Caracas, a subsidiary of Heaven

Barely eleven years after being founded, the first plan of the city shows that by 1578 there were 24 blocks with nearly one hundred houses between 'the rivers' Caroata and Catuche, inhabited by perhaps one thousand people. The typical Spanish gridded plan is already there, and it will remain for over three centuries. By 1666, Caracas, with 5.000 inhabitants, has been ruined by the recent earthquake, by locust invasions and disease.

By 1723, the panorama has changed so much, that the historian of the city José de Oviedo y Baños coined the phrase 'Caracas, a subsidiary of Heaven', when saying that it has 'a heavenly climate, doubtless, the best of all in America'. The eighteenth century arrives and the city has already a population of 40.000 people.

Due to 1812 earthquake and to the cruelty of the Independence War, the city decayed again. So much that over few decades had to elapse for the city surpass that old figure of 40.000 citizens. Under the leadership of Antonio Guzmán Blanco and his successors the city began its expansion in all directions: to the North East and Northwest the parishes of La Pastora and San José were created; to the South, the inhabitants crossed the river Guaire to start building abodes beyond its right bank; to the East, they also crossed the 'river' Anauco to fill with houses the Sarria sector, and beyond, on the way to Sabana Grande. In 15 years, the growth of the population was almost the same of the previous 300 years. The nineteenth century ended, and Caracas had by then 90.000 inhabitants.

Now, the valley was becoming narrow to accommodate more people. Between its extreme points, western and eastern (Catia-Petare), it is 25 kilometers long and 4 kilometers wide, between the Avila and the River Guaire. The grids of the original center of the city became enriched with irregular growths of developments raised in the sugar cane and coffee plantations, eliminated by what has been called 'the pickax of progress'.

The original valley was finally filled up, and the turn came up for nearby glens, to reach which the town had to climb the surrounding foothills. The altitude of Caracas above sea level is 900 meters. But the name of certain roads like Cota 905, Cota Mil, and the names of some urban developments as Colinas de Bello Monte, Valle Arriba, Terrazas del Avila, show the leap to the heights.

The reason for the expansion is the jittery growth of the population of the population. In 1936, Caracas had 203.000 inhabitants. In 1937 it reached the million mark, two millions by 1971, and three millions in 1988. In 1950, the metropolitan area of Caracas was created, with an area of 360 square kilometers to which the Protective Zone, decreed in 1974, should be added. The latter is a sort of green belt of 84 hectares. By the end of the century, Caracas surpassed the four million mark.