Chama

The Chama runs through the Venezuelan Andes towards Lake Maracaibo. High above its valley stands Mérida, on a plateau between the Chama and Albarregas rivers. Indigenous communities cultivated the mountain slopes and built channels and pools to supply their fields with water. These works were noted by Spaniards exploring the mountain valleys in the sixteenth century.

In 1558 Juan Rodríguez Suárez founded Mérida during an expedition from Pamplona. The settlement was moved within the Chama valley, and Juan de Maldonado reorganised it the following year. In 1810 a junta in Mérida declared a separate province during the crisis of Spanish rule and transformed the local seminary into a university. Mountain roads and the Chama valley continued to connect the city with the lands around Lake Maracaibo.