Anzoátegui

State in northeastern Venezuela, between the River Orinoco to the south and the Caribbean to the north; area 43,283 sq km/16,712 sq mi; population (1996) 1,034,311. The state capital is Barcelona. Most of the territory lies in the llanos (plains) region. Cattle raising is important, while arable agriculture is insignificant. Oil was discovered here in the 1930s and Anzoátegui is now responsible for a large proportion of the nation's output. Natural gas is also piped from wells here to the rest of the country.

Anzoátegui is named after the Venezuelan national hero General Anzoátegui, a hero of the battle of Boyacá (1819), at which forces under Simon Bolívar defeated a Spanish colonial army to win independence for ‘Gran Colombia’, a territory encompassing modern Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama. A statue commemorating the hero stands in the main Plaza Boyacá, where the Palacio de Gobierno and San Cristóbal cathedral face each other.