Maiquetia

Maiquetía is a city and parish located on the Central Coast of Venezuela, head of the homonymous parish, belonging to the state of La Guaira.

History

Maiquetía was founded by the Spanish on January 20, 1670 under the name "San Sebastián de Maiquetía", which over the years was reduced to just Maiquetía. The original name is a combination of the name of a Christian saint and a local indigenous person. Initially part of the Vargas Department of the Federal District, in 1998 the parish became part of the Vargas Federal Territory and in 1999 of the then called Vargas State.

Maiquetía gained importance with the construction of the Simón Bolívar International Airport, the most important in the country and a commercial airport that serves the city of Caracas, an infrastructure that, due to the parish divisions, is now located in the Urimare parish, but nevertheless I retain the name of Maiquetía, which causes some confusion even for the inhabitants of the region themselves. Previously, Carlos Soublette and Maiquetía made up a single parish, which is why the INE carried out the 2011 census considering this situation.

After the emergence of new parishes and the need to establish clear limits for this territory, the Legislative Council approved the Law of Political Territorial Division of the State of La Guaira, whose project was recorded by the Simón Bolívar Geographic Institute of Venezuela, in the framework of the National Project for the Consolidation of the Limits that make up the Territorial Political Division of Venezuela.

Maiquetía suffered the devastating effects of the torrential rains that flooded and flooded the Vargas state (current La Guaira state) in December 1999 during the Vargas Tragedy, especially the houses near the beds of the Piedra Azul and Curucutí rivers..

Geography

Maiquetía is eminently commercial, in its historic center it has many shops and a market, with narrow streets with the exception of Carlos Soublette Avenue. It is located at 19 meters above sea level, on a maritime terrace between the Caribbean Sea and the foothills of the Central Coast mountain range, part of the Coastal Mountain Range. The national capital Caracas is approximately 37 kilometers to the southeast. The Maiquetía parish has an area of 2,200 hectares or 22 square kilometers, however, it forms a conurbation with La Guaira, with which it is linked through Soublette Avenue. It borders to the west with the Carlos Soublette parish, to the north with the Caribbean Sea or Sea of the Antilles, to the west with the Urimare parish and to the south with the Capital District and the Miranda State. Given its proximity to Caracas, this city offers the best location for some hotels and the view of the sea is excellent.

Part of the population also extends towards the Urimare parish, where the Maiquetía Simón Bolívar International Airport, the 10 de Marzo Urbanization (La Aviación Sector), Brisas del Aeropuerto, Santa Eduvigis and Sotavento are located, as well as the Airport, Mare and La Torre neighborhoods; However, for census purposes this parish is not considered part of the town center of Maiquetía but of Catia La Mar, generating confusion regarding the name of the airport as part of the city of Maiquetía.

According to estimates from the National Institute of Statistics, the parish had an approximate population for the year 2018 of 35,985 inhabitants, an increase compared to the 2011 census when 34,128 inhabitants were registered.

Climate

Average climate parameters of Maiquetía
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Average temperature (°C)	28.5	28.3	28.5	29.1	30.0	30.3	30.1	30.9	31.4	31.3	30.5	29.4	29.9
Average temperature (°C)	24.4	24.5	24.9	25.7	26.6	26.7	26.4	27.0	27.4	27.3	26.7	25.4	26.1
Temp. medium (°C)	21.9	21.9	22.3	23.3	24.2	24.2	23.8	24.2	24.6	24.6	24.0	22.7	23.5
Rains (mm)	28.1	17.1	22.1	29.0	36.1	53.3	56.8	50.3	54.1	55.9	53.6	54.4	510.8
Rainy days (≥ 1.0 mm)	3.6	2.6	1.8	2.7	4.4	6.7	7.6	7.4	7.0	6.7	5.5	5.1	61.1
Hours of sun	232.5	220.4	241.8	183.0	201.5	207.0	241.8	244.9	228.0	207.7	195.0	210.8	2614.4
Source No. 1: World Meteorological Organization
Source No. 2: Hong Kong Observatory