Zulia

For other uses, see Zulia (disambiguation)

Municipalities of Zulia

Estado Zulia is one of Venezuela's 23 states (estados). The state capital is Maracaibo. The state covers a total surface area of 63,100 km² and, in 2007, had an estimated population of 3,620,200. It is located in the northwestern part of the country.

Geography

Lake Maracaibo, the largest lake in South America, lies within Zulia. The Lake Maracaibo Basin covers one of the largest oil and gas reserves in the western hemisphere, bringing enormous wealth to the country. A long and mostly uninhabited border separates Venezuela from Colombia to the north and west from the Guajira Peninsula to the mountains of Perijá. Venezuela's Andean states of Tachira, Mérida and Trujillo border Zulia State at the Southern end of Lake Maracaibo and finally the states of Lara and Falcón complete the boundaries of Zulia.

The name Venezuela also comes from the Lake Maracaibo area. Spanish Conquistadors sailing into this area found the indigenous peoples living in communities of huts supported by stilts along the shores of the Lake over 500 years ago and promptly named this new territory "Little Venice" (Pequeña Venecia) or Venezuela.

Municipalities and municipal seats

Zulia is comprised by 21 municipalities (municipios):

	Municipality	Seat
1.	Almirante Padilla	El Toro
2.	Baralt	San Timoteo
3.	Cabimas	Cabimas
4.	Catatumbo	Encontrados
5.	Colón	San Carlos del Zulia
6.	Francisco Javier Pulgar	Pueblo Nuevo / El Chivo
7.	Jesús Enrique Lossada	La Concepción
8.	Jesús María Semprún	Casigua el Cubo
9.	La Cañada de Urdaneta	Concepción
10.	Lagunillas	Ciudad Ojeda
11.	Machiques de Perijá	Machiques
12.	Mara	San Rafael del Moján
13.	Maracaibo	Maracaibo
14.	Miranda	Los Puertos de Altagracia
15.	Páez	Sinamaica
16.	Rosario de Perijá	La Villa del Rosario
17.	San Francisco	San Francisco
18.	Santa Rita	Santa Rita
19.	Simón Bolívar	Tía Juana
20.	Sucre	Bobures
21.	Valmore Rodríguez	Bachaquero