FROM THE IMAGINED CITY TO THE REAL CITY: MARACAIBO IN THE XIX CENTURY

Abstract

Several keys open the doors to XIX century Maracaibo: its condition as a port city, the role it assumes early as a trade centre and primate city of the Venezuelan western region and the Colombian northeast, the cultivation of the intellect, the European migrations, the defence of the autonomy inherited with its Hispanic roots and the forced insertion in the process of construction of the Venezuelan nation and state. Such combination of variables produced in the long run, initiatives, achievements and frustrations defined by the tensions generated between the real city, the lived in one and the desired and required city. In this paper, the Maracaibo cultural universe and the social practices that led to the conciliation of these meanings with the social, economic and cultural contradictions are analysed.