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MARGARITA

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 704 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARGARITA , an See also:

island in the Caribbean See also:Sea belonging to See also:Venezuela, about 12 M. N. of the See also:peninsula of Araya, and constituting, under the constitution of _ igo4i—with Tortuga, Cubagua and Coche—a See also:political See also:division called the Eastern Federal See also:District. The island is about 40 M. See also:long from See also:east to See also:west, has an See also:area of 400 sq. m., and consists of two mountainous extremities, nearly separated by the See also:Laguna Grande on the See also:south, but connected by a See also:low, narrow See also:isthmus. The highest See also:elevation on the island is the See also:peak of Macanao, 4484 ft., in the western See also:part, the highest point in the eastern part being the peak of Copei, 4170 ft. The higher valleys of the interior are highly fertile and are well adapted to grazing and stock-raising. The See also:principal See also:industries are fishing and the making of See also:salt. The See also:pearl See also:fisheries, which were so productive in the 16th and 17th centuries, are no longer important. A domestic See also:industry of the See also:women is that of making coarse See also:straw hats, which are sold on the mainland. The products of Margarita, however, are insufficient to support its See also:population, and large See also:numbers periodically emigrate to the mainland, preventing the increase in population which its healthful See also:climate favours. The population was estimated in 1904 at 40,000, composed in See also:great part of See also:half-See also:caste Guayqueri See also:Indians. The See also:capital is Asunci6n (pop. about 3000), on the east See also:side of the island, and its principal See also:port is Pompatar on the south See also:coast. The two small ports of See also:Puebla de la See also:Mar (Porlamar) and Puebla del Norte are merely open roadsteads.

- The island of Margarita (from Span. Margarita, pearl) was discovered by See also:

Columbus in 1498, and was bestowed in 1524 upon Marceto Villalobos by See also:Charles V. In 1 561 the freebooter Lope de Aguirre ravaged the island, and in 1662 the See also:town of Pompatar was destroyed by the Dutch. For- a long See also:time Margarita was attached to See also:Cumana, but in the eighteenth See also:century it was made administratively See also:independent. Its traders and sailors rendered invaluable assistance to the revolutionists in the See also:war of See also:independence, and the See also:Spanish See also:general, Morino, was driven from its shores in 1817; in recognition of this it was made a See also:separate See also:state and was renamed Nueva Esparta (New See also:Sparta). In 19o4-1909 it was a part of the Federal District with Asunci6n as its capital. The first Spanish See also:settlement in South See also:America was Nueva See also:Cadiz, founded in 1515 on the barren island of Cubagua; but the See also:place was abandoned when pearl-fishing and slave-trading ceased to be profitable.

End of Article: MARGARITA

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