Mucuchies

Mucuchies

The town of Mucuchies is located in the Rangel Municipality, in the state of Mérida. It lies at an altitude of 2983 meters above sea level and is one of the most elevated cities in Venezuela. The area was inhabited by the Mucuchí Indians, who first came into contact with the Spanish in 1559, when Captain Fernando Cerrada, lieutenant to Juan Maldonado, arrived in these Andean lands. Like many settlements in the area, it was originally a town of doctrine, at first administered by the Dominicans and later by the Augustinians. Its first foundation dates back to 1586 by Captain Bartolomé Gil Naranjo with the indigenous people that the Augustinian father Bartolomé Díaz had managed to gather, at that time it was given the name of San Sebastián. In 1620 there was another attempt of foundation by Vásquez de Cisneros with the encomiendas that had been assigned to Miguel Trejo, Juan de Carvajal, Antonio de Aranguren, Pedro Álvarez de Castrellón and Diego de Monsalve. The Indians dispersed and the town practically disappeared until 1626, when the Visitor of the province of Mérida, Pedro de Menas Albás y Toledo re-founded the town with the name of Santa Lucía de Mucuchíes. Among the most illustrious of its sons is Cardinal José Humberto Quintero Parra.