CORO, a small city and the capital of the State of Falcon, Venezuela, 7m. W. of La Vela de Coro (its port on the Caribbean coast), with which it is connected by rail, and 199m. W.N.W. of Caracas. Pop. (1926), 12,354. Coro stands on a sandy plain between the Caribbean and the Gulf of Venezuela, and near the isthmus connecting the peninsula of Paraguana, with the mainland. Its elevation above sea-level is only Io5ft., and its climate is hot but not unhealthy. It is the commercial centre for an extensive district on the east side of Lake Maracaibo and the Gulf of Venezuela, which exports large quantities of goat-skins, an excel lent quality of tobacco, and some coffee, cacao, castor beans, timber and dye-woods. American and British oil companies have taken up oil-land concessions throughout this coastal region and are exploring for petroleum both west and east of Coro. There are salt deposits and coal mines worked by the government in the vicinity. It was founded in 1527 by Juan de Ampues, who gave to it the name of Santa Ana de Coriana (afterwards cor rupted to Santa Ana de Coro) in honour of the day and of the tribe of Indians inhabiting this locality. It was also called Venezuela (little Venice) because of an Indian village on the gulf coast built on piles over the shallow water; this name was afterwards bestowed upon the province of which Coro was the capital. Coro was also made the chief factory of the Welsers, the German banking house to which Charles V. mortgaged this part of his colonial possessions, and it was the starting-point for many exploring and colonizing expeditions into the interior. It was made a bishopric- in 1536, and for a time Coro was one of the three most important towns on the northern coast. The seat of government was removed to Caracas in 1578 and the bishopric five years later. Coro is celebrated in Venezuelan history as the scene of Miranda's first attempt to free his country from Spanish rule.