Yaracuy State is located in the central-western region of Venezuela (
Falcón, Lara, Portuguesa and Yaracuy States), between the coordinates 9º50' and 10º46' latitude North, and 68º14' y 69º14' of longitude West. It is bordered to the north by the state of Falcon, on a 105 km borderline; to the east by the state of Carabobo, on a 75 km borderline; to the south by the state of Cojedes, on an 80 km borderline; and to the east by the state of Lara, on a 205 km borderline (see map on the political-territorial division of the state of Yaracuy, on the map). Although it cannot be considered as a coastal state, it has contact with the
Caribbean Sea through its main river, the Yaracuy, which flows into the Boca de Yaracuy, which represents a high potential for the growth of commercial activity in the area, both inland and abroad. Currently, we are managing areas of overlap with the boundaries of two states: Falcón, with which 215,12
km² are under discussion, corresponding to the municipalities of Manuel Monge, Veroes and San Felipe, and with which 93,4 km² are under discussion, corresponding to the municipalities of Peñ and Nirgua, for a total of 308.5 km² in claim, which represents 4.35% of the state's surface area. The territory officially covers an area of 7,100
km², with a length of 102 km north–south and 109 km east–west. It covers 0.77% of the country's territory and is the sixth smallest entity in Venezuela, in the central-western region, with a 10.6%
surface area.
Climate Average annual temperatures and rainfall are high with variations depending on the altitude: the climate is temperate at the top of its mountains, the subtropical climate in the high valleys of the Sierra de Nirgua; and in most of the state the tropical climate prevails, with average annual temperatures of 22
°C and annual rainfall of 1900 mm. In the valleys of Aroa and Yaracuy, the average temperature is 26 °C and rainfall exceeds 1000 mm per year. Humidity conditions are optimal for cocoa cultivation in the northern sector; in San Felipe 1374 mm of rain is registered, descending to 1332 mm in Chivacoa and 1098 mm in Urachiche. In the highlands of the Sierra de Aroa and part of the Nirgua massif, rainfall is recorded during most of the year, exceeding 1400 mm per year, thus enabling the formation of its most representative vegetation, the evergreen forest.
Hydrography The most important rivers belong to the
Caribbean basin and are the Yaracuy and Aroa, both of which are over 130 km long. The Yaracuy River crosses Yaracuy and Carabobo, where it forms the Urachiche Gorge, and has the characteristics of a plain river. In the rainy season, its waters tend to go out of the way producing floods. It receives numerous fluvial currents, like Quebrada Grande, Guama, Yurubí, Agua Blanca and Taría, among others. The Aroa River has its source at 1200 m altitude, on the northern slope of Palo Negro Hill, north of the entity. Its basin covers an area of 2402
km², located between the basins of the Tocuyo River, to the north and west, and the Yaracuy River, to the south and east. Important tributaries are the Yumare, Tupe, Zamuro, Guarataro and Tesorero rivers, as well as the Guacamaya, Carapita, Guaicayare and Galapago streams. It flows through the Golfo Triste into the Caribbean Sea, after a journey of approximately 150 km. Other rivers such as the
Turbio and Buria are shorter and flow into the Orinoco basin through the Portuguesa and Cojedes Rivers, respectively. The Cabuy, San Pablo, Yurubí, Guama, Tamboral, Yumare and Crucito Rivers are also located here. In general, the rivers of the Yaracuy state are characterized by being irregular, that is, the rest of the rivers, outside of the main ones, do not maintain their fixed flow throughout the year; This fact is not due to evaporation, nor to deforestation at the headwaters of the rivers, nor to the rainy regime of the area. The cause of this irregularity is the nature and sandy constitution of the basin where the rivers flow. Yaracuy offers throughout its geography a number of rivers such as: the Yaracuy, Yurubí, Aroa, Guama, Los Ureros, Carabobo, etc., and three reservoirs,
Cumaripa, Guaremal and Cabuy. The rivers of the Yaracuy State are part of the Caribbean slope and the Atlantic slope. The Yaracuy and Aroa river basins correspond to the side of the Caribbean Sea, and the Cabuy, Turbio, Buria, and Nirgua rivers fall into the Atlantic basins, which form the hydrographic system of the Cojedes and San Carlos rivers. Water plays a preponderant role in the development of agricultural and industrial activity. In this sense, the Yaracuy state does not present restrictions, given the abundance of water resources it possesses, due to the magnitude of the rainfall that in its territory determines high annual runoff yields in its different hydrographic basins. Regarding groundwater, the entity has a high potential, which represents positive perspectives for the development of agriculture under irrigation.
Geology 65% of the territory of the Yaracuy state is made up of mountainous formations and foothills of hills, which in their distribution allow to differentiate three large spaces, these are: the Bobare Coordillera, which separates the Yaracuy state from the Falcón state; the Sierra de Aroa, separated from the Bobare Coordillera by the Aroa River Valley, and the Macizo de Nirgua, separated from the Sierra de Aroa by the Turbio-Yaracuy Depression, giving rise to an alternation of mountains, flat lands, valleys and depressions.
Relief The Yaracuy state relief is extremely diverse, presenting an alternation of valleys, plains, depressions, foothills and mountains (65% of the territory). It corresponds to the sector where the
Coordillera de los Andes ends, and the Coordillera de la Costa begins, a sector that is occupied by three well-differentiated formations, the Macizo de Nirgua, the Sierra de Aroa and that of Bobare, the three separated from each other by the Yaracuy Turbio depression and the Aroa River Valley. The Nirgua Massif formed by a group of foothills that are linked to the coastal range, has its culminating point at Cerro la Copa (1810 m). The Sierra de Aroa, located in the central part and oriented in a southwest–northeast direction, divides the two main depressions and has its highest point at Cerro el Tigre (1780 m). The Sierra de Bobare separates Yaracuy from Falcón.
Soils In the northern part of Yaracuy State, sand and silt (mud) can be found mostly, while other sectors present a frank-clayey character. The state has significant mineral resource potential, especially in the non-metallic category, among which are sand and gravel, red clay, limestone, talc, marble, feldspathic sands, peat, feldspars, and gypsum.
Fauna and Flora The more representative vegetation of the forest entities is that, despite the interventions to which they have been subjected, it proliferates both in the valleys of the Aroaya-Yaracuyuy rivers and in the Nirgua field. At an altitude of 800msnms, a dense cloud forest develops, while on the banks of the Yar River, the forest prevails. The rest of the state space is covered by bushes, savannah vegetation, pastures and cultivated areas, fundamentally due to the greater human intervention.
Flora The
flora of the state of Yaracuy is very varied, and has been the subject of numerous studies. Some regions of the state were visited by the Swiss naturalist
Henri Pittier in the 1820s, who left detailed records of his findings in numerous publications and deposited the first botanical samples in the herbarium of the Museo Comercial e Industrial de
Venezuela, which later became part of the National Herbarium of Venezuela. However, botanical activity in subsequent years has been irregular and some groups of plants are still considered underrepresented in national herbariums. Recently, several specific inventories of floristic elements from the natural and cultivated regions of the state have been made.
Vertebrates At least 40 species of
land mammals and 51 species of bats have been recorded in the Sierra de Aroa, and at least one species of shrew and tree frog endemic to this locality has been described.
Invertebrates Exhaustive inventories of the insects of the state of Yaracuy have not been published, but there are some specific studies of the diurnal
butterflies and coprophagous beetles in an agricultural-forest mosaic of the foothills of Zapatero Hill in the Guáquira hacienda. Among the butterflies, some 129 species were registered, predominantly from the family Nymphalidae, but it is estimated that there are more than 240 species. At least 22 species of
beetles were also found, including a species endemic to Venezuela, Bdelyropsis venezuelensis Howden, 1976. ==Government and politics==