Colonia Tovar

Colonia Tovar is a town of Venezuela, capital of the municipality Tovar in Aragua state. Founded in 1843 by a group of immigrants from the then independent state of the Grand Duchy of Baden, it is characterized by the maintenance of the cultural imprint of their origin, so it is called "the Germany of the Caribbean". The economy depends primarily on agriculture and tourism; and the town is located 42km from Caracas. The Colonia is known for its temperate crops and their derivatives. Since 1990 it has shown a high rate of population growth, rising from 3,373 to 21,000 inhabitants in 2016.HistoryBetween 1806 and 1918 a state called the Grand Duchy of Baden occupied much of the eastern bank of the Rhine River in the southwest corner of the mountainous wine-producing area Kaiserstuhl. From this duchy came the majority of settlers in Colonia Tovar.A colonizing company was formed, composed of colonel Agostino Codazzi and Ramón Díaz, and as guarantor Martín Tovar y Ponte (the Count of Tovar). Codazzi contacted residents of Kaiserstuhl and selected an area where the colony would be founded, choosing a site with geographic and climatic similarities to the German region. The land chosen belonged to the nephew of Count of Tovar, Manuel Felipe Tovar, who donated it for the creation of the colony.On October 14, 1841 the territory was founded as Palmar del Tuy and construction of infrastructure was begun. Once completed, the colonizing company went to the town of Endingen in Kaiserstuhl to select the settlers. The contracts between the company and immigrants were signed at the inn Der Pfauen, located a few meters from the entrance to the city. The immigrants who sailed to Venezuela amounted to 391 people: 240 men and 151 women, most of them from Kaiserstuhl. They departed for Venezuela on December 18, 1842.