The Los Roques Archipelago (Spanish: Archipiélago de Los Roques) is a federal dependency of Venezuela consisting of approximately 350 islands, cays, and islets in a total area of 40.61 square kilometers. The archipelago is located directly north of the port of La Guaira, in the Caribbean Sea.
The islands' pristine coral reef attracts many wealthy visitors, especially from Europe, some of whom come in their own yachts and anchor in the inner, protected shallow waters. Development and tourism are controlled.
Because of the wide variety of seabirds and rich aquatic life, the Venezuelan government declared Los Roques a National Park in 1972.
Its first settlers were the Caribbean aborigines who visited the islands to collect botutos, fish, hunt turtles and extract salt. There are still some constructions of salt flats with dikes, stone paths and remains of houses that were created at this time known as the time of exploitation of salt. But the permanent occupation arises with the arrival of fishermen from Margarita Island, who were bringing their families and settling in Los Roques. The names of the keys and islands originated from the mixture of cultures that grew up on these islands. The indigenous word "cayo" was translated by English-speaking buccaneers to "key" and this ended up being written phonetically in Spanish as "qui". This is where many of the names came from, some examples of this are: Frank's key that became Francisquí. Crab's key in Crasquí; and mixing the French word "soeur" (sister) with "key" gave rise to the name of the key that today is known as Sarquí.
The islands were sighted by early Spanish navigators, and in 1589 the governor of the Venezuelan province ordered the formal takeover of these islands on behalf of the colony.
The Dutch considered Los Roques to belong to their island territory of Curaçao because of its proximity to Bonaire which also belonged to the Dutch. The author M.D. Teenstra in 1836 still writes (in his book The Dutch West Indies): "The Government of Curaçao also includes the uninhabited islets and rocks Little Curaçao, Aves, Roques and Orchilla."
In the 18th century, the Sociedad Mercantil Real Compañía Guipuzcoana was established on the islands and the first islands of the archipelago (Gran Roque, Carenero, Cayo Sal, etc) were given their names. Also at that time, temporary fishermen began to arrive, and in the 19th century the exploitation of salt mines and guano began.
In 1871 the Venezuelan president Antonio Guzmán Blanco created by decree the Territorio Colón (Columbus Territory) which included Los Roques and other adjacent islands. The island of Gran Roque was named as the center of territorial government.
Around the year 1886 there is reference to the arrival of inhabitants coming from the nearby Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, Curaçao, etc. They left as a legacy some of the exotic names given to some islands or keys (for example Francisquí, Madrisquí, Krasquí, Selesquí). The suffix "quí" corresponds to the English term (and other languages) "key", which means Island.
At the beginning of the 20th century an epidemic of bubonic plague in La Guaira caused the Venezuelan government to authorize the use of the island of Gran Roque as a quarantine site.
In 1910, the town of Gran Roque began to consolidate with families from Margarita Island, mainly fishermen.
On 20 July 1938 the islands were integrated into the Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, and it was only on 8 August 1972 that the archipelago was declared a national park.
The small population of 484 that inhabited it in 1941 grew to 559 in the year 1950.
After its declaration as a national park, the Los Roques scientific foundation (Fundación Científica de Los Roques) was created, which established its laboratories and facilities on the island of Dos Mosquises, to carry out works on archeology, fish, turtles, mollusks, corals, sponges, fishing and oceanography.
In 1978 the marine delimitation agreement between Venezuela and the Kingdom of the Netherlands was signed.
In 1987, the Los Roques Scientific Foundation carried out a registry, which allowed them to conclude that there were 847 inhabitants in Gran Roque. Only 663 of these were permanent inhabitants, and the remainder were sailors residing on Isla Margarita.
In order to give greater dynamism to its administration and promote the sustainable development of the islands on 2 November 1990, according to Presidential Decree 1214, the figure of the Single Authority of Los Roques Area (Autoridad Única de Área) was created, which would continue as part of the Federal Dependencies but with a special administrative status.
In October 2011 all the islands of the Los Roques archipelago are integrated to the Miranda Insular Territory (Territorio Insular Francisco de Miranda) according to presidential decree 8549 of 1 November 2011, published in the official gazette N° 39797, a subdivision of the Federal Dependencies with capital in Gran Roque.
In 2012 the Venezuelan National Navy named a Damen Stan Lander 5612 landing craft after the islands. In 2012, the Organic Regulations of the Head of Government of the Insular Territory of Miranda were approved, which establishes the organization of the government in Los Roques, La Orchila and Las Aves. In 2014 the government of the Territory together with the inhabitants of Los Roques established the Norms of Communal Coexistence of the Insular Territory Francisco de Miranda in the Archipelago of Los Roques.
In September 2019 a new airport was inaugurated in Los Roques, with an expanded runway, new facilities with a national and international area, waiting room and other related structures.
The major islands of the archipelago have an atoll structure, with two external barriers formed by coral communities, and an inner lagoon and sandy shallows. The park consists of , of coral reefs, 42 coral cays surrounding a shallow central lagoon of , two barrier reefs (east and south) and 300 sand banks, islands and cays, ranging in size from Cayo Grande to the Gran Roque . Other important islands are Francisqui, Nordisqui, Madrisqui, and Crasqui.
As a result of its declaration as a national park in 1972, a protection plan was created, which establishes certain regulations on the island to preserve the state of these ecosystems. This plan is known as zoning, which consists of the separation of zones management, which are protected depending on their fragility and importance, and depending on this certain activities are allowed. Which means that the more protection an area has, the fewer activities will be allowed
The Archipelago de Los Roques national park has seven management zones, the Integral Protection zone, the Primitive Marina, the Managed Natural Environment, Recreation Zone, of Cultural Historical Interest and Archeopaleontology, Services zone and Special Use zone. These zones are:
The archipelago is sparsely populated, having about 1,500 permanent inhabitants; however it receives approximately 70,000 visitors a year, many of them day-visitors who come from Caracas and the mainland.
The population of the Roques concentrates mainly on the island of Gran Roque and to a lesser extent its adjacent islets. In 1941, the population was estimated at 484 people. In 1950 it reached 559, and in 1987 663 permanent inhabitants. According to the Venezuelan census of 2001 1,209 inhabitants were counted. By 2008 it is estimated that the number inhabitants to be around 1,800.
Its growth is limited because of restrictions involving the declaration as a national park in the 1970s. Most of the population is of Margariteño origin who came to the islands mainly to engage in fishing. Since the early twentieth century there has been a small influx of foreigners (mostly Italian).
Tourism in Los Roques has had a significant boom in recent decades, before 1990 this territory was not exploited as a tourist destination.
Originally outsiders, wealthy Venezuelans from Caracas and foreigners, who could buy houses within the park, managed the few exis…
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