Apure - History

History

The conquest of these wild lands started mid XVII when the land was populated by many Indian tribes like the peaceful Arawaks and the dangerous Caribs among others. Actual settlement did not start until early XVIII with large cattle foundations started by landowners looking to expand their already crowded cattle ranches in San Carlos de Austria and other cities. Some of the most famous were Jose Ignacio Pumar (Marquee of Pumar), Joseph Blanco Y Salazar along with Franciscan missionaries from Andalucia and others missionaries and landowners that would "pacify" and remove the natives by the sword or converting them to Christianity.

In the colonial era, Apure was at one time part of the Province of Mérida del Espíritu Santo de la Grita, which merged with Maracaibo in 1676 to form Maracaibo Province. Its territory was part of the territory split from Maracaibo Province in 1786 to form Barinas Province. Apure Province was split from Barinas in 1823, and in 1864 it was given state status.

Apure is an independent state from 1864, when the Venezuelan territory organized itself as los Estados Unidos de Venezuela, or United States of Venezuela. In 1881 it formed part of the state of Bolívar along with Guayana, but As of 1899 it recovered the category of independent state.

Apure has existed as a state as of 1864.

As of 2012 airstrips operated by a Columbian guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, in Apure were the point of origin for significant amounts of cocaine which were transported first to Honduras and other Central American and Caribbean locations by small planes and then to North America by Mexican drug cartels. Due to security considerations Venezuela ceased to cooperate with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration in 2005. Subsequent drug interdiction operations by Venezuela were showy but ineffective due to pervasive corruption. Apure is attractive for traffickers because besides bordering Colombia and the Caribbean, its dry plains make it easy to create landing strips for small planes simply by dragging a log behind a pickup truck.