CIUDAD GUAYANA

formerly Santo Tom De Guayana, city and industrial port complex, northeastern Bolvar estado (state), Venezuela, at the confluence of the Caron and Orinoco rivers in the Guiana Highlands. Taking its name from the Guiana (Guayana) region, the traditional designation of Bolvar state, it was founded by the state assembly in 1961, uniting Puerto Ordaz (the hub of the complex, 67 miles east of Ciudad Bolvar), San Flix (a port on the Caron), Matanzas (a steel centre), Caruachi, Castillito (the iron zone, which includes El Pao, Cerro Bolvar, San Isidro, Pala, and Ciudad Piar), El Callao gold mines, and the dams and hydroelectric plants of the Macagua and Guri rivers on the Caron. The area was first claimed for Spain by the explorer Diego de Ordaz (1532). The original settlement of Santo Tom de Guayana was founded (1576) on the Chirica tableland, where the Republicans in the war for independence defeated Spanish Royalists at the Battle of San Flix (1817). Ciudad Guayana was planned to accommodate separate residential, recreational, commercial, and industrial sectors, with facilities for expansion over an area with a 100-mile (160-kilometre) radius. In addition, 550 acres (223 hectares) between the great falls of the Caron and the Macagua Dam were designated a natural park. The complex is administered by the Corporacin Venezolana de Guayana (CVG), an economic planning commission established in 1960. The Angostura Bridge (completed 1967) across the Orinoco at Ciudad Bolvar (67 miles west of Ciudad Guayana) is an important link between the Guiana region and the rest of the country. Ciudad Guayana also has forestry, diamond mining, refractory brick, and paper and pulp enterprises and has attracted numerous small industries. Pop. (1990 est.) 536,506.