1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barcelona (Venezuela)

BARCELONA, a town and port of Venezuela, capital of the state of Bermudez, on the Neveri river, 3 m. from its mouth and 12 m. by rail from the port of Guanta, which has superseded the incommodious river port in the trade of this district. Pop. (est. 1904) 13,000. Built on the border of a low plain and having a mean annual temperature of 82° F., the town has the reputation of being unhealthy. There are salt works and important coal deposits in its vicinity, the latter at Naricual and Capiricual, 12 m. distant by rail. Though the adjacent country is fertile, its prosperity has greatly declined, and the exports of coffee, sugar, cacao and forest products are much less important than formerly. The town dates from 1637, when it was located at the foot of the Cerro Santo and was called Nueva Barcelona; it reached a state of much prosperity and commercial importance before the end of the century. The War of Independence, however, and the chronic political disorders that followed nearly ruined its industries and trade.