Barinas

Barinas lies where the Venezuelan Andes meet the western Llanos, a transitional position that shaped its long administrative link with the plains of Apure. Colonial arrangements placed Apure within the provinces of Mérida, Maracaibo and Barinas at different times. In 1824 a Department of Apure was established under Barinas, giving the relationship a republican form.

The surrounding lowlands are built from weakly consolidated sandy and clayey sediments shaped by floods. Much of the Apure country is savanna interspersed with gallery forest and rivers, and extensive dunes formed in the dry seasons. From the early eighteenth century cattle ranches spread across these plains, and the llaneros, the plains herdsmen, became central to life here.