Colonia Tovar; The Germany of the Caribbean

Colonia Tovar is a town of Venezuela, the capital of the municipality Tovar in Aragua state. It was founded in 1843 from the independent state of Baden then, by a group of immigrants which was later incorporated into Germany.

It is called the `Germany of the Caribbean’, and this northern Venezuelan community has great Bavarian architecture and pride. The economy is dependent on agriculture and tourism and the town is situated 42 km from Caracas. Colonia Tovar is known for its temperate corps like peaches, beets, strawberries, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, chard, broccoli, onions, potatoes and lettuce together with their derivatives.

Population growth has been rising since 1990 from 3,373 to 14,309 in 2001. The Colonia is around 2,200 m towards the central coastal mountains of the Venezuelan Coastal Range and is connected with Caracas and La Victoria by road.

The city is located in the northern area of Aragua state while the municipality is `L’ shaped and bounded on the north by the Caribbean Sea, while the northeast by the state of Vargas and in the east, Caracas with the south bordering the Aragua River. The east ends with the Santiago Marino Municipality and is settled in rugged terrain with streams and creeks.

Organised as Closed Community

From earlier times, Colonia Tovar was organized as a closed community and the founders were keen in maintaining their cultural traditions for a very long time wherein on arrival; they started building houses retaining its distinctive architecture of the Kaiserstuhl.

Baden dialect,theBadische was the language which dominated at that time and food and clothing remained intact and to a certain extent, marriages outside the Colonia were discouraged to ensure the continuity of ethnic and culture.

Though the official language of Venezuela is Castilian, most of the people in that state spoke alemannisch – Alemannic, Aleman Colonjero, well. It is a variant language which has been inherited from the previous generations after 150 year though several phonetic as well as lexical turns are now not in use in Europe.

Places of Interest 

Some of the places of interest are:

The Breikanz Mall is in the centre of Colonia Tovar in CodazziStreet which has a series of shops with crafts, typical of the region of Germany. The Museum of the City which was created by Dr Nestor Rojas offers glimpses of the history, customs and traditions of the Germanic people. Codazzi Peak Natural Monument has a maximum height of around 2,429 m in Aragua state jurisdiction with a covering area of around 11,850 which is shared by the states of Vargas, Miranda as well as the Capital District.

It has been declared by presidential decree of June 5, 1991 as a national monument, in honour and national recognition to the Italian cartographer and geographer, Agustino Codazzi. The natural area has the installation of the Archaeological Museum Panarigua and Inn Panarigua.

The Historical Centre has several buildings in the city centre while around the Plaza Bolivar are the historical axis of Colonia. The Tovar Brewery was the first Venezuelan beer that was made in Colonia in 1843 on the arrival of the founders and since then, production has remained the same.