Tabay, Venezuela
Tabay | |
|---|---|
Town | |
 Plaza Bolívar of Tabay | |
  Tabay Location in Venezuela | |
| Country | Venezuela |
| State | Mérida |
| Municipality | Santos Marquina |
| Parish | Tabay |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | José Balmore Otalora (PSUV) |
| Area | |
• Total | 192 km2 (74 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,708 m (5,604 ft) |
| Population (2011)[1] | |
• Total | 18,037 |
| Demonym | Tabayeño/a |
| Time zone | UTC-4:00 (VET) |
| Postal code | 5116 |
| Area code | 0274 |
Tabay is a small town in the state of Mérida, Venezuela, located on an alluvial plateau in the Venezuelan Andes at 1,708 metres (5,604 ft) above sea level, on the banks of the Chama River. The town is the capital of Santos Marquina Municipality and, situated 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) northeast of the city of Mérida, it forms part of the metropolitan area of Mérida. Tabay is the starting point for most hiking excursions in the Sierra Nevada de Mérida. The Trans-Andean Highway crosses Tabay from east to west.[2]
History
The indigenous settlement of the Mucunutanes or Tabayes was reached by the Spanish in 1558. The Tabayes were a subgroup of the Miguríes tribe, who belonged to the Timoto-Cuica group.[3] In 1619 the town was officially founded as San Antonio de Padua de Tabay, in association with the Catholic doctrine of that saint.[4]
Tabay was rebuilt after the 1812 Caracas earthquake, which shook the country. It was the only place near Mérida that reported deaths from the disaster.[5]
Captain José de los Santos Marquina, a hero of the Venezuelan War of Independence and contemporary of Simón Bolívar, was born in Tabay and was its first mayor.[6][7] Tabay is now the capital of Santos Marquina Municipality and was heavily influenced by an influx of Spanish immigrants who arrived during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Etymology
The name Tabay comes from the indigenous language of the ancient Tabayones or Tabayes who inhabited the area before the arrival of the Spanish.[6] The word Tabay is also said to mean "house of the spirits" in the indigenous language of the Tabayes.
Church of Tabay
In 1698 Tabay was established as a parish; a church already existed in the town under Fray Nicolás Vásquez de Escamilla.[8] During the republican period it became a civil parish of the Mérida cantón. The church of Tabay, dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of the town, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1894 and rebuilt in 1907.
Sierra Nevada
Tabay is one of the entry points to the Sierra Nevada National Park, from which trekking routes start to the highest peaks of Venezuela, including Pico Humboldt and Pico Bolívar. A full traverse takes approximately six days of mountaineering.[9][10]
The traverse begins at the La Mucuy park, part of the Sierra Nevada National Park, where hikers must register with park rangers and hire a guide. The first 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) stretch leads to the Coromoto Lagoon at 3,000 metres (9,800 ft). Pico Humboldt and the nearby Green Lagoon are at 4,000 metres (13,000 ft), with sub-zero temperatures. The route continues to the La Corona glacier and the peaks of Bonpland, Bolívar and La Concha.[11]
Climate
| Climate data for Mucujún (near Tabay) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 23.3 (73.9) |
23.9 (75.0) |
23.9 (75.0) |
24.0 (75.2) |
23.6 (74.5) |
21.8 (71.2) |
22.3 (72.1) |
23.4 (74.1) |
23.1 (73.6) |
22.7 (72.9) |
22.7 (72.9) |
21.9 (71.4) |
23.0 (73.5) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 13.7 (56.7) |
13.8 (56.8) |
13.8 (56.8) |
13.0 (55.4) |
14.8 (58.6) |
14.6 (58.3) |
15.0 (59.0) |
15.2 (59.4) |
15.4 (59.7) |
14.5 (58.1) |
14.5 (58.1) |
14.4 (57.9) |
14.4 (57.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 7.3 (45.1) |
8.9 (48.0) |
8.1 (46.6) |
8.3 (46.9) |
9.2 (48.6) |
9.6 (49.3) |
8.6 (47.5) |
8.5 (47.3) |
5.3 (41.5) |
9.9 (49.8) |
9.9 (49.8) |
6.7 (44.1) |
8.4 (47.0) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 5.9 (0.23) |
53.5 (2.11) |
193.3 (7.61) |
36 (1.4) |
88.4 (3.48) |
23.7 (0.93) |
41.5 (1.63) |
43.5 (1.71) |
96.7 (3.81) |
254.3 (10.01) |
66.9 (2.63) |
79.5 (3.13) |
983.2 (38.68) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 210 | 186 | 214 | 175 | 211 | 200 | 218 | 214 | 221 | 205 | 172 | 223 | 2,449 |
| Source: Rainwise automatic weather station model Ws-2000, Centre for Atmospheric and Space Research (CIAE), University of the Andes[12][13] | |||||||||||||
See also
References
- ↑ "Población de Tabay, municipio Santos Marquina – Censo de 2011" (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 October 2017.
- ↑ "Parque Nacional Sierra Nevada" (in Spanish). Venezuela Tuya. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
- ↑ Picón-Parra, Roberto (1988). Clave histórica de Mérida (PDF) (in Spanish). Mérida: Editorial Venezolana / Universidad de Los Andes.
- ↑ Fundación Polar, ed. (1997). Diccionario de Historia de Venezuela (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). Caracas: Fundación Polar. ISBN 980-6397-37-1.
- ↑ Altez, Rogelio. El desastre de 1812 en Venezuela: sismos, vulnerabilidades y una patria no tan boba (in Spanish). Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. pp. 417–419. ISBN 978-980-244-468-7.
- 1 2 Rivero M., Francisco (2001). Visitando a Mérida (in Spanish).
- ↑ Briceño Monzón, Claudio Alberto. "De Tabay a Ayacucho: José del Espíritu Santo Marquina Maldonado y su contribución a la independencia de Nuestra América". Procesos Históricos. Revista de Historia, Arte y Ciencias Sociales (in Spanish). Mérida: Universidad de los Andes. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
- ↑ Röhl, Eduardo (1990). Historia de las ciencias geográficas de Venezuela, 1498–1948 (in Spanish). University of Texas (digitised 4 August 2008). p. 221.
- ↑ Murphy, Alan; Green, Dan (2002). Venezuela Handbook (3rd ed.). Footprint Travel Guides. pp. 182–183. ISBN 1-903471-41-9.
- ↑ "Parque Nacional Sierra Nevada" (in Spanish). Instituto Nacional de Parques (INPARQUES), Ministerio del Poder Popular para el Ecosocialismo. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
- ↑ Stansell, Nathan D.; Polissar, Pratigya J.; Abbott, Mark B. (2007). "Last glacial maximum equilibrium-line altitude and paleo-temperature reconstructions for the Cordillera de Mérida, Venezuelan Andes". Quaternary Research. 67 (1): 115–127. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2006.07.005.
- ↑ "Estación Mucujún" (in Spanish). CECALC, Universidad de Los Andes. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
- ↑ "Photovoltaic Geographical Information System". European Commission Joint Research Centre. Retrieved 4 October 2017.