Gulf of Venezuela
The Gulf of Venezuela is a geographical feature located in the southern part of the Caribbean Sea, in the north of South America between the peninsulas of Paraguaná and La Guajira, whose waters and coasts the majority belong to Venezuela and a minority to Colombia. It is connected to Lake Maracaibo by a navigation channel. It should be noted that the Los Monjes archipelago is considered the imaginary border between the Caribbean Sea and said body of water.
Toponymy
The first explorations by Europeans took place from 1499, when an expedition led by Alonso de Ojeda and Juan de la Cosa, accompanied by Américo Vespucio, explored the coasts of the gulf collecting data and giving names to the newly discovered lands; Said expedition reached the Gulf after passing through the Dutch Antilles and the Paraguaná peninsula in an east-west direction.
On June 8, 1501, the Spanish kings granted a capitulation to Alonso de Ojeda for the creation of the province of Coquivacoa, the first in Tierra Firme, and of which he would be named governor five days later. Apparently the name was applied by Ojeda to the Guajira peninsula, which he erroneously considered an island. Later the name has been applied to designate Lake Maracaibo in some historical documents and maps, it was adopted by a parish in the city of Maracaibo and is frequent in some cultural references typical of this city. In fact, another name with which they have referred to the gulf is Maracaibo.
In 1601, the Spanish chronicler Antonio de Herrera very briefly recounts the expedition of Alonso de Ojeda, and mentions that he first reached the Gulf of Venezuela, which he suggests was known by some as Coquivacoa, without giving further explanations. The name of the Gulf of Venezuela prevails in other historical documents such as the "Geographic Historical Dictionary of South America" by the Jesuit Giandomenico Coleti, from 1771.
Another reference from 1829 states that the Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda called it Gulf of Venice because when he entered Lake Maracaibo he saw the constructions of indigenous stilt houses and they resembled the constructions of Venice in Italy. The Spanish historian Fray Pedro Simón said that the origin of the name Venezuela came from the name Venice with which Ojeda had baptized the gulf and which was later used for the entire nation. But the Venezuelan historian Arístides Rojas differs from that opinion, according to him Venezuela began to be used 30 years after the discovery of the gulf by Ojeda; also A. Rojas calls the Gulf "of Chichivacoa". Rojas also comments that the use of Venezuela began with the arrival of the Welser Company and Ambrosio Alfinger at the time of the conquest. The German name Klein-Venedig (literally "Little Venice") appears on German maps and documents of the time.
Geology
The Gulf of Venezuela is adjacent to the Maracaibo watershed. This basin has had a structural history in which the formation of the continent (epyrogenesis) has predominated, caused by the slow displacement of the earth's crust in the area and the subsequent sedimentation caused by alluvium. Epirogenesis has caused a relatively stable western block to form and a declining eastern block that suffers from erosion. The combination of structural and sedimentary processes led to the formation of oil and gas deposits between the Cretaceous and Eocene periods. However, the gulf formed between the Miocene and the Pliocene.
The Gulf of Venezuela lies on the South American plate, to the north, relatively close to where the plate collides with the Caribbean plate. The depths of the lake range from 15 to 60 meters and in other areas between 20 and 40 meters.
According to a study by the Technical University of Berlin, directed by Professor B. Theilen-Willige, the Venezuelan coast presents a risk of tsunami in various areas including the Gulf of Venezuela and Lake Maracaibo that could be caused by avalanches and underwater collapses.
Flora and fauna
The north-western coast of the Gulf of Venezuela is home to at least 15 species of stony corals present in formations of shallow reef patches of recent geological formation that are associated with other marine species, such as sponges, turtles, and echinoderms, among others.
Borderline dispute
Practically since the dissolution of Gran Colombia there has been a border dispute between Venezuela and Colombia due to the displacement of the border line in continental territory and the consequent non-delimitation of the territorial and submarine waters that would correspond respectively to each country, ceding in practice a large territorial extension previously considered Venezuela, in favor of Colombia. Each of the parties has resorted to different documents and versions of colonial history to justify their respective claims on the maritime extension to be delimited.
The Gulf of Venezuela is considered to have great strategic importance due to the existence of oil in it as one of the reasons for the dispute by Colombia in modern times.
Venezuelan thesis
The Venezuelan thesis starts from the land border prolongation line —favorable to Venezuela with respect to the perpendicular of the coast that implies the median line between continental territories—, in addition to the establishment of the median line between the Guajira peninsula and the Archipelago of the Monks. Among some Venezuelan commentators, the thesis of the dry coast has emerged, according to which the entire Gulf of Venezuela would be the sovereignty of the homonymous country and Colombia would not have any jurisdiction over the waters of the Gulf, delimiting marine and submarine areas with Venezuela on the basis to the recognition of the rights generated for Venezuela by the recognition of the territorial sea and continental platform generated by the Los Monjes Archipelago.
Colombian thesis
Colombia insists that the Los Monjes archipelago, as uninhabited islets 20 nautical miles off the Colombian coast, do not constitute a continental shelf, despite the topographical demonstration and the permanent presence of inhabitants at a Venezuelan Navy base and to the use of the area by Venezuelan fishermen. The Colombian thesis presents a midline division between the continental territories of Colombia and Venezuela and seeks to establish that the Venezuelan archipelago of Los Monjes is the limit of the Colombian territorial sea.
Caldas corvette crisis
In contemporary times, the height of tension in the issue of the dispute occurred in August 1987 when the Colombian corvette Caldas sailed illegally in Venezuelan territorial waters. This caused Venezuelan President Jaime Lusinchi to order a strong mobilization of the armed forces.
At first the corvette, by then already accompanied by two submarines and a Colombian helicopter, refused to leave the area and the start of hostilities by one of the two sides was considered imminent. At the same time, bilateral diplomatic channels had been activated to try to prevent a warlike outcome. Finally the crisis ended when Colombian President Virgilio Barco ordered the withdrawal of the corvette. This event is known as the "Corvette Caldas crisis".
From that moment on, the discussions to advance in the definitive solution of the dispute have remained frozen by mutual agreement between the two countries. A binational commission has been meeting from time to time to discuss border issues and some aspects of the dispute, without substantially modifying the status quo.
War conflicts
The gulf was the scene of several events during World War II.
In June 1940, the French warning Barfleur penetrated into the Gulf of Venezuela, chasing the Italian-flagged merchant Alabama. The Barfleur fired several shots at the Alabama and forced it to run aground at Barra del Lago de Maracaibo. Days later the same incident was repeated with the freighter, also Italian, Dentice.
As a consequence of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Venezuela broke relations with the Axis powers in December 1941. As a result, on February 16, 1942, the Venezuelan tankers Monagas and Tía Juana are torpedoed and sunk by Third Reich submarines in gulf waters, after which the government of President Isaías Medina Angarita, although without declaring war, begins to cooperate more closely with the allied effort, even authorizing the temporary use of Venezuelan military bases by the United States Army and Navy, as well as guaranteeing the supply of fuel to said forces.
Economy
The main factor that gives importance to these waters is the fact that they serve as a link between Lake Maracaibo and the Caribbean Sea. In the lake and adjacent areas there are large amounts of crude oil reserves. Oil is extracted from the wells to the refineries and markets of the world through ships.
The lake also contains large reserves of natural gas that are held as strategic reserves.