Who founded El Tocuyo and in what year?

El Tocuyo was founded on **December 7, 1545** by the Spanish conquistador **Juan de Carvajal**, with the full name *«Nuestra Señora de la Pura y Limpia Concepción del Tocuyo»*. Carvajal was a Crown notary who set out from Coro with about 120 people to settle in the Tocuyo River valley.

Why is El Tocuyo called the Mother City of Venezuela?

Because between 1546 and 1620 it was the effective capital of the Province of Venezuela, and from its jurisdiction were founded Barquisimeto (1552), Trujillo (1557), Borburata (1549), Carora (1569), Valencia (1555), San Cristóbal (1561) and — with logistical support — Caracas (1567). In other words, it was the starting point of the settlement of central and western Venezuela.

What happened with Philip von Hutten in El Tocuyo?

In **May 1546**, Juan de Carvajal ordered the beheading of the German governor **Philip von Hutten** and **Bartholomew Welser VI** — together with Diego Romero and Gregorio de Plasencia — upon their return from the El Dorado expedition. This execution marked the **end of the Welser concession** over Venezuela. In response, Judge Juan Pérez de Tolosa condemned Carvajal and hanged him in the main square on September 17, 1546.

What was the magnitude of the 1950 El Tocuyo earthquake?

The earthquake of **August 3, 1950** had an approximate magnitude of **6.6 Mw** and struck at 5:50 PM local time. Its epicenter was about 18 km from Carache, on the Boconó and Carache faults. It destroyed **93% of El Tocuyo's buildings** and affected 55 towns in central-western Venezuela.

What was the «Lienzo Tocuyo» (Tocuyo Cloth)?

The **Lienzo Tocuyo** was a rough cotton fabric produced in El Tocuyo from the **mid-16th century**. It was exported to New Granada, Quito, Peru, Spain, France and England via the El Tocuyo–Tunja route. It became so popular that the word *«tocuyo»* entered the Latin American Spanish dictionary as a generic name for rough cotton cloth.

When did El Tocuyo stop being capital of Venezuela?

El Tocuyo was the effective capital between **1546 and 1548**, after which the capital seat returned to Coro and was subsequently moved to El Real de Borburata, Valencia and finally to **Caracas in 1577**. The loss of capital status did not cancel its founding role: El Tocuyo remained the Mother City because it gave rise to almost all the cities of central-western Venezuela.

History of El Tocuyo: 1545 Founding, Mother City and 1950 Earthquake

El Tocuyo is one of the oldest cities in Venezuela. Founded on December 7, 1545 by the conquistador Juan de Carvajal, it served for two years as the capital of the Province of Venezuela (1546–1548), and from its streets set out the expeditions that populated much of the country's center and west. That is why it is known as the «Mother City of Venezuela».

Founding: December 7, 1545

The founding of El Tocuyo took place amid the dispute between the German Welsers, to whom Charles V had granted the Province of Venezuela, and the Spanish conquistadors who wanted to take back control. Juan de Carvajal, a notary from Coro, abandoned the coastal city in search of a fertile inland valley. He found it in the Tocuyo River valley, in the territory of cacique Xagua, where he founded the city he called «Nuestra Señora de la Pura y Limpia Concepción de El Tocuyo».

Carvajal paid dearly for his initiative: the German conquistador Philip von Hutten and Bartholomew Welser returned from the search for El Dorado and, in April 1546, Carvajal had them seized and executed. Months later, a royal decree from the Audiencia of Santo Domingo declared his act a crime, and Carvajal was hanged from the very same tree where the Germans had died.

Capital of the Province of Venezuela (1546–1548)

After Carvajal's death, El Tocuyo became the second capital of the Province of Venezuela, after Coro. Although officially the capital seat would later return to Coro and then to Caracas, during this initial period El Tocuyo concentrated the political, religious and military power of the province. Here were established the Cabildo, the Royal Treasury and the first Mother Church of inland Venezuela.

«Mother City»: cradle of Venezuelan cities

From El Tocuyo set out the expeditions that founded many of the principal cities of colonial Venezuela:

Borburata (1548) — Juan de Villegas, from El Tocuyo.
Nueva Segovia de Barquisimeto (1552) — Juan de Villegas.
Nuestra Señora de la Paz / Trujillo (1557) — Diego García de Paredes.
Carora (1569) — Juan del Tejo, refounded in 1572 by Juan de Salamanca.
Acarigua, Barinas, Guanare, Tucupido, among others, also had in El Tocuyo their starting point.

Hence the nickname that the poet Juan Beroes and the historian Mario Briceño Iragorry would immortalize: the Mother City.

Colonial life: agriculture, livestock and convents

During the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, El Tocuyo prospered thanks to sugar cane, sugar mills, cocoa, wheat and livestock. It became one of the main centers of sugar and rum production in Venezuela. The Dominican, Franciscan and Jesuit orders established convents and schools that turned the city into a cultural hub. The Convent of San Francisco (whose ruins still stand) and the Convent of Santo Domingo are witnesses of this era.

Independence and the 19th century

El Tocuyo participated actively in the wars of independence. Patriot and royalist troops repeatedly clashed in its surroundings. After independence, the city kept regional importance, although political weight shifted to Barquisimeto, its «eldest daughter», which in 1881 became the capital of the new Lara State.

The earthquake of August 3, 1950

The saddest day in Tocuyo history was Thursday August 3, 1950, around 7:43 PM. An earthquake of approximate magnitude 6.5, with epicenter just a few kilometers from the city, destroyed it almost entirely. The mother church, the parish house, the municipal palace, the hospital, convents, colonial houses... almost the entire historical center collapsed. About 200 people died and thousands were left homeless.

President Marcos Pérez Jiménez ordered the reconstruction. Pope Pius XII sent a personal donation to rebuild the church. The subsequent urban plan changed the face of the city forever: streets were widened and modern buildings were raised in place of the colonial mansions.

The new Inmaculada Concepción Church, in modern style, was inaugurated in 1959 and is today one of the symbols of Tocuyo resilience.

El Tocuyo today

Today El Tocuyo is the capital of Morán Municipality, in Lara state. It preserves its agricultural character (sugar cane, coffee, onion, tomato, tubers), its deep-rooted religious tradition, its sweets and its bread, exported nationwide, and its most vibrant cultural pride: the Tamunangue, a music and dance expression declared Cultural Heritage.

Timeline

1545 — Founded by Juan de Carvajal on December 7.
1546 — Carvajal executes Philip von Hutten and Bartholomew Welser.
1546 — Execution of Carvajal; El Tocuyo becomes provincial seat.
1552 — From El Tocuyo, Juan de Villegas founds Barquisimeto.
1557 — Diego García de Paredes founds Trujillo from El Tocuyo.
1569 — Founding of Carora.
1881 — Creation of Lara State; capital moves to Barquisimeto.
1950 — August 3 earthquake destroys the city.
1959 — Inauguration of the new Concepción Church.
2014 — The Tamunangue is declared Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Notable people of El Tocuyo

Egidio Antonio Montesinos — humanist and educator of the 19th century.
Eligio Anzola Anzola — politician and educator, governor of Lara State; the Casa de la Cultura bears his name.
Lisandro Alvarado — physician, historian and philologist, born in El Tocuyo in 1858, author of foundational works on Venezuela.
Juan Bautista Rojas — painter.
Pío Tamayo — poet and social activist from Lara, linked to the region.

You can also explore Tocuyo culture, tourism or traditional gastronomy that has been on Tocuyo tables for centuries.

History of El Tocuyo