitudes, especially Colombia, Cuba, Spain, the United States and Mexico, arrive through the pianolas and the gramophones. The combination of these elements generates a musical movement — the first of an urban character — in which musical manifestations of the Venezuelan plains are merged, with those of the Andes and the coastal zone. The same is true of instrumentation, in which the four, mandolin, guitar, violin and instruments taken from military bands, such as drumming, saxophone, trumpet and trombone, are used.

Old Hotel Majestic.

Sabana Grande in 1973.

The music produced with the four and the last instruments mentioned is called the "cannon girl", as musicians who performed this style announced their arrival at the parties with a bamboo cannon. This musical manifestation keeps alive groups like Los Antaños del Estadium and Los Cañoneros (The Antuns of the Estadium). These groups are currently holding more of their frequent performances at parties and various social events than the sale of their records, which are not easy to find in the Venezuelan record market. In parallel with these groups, others have been born that cultivate similar musical genres, merged with Caribbean dance rhythms (bolero, Dominican merengue, salsa, among others) and contemporaries.

Other demonstrations already established for that time in Caracas, were the "aguinaldos" and "carols", for the Christmas season, as well as the songs of serenata, of which the singer, musician and composer Andrés Cisneros was the most vocal exponent.

The most important groups in the tropical music genre in Caracas are the orchestras Billo's Caracas Boys, Los Meldicos, la Dimensión Latina, Oscar D'León, the Sexteto Juventud, Federico and his Combo and the Andy Durán orchestra among others.

The musical richness of Caracas is patented with the coexistence of various symphonic orchestras stable as they are: Venezuela's Symphony Orchestra, the Municipal Symphony Orchestra of Caracas, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the Venezuelan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Caracas Youth Symphony Orchestra, and more than two dozen children's and youth orchestras belonging to the National Orchestra and Youth Choirs System Children of Venezuela, including: Children's Orchestra of the Corner, Baruta Children's Orchestra, Chacao Youth Orchestra, January 23 Children's Orchestra, among others.

A number of songs have been dedicated to the city: Bella Caracas (1950), by Alfredo Sadel; Song to Caracas (1967) by Billo Frómeta; Doña Cuatricentenaria (1967), by Aldemaro Romero; Walking in Caracas (1981), Piero; Song al Ávila (1983) by Ilan Chester; Frank Quintero's 1985 Street of the Sunset; Caracas, Caracas (1985), De Un Solo Pueblo; Plaza del Centro (1988), Franco de Vita; among others.

Gastronomy

Mediterranean cuisine is very common in the city, due to the influence of immigrants from that region.

Caracas has an important culinary and gastronomic culture, this because of the influence of migratory flows; therefore, it is common to find culinary specialties from the various Venezuelan regions, together with that of many countries.

There is a wide variety of French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Lebanese, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Mexican, Peruvian, among others. The area of La Candelaria is well known by Spanish restaurants, since in this area most of the Galician immigrants, Canaries and their descendants arrived in Venezuela in the mid-20th century, contributing to the gastronomic richness of the city. Other areas of the city such as Las Mercedes, La Castellana, Los Palos Grandes and El Hatillo are characterized by a large number of restaurants specializing in international and gourmet cuisine.

Italian cuisine has greatly influenced food in Caracas, to the point that pasta is a key dish among Venezuelans as well as the consumption of pizza, pasticho and especially in Christmas seasons and panettone.

Typical main dishes include: the pavilion criollo (which is the national dish consisting of black fries, white rice, minced meat and fried mature banana slices), the empanadas, the arepa, the cachapa with guayanese cheese, la hallaca, the black creole barbecue, the chicken salad and the ham bread. Typical drinks include chicha (rice-based drink), papelon guarapo with lemon, carato and tizana (fruit drink). Also worth mentioning is the famous 'Mantuan cuisine', which dates back to the colonial era and has left behind some typical dishes, such as melosa cake, slippers (a drink made with rice water and perfumed with the essence of orange blossom), among others. It should be noted that Mantuan cuisine gave rise to various dishes in Caracas (and Venezuela), including hallaca, grouper corbullon, mantuan stew, chicken powder, rooster pot, chicken suckling, black roast, bejarana cake and black shirt.

Monuments, public buildings and historic sites

National theater at night.

Caracas is a city that has a history that is revealed in its buildings. This is mainly because most of its monuments, buildings, and important sites are of bygone times that have been maintained over time. One example of this is the National House of the Liberator Simón Bolívar, who is still standing despite being more than 200 years old. Other similar constructions, belonging to that time are: the church of San Francisco, the Cathedral of Caracas, the Quinta Anauco, Hacienda La Vega and the Cuadra Bolívar. More recent, in the middle and the end of the 19th century, are the Palais des Academies, the Casa de Campo de Guzmán Blanco, the Federal Legislative Palace and even the Miraflores Palace. ​

Besides, it also has monuments depicting Venezuela's history, such as the Pantheon Nacional (National Pantheon), which houses the remains of Simón Bolívar, as well as other heroes and characters prominent in Venezuela's history, to which President Nicolás Maduro Moros annexed the Mausoleum of the Liberator in 2015.

Another historic site of Caracas is Anauco Arriba, a 17th century country house, the oldest building in Caracas and considered a historic heritage site of Venezuela.

However, Caracas also has modern buildings such as the Simón Bolívar Center, El Silencio, the 23rd of January urbanization, La Rinconada Racetrack, El Helicoide (unfinished), the Central Park Towers that were the highest in South America until 2003, and the Central University of Venezuela declared by UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2 000.

Religious buildings

Lourdes Chapel.

Caracas Cathedral.

Caracas has a number of religious buildings scattered throughout its territory. Among the most well-known buildings is the Cathedral of Caracas, the first church to be built in Caracas, around 1641. Simón Bolívar was named after him. It should be noted that some of the religious buildings in Caracas were built more than 100 years ago. One example of this is the Church of San Francisco built between 1665 and 1674 where Simón Bolívar was given the title of Liberator.

The Basilica of Santa Teresa, in neoclassical style, is composed of two churches, on the east side of Santa Ana and on the west of Santa Teresa, which join in the imposing altar greater. Inside this Basilica is the most revered image in Caracas during Easter, "Saint Paul's Nazarene", named after the first temple where he was found and attributed many miracles.

In addition, it has some buildings such as the Tiféret Israel Synagogue, the country's largest Jewish temple, or the Ibrahim Al-lbrahim Mosque, known as Latin America's second largest mosque. Also, the Church of St. Constantine and St. Helena is part of 15 religious temples of this kind in the world and only two of them are outside Romania, was donated by the Orthodox Church of Venezuela and the Government of Romania. It also has modern religious buildings such as the Temple of Caracas of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, located in Caurimare, in the east of the city.

Olympic Stadium of Central University of Venezuela

View of the Caracas Polyhedron used for different sports disciplines and shows

Caracas was the host city of the III Bolivarian Games in 1951, the 8th Central American and Caribbean Games in 1959, the 9th Pan American Games in 1983, the 2007 Copa América (football), the Copa Libertadores, the Merconorte Cup, the South American Cup and the first edition of the Cup Baseball America 2008. She has also hosted the Caribbean Series seven times, the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship, 2012 FIBA Pre-Olympic Tournament, 2010 Women's World Softball Championships, World Baseball Championships 3 times (1944,194 1945,1953), numerous South American basketball, volleyball, golf, tennis, squash, Basque ball tournaments, among others.

In the city there are the headquarters of the National Sports Institute and the Venezuelan Olympic Committee, as well as other clubs and national federations of various disciplines. In the western sector of the city there are sports centers for high-performance athletes and other lower-ranking athletes such as the Velodrome Teo Capriles, home of several sports schools; United Nations Park, also with a larger number of schools; the Brígida Iriarte National Stadium, the oldest in the capital and cradle of athletics; the Cocodrilos Complex (private) where various disciplines are practiced for children and adults; The Complex Tennis Center La Paz. In Montalbán, El Paraíso and Caricuao there are outstanding public facilities.

Football and baseball are the most popular sports in the city.

Baseball teams Leones del Caracas and Sharks de La Guaira play at the Universitario Stadium in Baseball, which can accommodate up to 25,000 spectators. As a historic debt, recently the Sharks of La Güaira also have the Fórum Stadium in La guaira, inaugurated in 2020 by President Nicolás Maduro Moros. The first baseball team to be founded in the city was Los Naviantes del Magallanes. They are currently based in the city of Valencia in the Carabobo State, but they maintain a strong hobby in the capital that is partly due to their historical rivalry with the Caracas Lions.

The soccer teams that play Venezuela's First Division are Caracas Football Club, Deportivo Petare, Atletico Venezuela and Deportivo La Guaira, Metropolitano FC and Estudiantes de Caracas. The city has two football stadiums: the Olympic Stadium of the UCV with a capacity of 24 900 spectators (reduced to the present capacity by the placement of chairs on the occasion of the Copa América 2007) and the National Stadium Brígida Iriarte with a capacity of 10 000 people (former home of the Caracas Football Club, Deportivo Petare and the Sport La Guaira). In 2005, the Caracas Football Club opened its own sports complex called Cocrodrilos Sports Park, whose stadium has a capacity of approximately 3,500 spectators and synthetic lawn. This is the site of the training of all categories of the Caracas Football Club and in it the official matches of the subsidiary and the lower categories are contested.

In basketball, the city is represented by two teams from the Professional Basketball League of Venezuela: Caracas crocodiles, who play at the José Beracasa Gym "Parque Unidas", and the Panteras de Miranda, which are based at the José Joaquín Papa Carrillo Gym "Parque Miranda", under the jurisdiction of Miranda State. In addition, in the National Basketball League of Venezuela they are represented with the athletic team of UCV.

Since 2011, the professional leagues of Voleibol and Futsal were created, where Caracas was presented with the Mágicos de Caracas and Caracas Futsal Club, respectively.

Caracas has five 18-hole golf courses: Caracas Country Club, Valle Arriba Golf Club, Junko Golf Club, Lagunita Country Club and Izcaragua Golf Club.

View of the University Stadium of Caracas

Sports clubs

• Football: Atletico Venezuela, Caracas Football Club; Deportivo Petare; Students of Caracas; Deportivo La Guaira (representing La Guaira); UCV FC and Metropolitans Football Club.
• Baseball: Lions of Caracas and Sharks of La Guaira (representing La Guaira). Until 1969, the Magellan Sailors played in this city too.
• Basketball: Crocodiles of Caracas and Panteras of Miranda.
• volleyball: Magic of Caracas.
• Futsal: Caracas Futsal Club.
• Rugby: Central University of Venezuela Rugby Club; Andrés Bello Rugby Club Catholic University; Rugby Club of the Metropolitan University; Arcos Rugby Club and Rugby Club of Simón Bolívar University.

Predecessor:   Mexico City	Central American and Caribbean City 1,959	Successor:   Kingston
Predecessor:   San Juan	Pan American City 1,983	Successor:   Indianapolis

Throughout its history, the city of Caracas has had several twins with cities on various continents. On 12 October 1982, he participated in the Union of Capital Cities of Ibero-America, ​ establishing brotherly relations with the capitals of the Ibero-American nations. It should be noted that Paris is only a sister with a city in the world (Rome), supporting the so-called Friendship Pacts with various cities, with Caracas being the first American city to be the recipient of this distinction. Cities with Caracas: {{Column List|2|

•   Buenos Aires, Argentina (1982) ​
•   Atenco, Mexico ​
•   Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Mexico ​
•   Madrid, Spain ​
•   Melilla, Spain ​
•   Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain ​
•   Trujillo, Venezuela
•   The Yaaaaaaaayous part of the internationally unrecognized Western Sahara, controlled by Morocco. (12 August 2005)

• "Bulletin of the National Academy of History", Luis R. Oramas, XLIV, No. 175 (July-September 1961)
• "History of Venezuela" fray Pedro Simón, Tomo II, (see note No. 6, p. 12. 506), Editions of the National Academy of History Caracas 1987