Sierra de Perijá

Sierra de Perijá
Highest peak	Cerro de las Tetas ( 3630 m )
location	Colombia , Venezuela
Coordinates	10 ° 1 ′ N , 72 ° 57 ′ W Coordinates: 10 ° 1 ′ N , 72 ° 57 ′ W

The Sierra de Perijá , also called Serranía del Perijá or Cordillera de Perijá , is a mountain range in northern South America. The mountain range is an extension of the Colombian Cordillera Oriental , an eastern branch of the Andes , and forms part of the border area between Venezuela and Colombia. The mountain range, which begins in the Cordillera Oriental, ends around 310 kilometers further north on the Guajira Peninsula . It separates Lake Maracaibo and its catchment area from the valley of the Río Cesar , a tributary of the Río Magdalena .

geography

The southernmost point of the mountain range is close to the Colombian city of Ocaña , a town and municipality of the Departamentos de Santander Norte . The mountain range here represents the border between Norte de Santander and the Departamento del Cesar , further north the border between Colombia and Venezuela. The mountain range includes the Sierra Motilones, the Sierra Valledupar and the Sierra Oca. The highest point is the Cerro de Las Texas at 3,630 meters, followed by the Cerro Grappa at 3,540 meters.

population

58 percent of the area is in Venezuela and 42 percent in Colombia. Venezuela has declared a large part of the mountain range a national park (Sierra de Perijá National Park). In Colombia, a smaller part of the mountain range has also been declared a protected area. On the mountain side belonging to Venezuela there are reservations for the Yukpa and the Bari , in Colombia there are reservations for the Iroko and the Sokorpa, all four are indigenous peoples of this region. Venezuela also pursues an active settlement policy along the border and has founded cities there. The region is known for its conflicts between the indigenous population and the populations of both countries who have descended from European settlers. In the area there are cattle ranches and plantations, which are located on land that belongs to the indigenous peoples of the region. There is also believed to be uranium in the area, which could be commercially interesting to mine.

fauna

The comparatively sparsely populated mountain range offers a habitat for numerous animal and plant species. The spectacled bear and the white-headed capuchin monkey can be found here. It is also the distribution area of the Andes crustacean , a type of pottery bird as well as a subspecies of the amethyst sun nymph , the longuemare sun nymph and the gold-bellied musketeer . A subspecies of gray-breasted bushhammer , silver- browed mountain tangerine , rust-bellied hook- beak , giant thrush and golden tangar as well as the monochrome ant pitta also occur in the area. The area also belongs to the distribution area of the mustache lazy bird , the redhead kotingas , the sedge wren , the yellow-breasted bushhammer , the striped-throated bush tyrant , the red flag elf , the red-necked swift and the shale hookbill . The mountain range is also the only distribution area of the Perija thistle tail, which is classified as endangered by the IUCN .

literature

Jon Fjeldså , Niels Krabbe : Birds of the High Andes: A Manual to the Birds of the Temperate Zone of the Andes and Patagonia, South America , Zoological Museum and Apollo Books, pp. 445 f, ISBN 978-8788757163
William Henry Phelps, William Henry Phelps, Jr .: Eight new subspecies of birds from the Perija Mountains, Venezuela . In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington . tape 66 , 1953, pp. 1-12 ( online ).
Alexander Wetmore, William Henry Phelps, Jr .: A new form of hummingbird from the Perija Mountains of Venezuela and Colombia . In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington . tape 65 , 1965, pp. 135-136 ( online ).

Web links

Single receipts

↑ Website on the Venezuelan part of the Perijá National Park , accessed on December 24, 2016

↑ Conflicts and Conundrums: How the Venezuelan State Must Strike the Balance With its Indigenous People, Huffington Post, December 6, 2012 , accessed December 24, 2016

^ William Henry Phelps, William Henry Phelps, Jr .: Eight new subspecies of birds from the Perija Mountains, Venezuela . In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington . tape 66 , 1953, pp. 1-12 ( online ). , accessed December 24, 2016

↑ Asthenes perijana in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016.1. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2016. Retrieved December 24, 2016.

[1] Website on the Venezuelan part of the Perijá National Park , accessed on December 24, 2016

[2] Conflicts and Conundrums: How the Venezuelan State Must Strike the Balance With its Indigenous People, Huffington Post, December 6, 2012 , accessed December 24, 2016

[3] William Henry Phelps, William Henry Phelps, Jr .: Eight new subspecies of birds from the Perija Mountains, Venezuela . In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington . tape 66 , 1953, pp. 1-12 ( online ). , accessed December 24, 2016