Tachira

Táchira is a mountainous country at the western end of the Venezuelan Andes, where the Cordillera de Mérida meets the ranges of Colombia. Rivers descend from its slopes toward Lake Maracaibo and the Orinoco basin. The town of San Cristóbal was founded in 1561 during Spanish expansion into the highlands. Mountain passes linked its valleys to neighbouring Andean settlements and to the plains beyond.