| Angostura,
Angustora or Angustura, is now called Ciudad
Bolivar. It was formerly the capital of Venuzuela. It also gave
its name to Angostura Bitters (see below).
Simón
Bolívar or Simón José Antonio de la
Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24 July 1783
– 17 December 1830) was a revolutionary leader who fought
for the independence of the Spanish colonies in South America. He
is credited with leading the fight for independence in Gran Colombia. Today he is revered as a hero in the countries of Venezuela,
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia and throughout the rest
of Latin America. Statues of him and references to him abound in
Venezuela.
1.
Angostura was renamed Ciudad Bolívar in 1846. The
town lies at a narrowing of the River Orinoco. The the name was
a contraction of the town's full descriptive name 'Santo Tomé
de Guayana de Angostura del Orinoco' (Saint Thomas of Guyana of
the narrows of the Orinoco).
2.
Angostura bitters, used in cocktails today, gets its name from
the Angostura tree which grew at the town. Angostura bitters is
derived from angostura bark from Cusparia febrifuga, a tree in the
family N. O. Rutaceae. The bark has been used for many years by
the natives of South America and West Indies as a stimulant tonic.
In large doses it causes diarrhoea and is often used as a purgative
to flush out the system. The natives also use it to stupefy fish;
in Peru, the substance Cinchona is used in a similar way. In medicine,
some doctors preferred Angostura Bark to Cinchona for use in treating
fevers. Angustura is an ingredient of bitter liqueurs and the name
of the bitter, aromatic spirit used in cocktails. It is produced
in Trinidad from angostura bark.
3.
Gran Colombia. Simón Bolívar and other revolutionaries
in the First Republic of Venezuela occasionally used this name as
a reference to all of Spanish America. The Republic of Gran Colombia,
or Greater Colombia, was a short-lived republic in South America
consisting of present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama.
Find
out more at Wikipedia,
the free-content encyclopedia.
|
Simón
Bolívar,
statue at St Elena de Uairén in the south-east of Venezuela..
Flag of modern Venezuela. The stars represent the seven original provinces of Venezuela in 1811. Today the Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela is divided into 23 estados (states) and the federal district of Caracas.
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