Colonia Tovar is a population of Venezuela, capital of Tovar municipality, in the state of Aragua. Founded in 1843 by a group of German immigrants from the then independent state of Baden (later incorporated into Germany). It is characterized by maintaining the cultural imprint of its origin, for what is called "the Germany of the Caribbean" or "The German people of Venezuela." It is famous for its culture, its temperate climate and the warmth of its people. It depends basically on agriculture -where temperate climate crops such as peaches, strawberries, beet, cauliflower, carrot, cabbage, chard, broccoli, lettuce, chives and potatoes- and tourism stand out, and is located 42 km west of Caracas. a height of 1700 meters above sea level. It has a very varied German cuisine, its main dish being the different types of sausages such as sausages. Since 1990 it has shown a high demographic growth rate, going from 3373 to 14 672 inhabitants in 2011.
History.
In the year 1840, during the government of General José Antonio Páez, it was proposed, from the Ministry of Internal Relations, the possibility of founding new populations in which agriculture and mining were developed in order to bring immigrants from the European continent, particularly from Germany.
Agustín Codazzi, as representative of the government and at the suggestion of Alexander von Humboldt, made contact with the settlers of the Kaiserstuhl (in English: "chair of the emperor"), mountainous wine region of the Grand Duchy of Baden, which occupied a large part of the eastern shore of the river Rhine. From here would come the majority of the settlers who were to found and settle in Colonia Tovar
A colonizing company formed by Codazzi, Ramón Díaz and Martín Tovar Ponte (Conde de Tovar) as guarantor. The company selected the area where the colony would be installed, taking into account the geographical and climatic similarities of the Kaiserstuhl. The selected lands located at 2200 meters above sea level in the Cordillera de la Costa belonged to the nephew of the Count of Tovar, Manuel Felipe Tovar, who donated them for the installation of the colony.
On October 14, 1841, the territory was baptized as Palmar del Tuy and basic infrastructure works were carried out. Once finished, the colonizing company went to the old medieval city of Endingen of the mountainous areas of the Kaiserstuhl to select the settlers. The contracts between the company and the immigrants were signed at the Der Pfauen Inn, located a few meters from the entrance of the city. Finally the immigrants who embarked for Venezuela added 391 people: 240 men and 151 women, the great majority of them of the Kaiserstuhl, who departed on December 18, 1842
They left for the Rhine, embarked in the port of Le Havre (France) on January 19, 1843 and arrived at La Guaira on March 4 aboard the French ship Clemence piloted by Captain Malverin.3 It was planned to disembark at the coasts of Puerto Maya, north of La Victoria, but in view of the fact that the road previously drawn by Codazzi had not been opened, they were forced to go to Choroní to climb the alternate road, part of which forms the current Maracay Highway -Choroní, also designed by Codazzi and opened by engineer Inder Pellegrini from La Victoria to the place set aside for the new population.4 However, they could not disembark immediately because a smallpox epidemic had been declared on board and they had to remain in quarantine in Choroní since March 13 of the same year.5
On March 31, they disembarked, went to the city of Maracay and from there to La Victoria, where they were received by the then president of Venezuela Carlos Soublette.6 The settlers arrived at the LaLagunita (community of the Tovar colony) on March 8. April 1843, 112 days after leaving Baden. That day is considered the day of the foundation of Colonia Tovar, which took the surname of the donor as its name. Among the first settlers were scientists, naturalists, writers and painters, such as Karl Ferdinand Appun, Karl Hermann Karsten, Karl Moritz, Nicholas Funck, Anton Goering, Wilhelm Sievers, Ferdinand Bellermann (painter who was sponsored by Humboldt) and many others, much of which are buried in the cemetery of the city.
Colonia Tovar is the most picturesque and well-known German center in Venezuela and one of the best examples of coexistence among different nationalities in Latin America.
1000/5000
Many of the German emigrants, including the German royalty, received help during the two world wars of the residents of Colonia Tovar. For this reason, at this time Colonia Tovar became one of the most influential political centers of German immigration in Latin America, due to its point of transit to all of South America from the ports of Maracaibero and Catia La Mar. In these times , the most difficult for the residents of German origin and German emigration in Venezuela that were during the Second World War and after the Second World War were highlighted the ties with the German Royal Family The Counts of Luxburg, Princes of Schonaich-Carolath and Princes of Carolath-Beuthen. Those who strengthened the ties of Colonia Tovar with the central government of Venezuela, so that it will not exercise any type of preventive measures of isolation (as was done in Maracaibo and Caracas) against people of German descent living in the colony.
Initially, the Tovar colony was organized around the production of coffee. As "the colonists" were thriving, the production spread to new lands and activities, such as the cultivation of vegetables, vegetables and fruits, which found good market in Caracas or La Victoria, and then the manufacture of barrels, taking advantage of the quality of the woods in the area
For many years the colony was communicated with Caracas through a river. The difficulty of the communications, the isolation and the environmental scenario so different from that of the alpine mountains of Germany meant that, for quite some time, the population remained isolated and static, with a very slow and even negative demographic growth at some point, due to the rural exodus.
Beginning in the 1960s, when Colonia Tovar became an agricultural emporium and was declared an area of tourist interest under Presidential Decree No. 1165 of 1964, this trend began to reverse, with the development of communications and recreational needs. from Caracas, Maracay and other cities, which gave rise to an important economic development. By then, the Selva Negra Hotel, founded in 1938 by the Breidenbach Brothers (Juan, Carlos and José), was already working.
Colonia Tovar has been the capital of the municipality of Tovar since 1989 and is accessible by land from Caracas, which is 56 km away, via the Carayaca road of the Vargas state, the El Jarillo road of the Miranda State and the Victoria of the Aragua State. 32 km away. It is one of the richest municipalities in the country measured by per capita income and one of those with the best quality of life. The prosperity of Colonia Tovar led in turn to a high population growth of the population, from 3373 to 14 309 inhabitants in 2001.
At present, the access roads tend to become congested on weekends due to the large number of visitors. The old descendants of the first settlers are fully integrated into the country and have mestizo with the native population. They speak Castilian and have had to rescue their own knowledge of German and improve it due to the demands for the arrival of many German tourists who are always surprised to find a typical German village in the middle of the intertropical zone.
At the beginning of September 2017, Colonia Tovar is affected by heavy rains, causing flooding after the increase of the flow in the El Molino River.