MARGARITA, an island in the Caribbean sea belonging to Venezuela, about 12m. north of the peninsula of Araya, and con stituting—with Tortuga, Cubagua and Cache—a political division called the Eastern Federal district now known as the state of Nueva Esparta (from 1904 to 1909). The island is about 4om. long from east to west, has an area of 400sq.m., and consists of two mountainous extremities, nearly separated by the Laguna Grande on the south, but connected by a low, narrow isthmus. The highest elevation on the island is the peak of Macanao, 4,484ft., in the western part, the highest point in the eastern part being the peak of Copei, 4,17o feet. The higher valleys of the interior are highly fertile and are well adapted to grazing and stock-raising. The principal industries are fishing and the making of salt. The pearl fisheries, which were so productive in the 16th and 17th centuries, have been continued ever since with more or less success. The Venezuelan pearls are not considered to be as good as the oriental pearls. A domestic industry of the women is that of making coarse straw hats, which are sold on the main land. The islands have abundant marine life and the fishing is a constant source of livelihood for the people. The products of Margarita, however, are insufficient to support its population, and large numbers periodically emigrate to the mainland. The popu lation was estimated in 1904 at 40,00o, composed in great part of half-caste Guayqueri Indians. The population in 1926 was 69,392. The capital is Asuncion (pop. in 1926, 5,488), on the east side of the island and its principal port is Pompatar on the south coast. The two small ports of Puebla de la Mar (Porlamar)
and Puebla del Norte are merely open roadsteads. The silicate deposits on the Island of Margarita cover i,,00ac. of property totalling 7,400ac. in extent. The magnesia occurs in massive veins. The Margarita deposit lies in a soft decomposed serpentine formation, where it can be easily handled by steam shovels or other mechanical excavating equipment. The deposit on Mar garita island has always been characterized as the highest grade of magnesia yet discovered.
The island of Margarita was discovered by Columbus in 1498, and was bestowed in 1524 upon Marceto Villalobos by Charles V. In 1561 the freebooter Lope de Aguirre ravaged the island, and in 1662 the town of Pompatar was destroyed by the Dutch. For a long time Margarita was attached to Cumana, but in the 18th century it was made administratively independent. Its traders rendered invaluable assistance to the revolutionists in the War of Independence, and the Spanish general, Morillo, was driven from its shores in 1817; in recognition of this it was made a separate State and with the surrounding smaller islands was renamed Nueva Esparta (New Sparta). The first Spanish settlement in South America was Nueva Cadiz, founded in 1515 on the barren island of Cubagua ; but the place was abandoned when pearl fishing and slave-trading ceased to be profitable. The settlement was totally destroyed by earthquake and tidal wave in 1543.