Caripito is first recorded as a mission town, but the existence of this first settlement was short as it was destroyed by a major fire on 17 March 1783. Caripito has been known by a number of names, including La Palencia, San Juan, Caripe Horno, and finally Caripito, as a diminutive of the nearby
Caripe. The town achieved political and territorial recognition when the
Colón municipality was created in 1896. In 1910, the first school in Caripito was established. In 1924 the
Standard Oil Company began oil exploration activities in the area and Caripito experienced a slight repopulation. When oil exploitation began in 1928 Caripito received an important boost to its urban development from the arrival of migrant labor, particularly from the
Caribbean islands. In 1929, the
Creole Petroleum Corporation (Standard Oil) began to build a storage yard and deep-water
pier on the San Juan River and on October 15, 1930, the first
tanker left the port with 20 thousand barrels of
oil bound for
Trinidad. The establishment of the Harbor Master's Office, independent from that of
Güiria, as well as the development of modern health services, hotels, power plants, transport links, military garrison, schools, an airport, and other civic amenities accelerated the development of the city, drawing migrant families from the states of
Sucre and
Nueva Esparta as well as the
United States and the
Caribbean. In 1931 the
Standard Oil Company opened a local
oil refinery with an initial capacity of 26 thousand barrels per day, the second of its kind after the San Lorenzo refinery built in the State of
Zulia in 1917. In 1935 a Caripito terminal was opened on the San Juan River where
Pan Am seaplanes could arrive from Central America and the Caribbean. In 1936 Caripito International Airport was selected by
Amelia Earhart as the second stop on her trip around the world, spending the night at the Standard Oil Company facilities. The event was widely publicized in the world press and the company provided logistical support to continue the flight through South America. In 1938, the
Creole Petroleum Corporation increased the capacity of Caripito to 70 thousand barrels per day, making it the most important refinery in
Venezuela until the expansion of the
Amuay and
Cardón refineries was completed in the mid-1950s. Caripito became the capital of the under a decree of January 19, 1940, signed by Governor José María Isava on January 30. Between 1941 and 1961 the population of Caripito doubled as a result of intense economic activity, but by the mid-1970s a third of the population had emigrated due to decline in oil production. In 1976, Creole's assets were
nationalized and were managed by
Gulf Oil subsidiary Lagoven, later by Corpoven and now by
PDVSA in association with
Repsol. After closing the refinery in 1976 and the oil terminal in 2002, attempts have been made to boost
agricultural activity to take advantage of the fertile land. == Public and historic spaces ==