Arapuey

Arapuey lies south of Lake Maracaibo, where rivers descend from the Venezuelan Andes into the lake basin. Nearby Gibraltar became a port through which the produce of the Andean hinterland could reach the lake. Spanish settlers founded San Antonio de Gibraltar in 1592, but the Quiriquire attacked it in 1600. In later colonial times cacao from the surrounding district passed through the lakeside port.