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115-617: The formation was defined by Liddle in 1928 in Río Cachirí, part of Mara , Zulia , in the Venezuelan part of the Serranía del Perijá, and the same author subdivided the group into three formations in 1943. In 1972, Bowen added a fourth formation to the group. The group contains black, grey and red shales , grey micaceous sandstones , quartzitic sandstones and red and bluish grey limestones . The Río Cachirí Group, dated to span

230-563: A Venezuelan citizen by birth and without any other nationality in full enjoyment of civil rights and older, to reside in the Federal Entity at least four years before the election according to Article 69 of the State Constitution, to be older than 25 years, not to be a minister of religious worship or to occupy positions in the national, state or municipal administration, and in case of being an official, to be separated from

345-423: A banana plant is mature, the corm stops producing new leaves and begins to form a flower spike or inflorescence . A stem develops which grows up inside the pseudostem, carrying the immature inflorescence until eventually it emerges at the top. Each pseudostem normally produces a single inflorescence, also known as the "banana heart". After fruiting, the pseudostem dies, but offshoots will normally have developed from

460-477: A few days, the fruit begins to ripen and is distributed for final sale. Ripe bananas can be held for a few days at home. If bananas are too green, they can be put in a brown paper bag with an apple or tomato overnight to speed up the ripening process. The excessive use of fertilizers contributes greatly to eutrophication in streams and lakes, harming aquatic life, while expanding banana production has led to deforestation. As soil nutrients are depleted, more forest

575-461: A great diversity of landscapes plants which, according to Huber's classification, can be grouped into tree, shrub and herbaceous formations. Tree formations include coastal mangroves, dry to semi-deciduous lowland forests, lowland evergreen forests, and mountain forests. It is estimated that the total area of mangroves in Zulia State occupies an area of 116.3 km (44.9 mi ), located in

690-706: A great mass of water constituted by the Maracaibo lake system, combining the heights that surround it and the flat lands that serve as coastal support. The geomorphological evolution of the state of Zulia is related to the processes generated by the collision between the South American and Pacific tectonic plates, in their interaction with the Caribbean plate. Throughout its geological history, the Andes and Perijá became positive zones; however, an orogenic pulsation in

805-452: A heterogeneous mosaic of potentialities for the economic, social and cultural development, manifested in the practice of agriculture, livestock, forestry, mining, fishing and tourism, with areas under special administration. These elements make Zulia a federal entity capable of contributing within the economic activities, a complex industrial marked by its uniqueness, reinforced by the routes and means of lake-marine communications that facilitate

920-469: A high risk of extinction in the medium term. Among the different species of mammals, the palm tree bear ( Myrmecophaga tridactyla ), which lives especially in the northeast of the Lake Maracaibo basin, is threatened by poaching and is often rolled up on the tracks. The cunaguaro ( Leopardus pardalis ), often in thorny forests, thickets and even in mangrove forests, this species - a house today -

1035-642: A horst tectonic that starts in the valley of the Intermedio river, lengthening and narrowing in a south–north direction ending in the Oca mountains, from which the lowlands of the Guajira isthmus follow. The Perijá mountain range comprises five large landscape units: Sierra de Motilones, Sierra de Perijá, Sierra de Valledupar, Montes de Oca and the foothills of mountains and valleys. Between the Perijá mountain range and

1150-461: A hybrid- polyploid complex; hybrids can be diploid, triploid, tetraploid, or pentaploid, i.e. they may have 2, 3, 4, or 5 sets of chromosomes . This makes them difficult to breed as hybrids are often sterile, in addition to the challenge of breeding seedless (parthenocarpic) varieties. The Honduran Foundation for Agricultural Research has bred a seedless banana that is resistant to both Panama disease and black Sigatoka disease. The team made use of

1265-498: A lesser extent to make banana paper and textiles , while some are grown as ornamental plants . The world's largest producers of bananas in 2022 were India and China, which together accounted for approximately 26% of total production. Bananas are eaten raw or cooked in recipes varying from curries to banana chips , fritters , fruit preserves, or simply baked or steamed. Worldwide, there is no sharp distinction between dessert "bananas" and cooking "plantains": this works well enough in

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1380-550: A much wider range of cultivars than large commercial plantations do, and in Southeast Asia—the center of diversity for bananas, both wild and cultivated—the distinction between "bananas" and "plantains" does not work. Many bananas are used both raw and cooked. There are starchy cooking bananas which are smaller than those eaten raw. The range of colors, sizes and shapes is far wider than in those grown or sold in Africa, Europe or

1495-461: A problematic issue for taxonomists. Linnaeus originally placed bananas into two species based only on their uses as food: Musa sapientum for dessert bananas and Musa paradisiaca for plantains . More species names were added, but this approach proved to be inadequate for the number of cultivars in the primary center of diversity of the genus, Southeast Asia. Many of these cultivars were given names that were later discovered to be synonyms . In

1610-470: A series of papers published from 1947 onward, Ernest Cheesman showed that Linnaeus's Musa sapientum and Musa paradisiaca were cultivars and descendants of two wild seed-producing species, Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana , both first described by Luigi Aloysius Colla . Cheesman recommended the abolition of Linnaeus's species in favor of reclassifying bananas according to three morphologically distinct groups of cultivars – those primarily exhibiting

1725-854: A tropical rain forest climate with an annual average precipitation of 2,556 mm, and surpassing 3,500 mm per year in the heights of Serrania de Perija . The geographical location and the diversity of natural landscapes present in the state of Zulia, in addition to the presence of Lake Maracaibo, define the great variety of climates present in the state. According to Koeppen's classification, there are desert climates (Bwhi), semi-dry tropical climates (Bshi), tropical savannah and sub-humid trophy forests (Awi), tropical rainy trophy forests and savannah (Aw "i), tropical rainy monsoon (Ami), tropical rainy jungle (Afi), very humid tropical temperate (Cfi), tropical humid temperate (Cwi) and undefined mountain climates. Lake Maracaibo and its basin are factors that complement each other to produce high rainfall. However, for

1840-415: A wide variety of soils, as long as it is at least 60 centimetres (2.0 ft) deep, has good drainage and is not compacted. They are fast-growing plants, with a growth rate of up to 1.6 metres (5.2 ft) per day. The leaves of banana plants are composed of a stalk ( petiole ) and a blade ( lamina ). The base of the petiole widens to form a sheath; the tightly packed sheaths make up the pseudostem, which

1955-752: A wild banana of Arunachal Pradesh , India Musa balbisiana , Plantain of South, East, and Southeast Asia Musa x troglodytarum , Fe'i banana of French Polynesia Musa maclayi of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands Musa textilis , Abacá or Manila hemp of the Philippines Musa beccarii , a wild banana of Sabah Musa coccinea , Scarlet banana of China and Vietnam Musella lasiocarpa , Golden lotus banana of China Ensete ventricosum , Enset or false banana of Africa Work by Li and colleagues in 2024 identifies three subspecies of M. acuminata , namely sspp. banksii , malaccensis , and zebrina , as contributing substantially to

2070-470: Is Maracaibo . As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Venezuela's states. It is also one of the few states (if not the only one) in Venezuela in which voseo (the use of vos as a second person singular pronoun) is widespread. The state is coterminous with the eponymous region of Zulia . Zulia State is in northwestern Venezuela, bordering Lake Maracaibo ,

2185-567: Is all that supports the plant. The edges of the sheath meet when it is first produced, making it tubular. As new growth occurs in the centre of the pseudostem, the edges are forced apart. Cultivated banana plants vary in height depending on the variety and growing conditions. Most are around 5 m (16 ft) tall, with a range from ' Dwarf Cavendish ' plants at around 3 m (10 ft) to ' Gros Michel ' at 7 m (23 ft) or more. Leaves are spirally arranged and may grow 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) long and 60 cm (2.0 ft) wide. When

2300-410: Is allowed to produce two shoots at a time; a larger one for immediate fruiting and a smaller "sucker" or "follower" to produce fruit in 6–8 months. As a non-seasonal crop, bananas are available fresh year-round. They are grown in some 135 countries. In global commerce in 2009, by far the most important cultivars belonged to the triploid Musa acuminata AAA group of Cavendish group bananas. Disease

2415-504: Is between 358 and 665.99 mm (14.094 and 26.220 in), with a median temperature of 28 °C (82 °F). The precipitation rates increase in the western and eastern regions of Lake Maracaibo, forming a wet tropical savanna climate, with annual average temperatures from 27 °C to 28 °C, and rainfall exceeding 1,000 mm (39 in) registered in Mene Grande. In the southern lake region, increased rainfall conforms to

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2530-429: Is cleared for plantations. This causes soil erosion and increases the frequency of flooding. Voluntary sustainability standards such as Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade are being used to address some of these issues. Banana production certified in this way grew rapidly at the start of the 21st century to represent 36% of banana exports by 2016. However, such standards are applied mainly in countries which focus on

2645-399: Is conserved in multiple gene banks around the world. The banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant. All the above-ground parts of a banana plant grow from a structure called a corm . Plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy with a treelike appearance, but what appears to be a trunk is actually a pseudostem composed of multiple leaf-stalks ( petioles ). Bananas grow in

2760-424: Is considered to be of high quality. The red deer ( Odocoileus virginianus gymnotis ), subspecies that has contracted by almost 50% in the arid zones of Zulia and in the basin of the Maracaibo lake due to the indiscriminate hunting to which it has been object, given the inexistence of a specific law to protect it. The yellow bat of the deserts ( Rhogeessa minutilla ) is distributed in the arid and semi-arid zones of

2875-400: Is illegally extracted. Two species of indigenous reptiles are named after Zulia: a turtle ( Mesoclemmys zuliae ) and a lizard ( Maracaiba zuliae ). In the humid and sub-humid Zulian sub-region, which includes the municipalities located to the southeast, south and southwest of Lake Maracaibo, live communities of animals that are largely the same as those living in the dry region, especially

2990-706: Is included in Ibn al-'Awwam 's 12th-century agricultural work, Kitāb al-Filāḥa ( Book on Agriculture ). During the Middle Ages, bananas from Granada were considered among the best in the Arab world. Bananas were certainly grown in the Christian Kingdom of Cyprus by the late medieval period. Writing in 1458, the Italian traveller and writer Gabriele Capodilista wrote favourably of the extensive farm produce of

3105-474: Is influenced by latitude , which generates an increase from north to south in the average annual precipitation of the Maracaibo (488 mm), Cabimas (528.9 mm) and Santa Barbara (1,366.5 mm) stations. This behavior is explained by the descending latitudinal order, at except for the El Tucuco station (2,032.9 mm), whose behavior is due to the altitudinal factor (205 meters above sea level), where

3220-415: Is inherited paternally. This facilitates taxonomic study of species and subspecies relationships. In regions such as North America and Europe, Musa fruits offered for sale can be divided into small sweet "bananas" eaten raw when ripe as a dessert, and large starchy "plantains" or cooking bananas , which do not have to be ripe. Linnaeus made this distinction when naming two "species" of Musa . Members of

3335-686: Is made up of numerous river basins and sub-basins that cover the states of Zulia, Lara, Táchira, Mérida, Trujillo and part of the Republic of Colombia, the latter drained by the Catatumbo River and its tributaries. All of them flow into the area comprised by the lake itself, the Maracaibo Strait and the El Tablazo Bay. Some sources indicate that the Maracaibo system is made up of four distinct but closely related bodies of water:

3450-486: Is that of the Catatumbo River , with a surface of 25,708.36 km and represents more than a quarter (32.60%) of the total area of Maracaibo Lake Basin. The soils of Zulia State, framed within the depression of Lake Maracaibo, are the result of the interaction of factors such as relief, climate, material origin, vegetation and soil formation processes. The edaphic diversity of the state of Zulia corresponds to

3565-408: Is threatened by distraction hunting; it is also destroying its habitat even though it is a species under an indefinite ban. There are others mammals in this sub-region that are at lower risk than those mentioned above, such as the endemic subspecies brownish-grey matacan deer ( Mazama gouazoubira ), which is distributed in arid areas and is persecuted as a source of subsistence food for its meat, which

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3680-547: Is threatening the production of the Cavendish banana worldwide. It is unclear if any existing cultivar can replace Cavendish bananas, so various hybridisation and genetic engineering programs are attempting to create a disease-resistant, mass-market banana. One such strain that has emerged is the Taiwanese Cavendish or Formosana. Export bananas are picked green, and ripened in special rooms upon arrival in

3795-643: Is variable in size, color and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a peel , which may have a variety of colors when ripe. It grows upward in clusters near the top of the plant. Almost all modern edible seedless ( parthenocarp ) cultivated bananas come from two wild species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana , or hybrids of them. Musa species are native to tropical Indomalaya and Australia ; they were probably domesticated in New Guinea . They are grown in 135 countries, primarily for their fruit, and to

3910-645: The Ban , Dh , and Ze subgenomes of triploid cultivated bananas respectively. The genus Musa was created by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The name may be derived from Antonius Musa , physician to the Emperor Augustus , or Linnaeus may have adapted the Arabic word for banana, mauz . The ultimate origin of musa may be in the Trans–New Guinea languages , which have words similar to "#muku"; from there

4025-623: The Devonian , is subdivided into the Caño Grande , Caño del Oeste , Campo Chico and Los Guineos Formations . The maximum thickness has been recorded in Venezuela, with 2,438 metres (7,999 ft), while the thickness on the Colombian side of the range does not exceed 1,100 metres (3,600 ft). The group is recognised along a section of approximately 110 kilometres (68 mi) in the Venezuelan terrain. The group unconformably overlies

4140-692: The Great Colombia , proclaiming its independence from the Government of Madrid. Zulia Province declared independence from Spain on January 28, 1821. During the Gran Colombia period in 1824, it received the name of " Zulia Department ", honoring the Zulia River . The Constituent Congress of 1824 divided the territory of Colombia into four departments, one of which was Zulia, composed of the provinces of Coro, Mérida and Maracaibo; but when

4255-541: The Gulf of Venezuela , El Tablazo Bay, the Maracaibo Strait and Lake Maracaibo. Although the estuarine portion is mainly constituted by the strait and El Tablazo, it is not possible to understand the estuarine biota without taking into account the other adjacent water bodies. The Gulf of Venezuela participates in the oceanic components, hence the importance of considering the depth, movement and chemical composition of its water body. Such physical-chemical characteristics determine

4370-1155: The Perijá Formation and is overlain by an unnamed Carboniferous sequence. The Río Cachirí Group is time-equivalent with the Floresta and Cuche Formations of the Floresta Massif, Altiplano Cundiboyacense and the Quetame Group of the Eastern Ranges . The sediments of the Río Cachirí Group were deposited in an epicontinental sea at the edge of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean . The group contains abundant fossils of crinoids , bryozoa , brachiopods and molluscs as Acrospirifer olssoni , Spirifer kingi , Leptaena boyaca , Fenestella venezuelansis , Neospirifer latus , Composita subtilita , Phricodrotis planoconvexa and Pecten sp. Apart from its type locality on

4485-798: The Province of Mérida del Espiritu Santo de la Grita , becoming the province Espiritu Santo de Maracaibo , or Maracaibo Province . The territory that covers the State of Zulia was erected in the Province of Maracaibo in the year of 1678 and was added, along with Mérida, to the Viceroyalty of the New Kingdom of Granada . It is entity was governed by the President of the Court, whose official seat

4600-410: The banana heart , in a large hanging cluster called a bunch , made up of around nine tiers called hands , with up to 20 fruits to a hand. A bunch can weigh 22–65 kilograms (49–143 lb). The stalk ends of the fruits connect up to the rachis part of the inflorescence. Opposite the stalk end, is the blossom end, where the remnants of the flower deviate the texture from the rest of the flesh inside

4715-407: The orography favors high rainfall. The geomorphological conformation of the state of Zulia is a semicircular depression. It defines a hydrographic pattern that can be catalogued by its shape as a radial drainage, that is, that the waters coming from the water dividers are directed towards a common outlet, Lake Maracaibo, which defines this characteristic pattern. The Zulia hydrographic network

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4830-644: The " plantain subgroup " of banana cultivars, most important as food in West Africa and Latin America, correspond to this description, having long pointed fruit. They are described by Ploetz et al. as "true" plantains, distinct from other cooking bananas. The cooking bananas of East Africa belong to a different group, the East African Highland bananas . Further, small farmers in Colombia grow

4945-660: The 16th century. Southeast Asian banana cultivars, as well as abaca grown for fibers, were introduced to North and Central America by the Spanish from the Philippines, via the Manila galleons . In the 15th and 16th centuries, Portuguese colonists started banana plantations in the Atlantic Islands, Brazil, and western Africa. North Americans began consuming bananas on a small scale at very high prices shortly after

5060-664: The Americas and Europe, but it breaks down in Southeast Asia where many more kinds of bananas are grown and eaten. The term "banana" is applied also to other members of the genus Musa , such as the scarlet banana ( Musa coccinea ), the pink banana ( Musa velutina ), and the Fe'i bananas . Members of the genus Ensete , such as the snow banana ( Ensete glaucum ) and the economically important false banana ( Ensete ventricosum ) of Africa are sometimes included. Both genera are in

5175-837: The Americas. Southeast Asian languages do not make the distinction between "bananas" and "plantains" that is made in English. Thus both Cavendish dessert bananas and Saba cooking bananas are called pisang in Malaysia and Indonesia, kluai in Thailand and chuối in Vietnam. Fe'i bananas , grown and eaten in the islands of the Pacific, are derived from a different wild species. Most Fe'i bananas are cooked, but Karat bananas , which are short and squat with bright red skins, are eaten raw. The earliest domestication of bananas ( Musa spp.)

5290-446: The Caribbean produce bananas for the world market, often alongside other crops. In many tropical countries, the main cultivars produce green (unripe) bananas used for cooking . Because bananas and plantains produce fruit year-round, they provide a valuable food source during the hunger season between harvests of other crops, and are thus important for global food security . Bananas are propagated asexually from offshoots. The plant

5405-667: The Civil War, though it was only in the 1880s that the food became more widespread. As late as the Victorian Era , bananas were not widely known in Europe, although they were available. The earliest modern plantations originated in Jamaica and the related Western Caribbean Zone , including most of Central America . Plantation cultivation involved the combination of modern transportation networks of steamships and railroads with

5520-666: The Cocinetas, Peonias, Sinamaica and Los Olivitos lagoons , and the mouth of the Limon River. For the coastal wetlands in the entire system of Maracaibo is estimated an area of 5,683 km (2,194 mi ), highlighting in the south of the lake the swamps of Juan Manuel de Aguas Claras and Aguas Negras . The mangrove vegetation is rather dense. It comprises a set of predominant species, among which are: red mangrove ( Rhizophora mangle ), black and pink mangrove ( Avicennia germinans ), white mangrove ( Laguncularia racemosa ) and

5635-583: The Constitution of 1989, its partial amendment of 1993 and 2001. The Executive Power is represented by the Governor of Zulia State. The Governor is elected by means of direct and secret universal suffrage of all Venezuelan citizens residing in the territory of Zulia State and registered in the Electoral Roll of the State's circumscription. To occupy the position of Governor, it is necessary to be

5750-555: The Great Colombia was dissolved in 1830, Maracaibo was left with the character of Province composed of its own territory and that of Trujillo. One year later the Trujillo Section was erected in Province, separating definitively from Maracaibo. With the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1830, it was named Maracaibo Province and was one of the 11 provinces of Venezuela . In 1835 the territory of the Province of Maracaibo

5865-654: The Indian subcontinent. Some evidence suggests bananas were known to the Indus Valley civilisation from phytoliths recovered from the Kot Diji archaeological site in Pakistan. Southeast Asia remains the region of primary diversity of the banana. Areas of secondary diversity are found in Africa, indicating a long history of banana cultivation there. The banana may have been present in isolated locations elsewhere in

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5980-613: The Indians living in Lake Maracaibo. These risky enterprises, for which a great deal of value and energy was required, were interesting subjects that inspired the chronicler Juan de Castellanos much of his poetic work concluded by the year of 1590 under the title of "Elegies of Illustrious Men of the Indies. During the Spanish colonial period, its lands were part of the Venezuela Province until 1676, when its lands were added to

6095-679: The Islands of Margarita and Trinidad were incorporated into the General Captaincy of Caracas. By Royal Decree of February 15, 1785, the city of Barinas and its dependencies, which corresponded to Maracaibo, were segregated to form a separate province, and instead the city of Trujillo was incorporated, which was part of the province of Caracas. In 1789, the province covered the territory of the current Venezuelan states of Zulia, Apure , Barinas , Táchira , Mérida and Trujillo . In 1810, Mérida and Trujillo were separated as new provinces. At

6210-741: The Lora and Aricuaisá Rivers, and by the Tucuco and Río Negro Rivers, in their lower course, forming highly floodable lands, generating river arms, lagoons, lakes, among which the protected area known as Ciénagas de Juan Manuel National Park stands out. To the southeast of the Santa Ana, towards the southern area of the lake, the Catatumbo river system, to which the Socuavó, Tarra and Zulia rivers drain, also provides significant volumes of water and sediments to

6325-415: The Maracaibo lake there is a wide plain, very flat, which due to its topographic differences, drainage, edaphic and vegetal formations can be differentiated in two areas: a northwest area of less flat topography, with presence of hills in some sectors, scarce hydrographic network, sandy soils and low in organic matter. Between the southern area of the Palmar River and the northern area of the Catatumbo River,

6440-435: The Middle East on the eve of Islam . The spread of Islam was followed by far-reaching diffusion. There are numerous references to it in Islamic texts (such as poems and hadiths ) beginning in the 9th century. By the 10th century, the banana appeared in texts from Palestine and Egypt. From there it diffused into North Africa and Muslim Iberia during the Arab Agricultural Revolution . An article on banana tree cultivation

6555-403: The Province of Venezuela, was its factor and governor of: the Province Ambrosio Dalfinger, the first conqueror of those regions. His expedition from Coro to Maracaibo around 1528 and 1529 and the one he carried out at the end of 1529 along the eastern shore of the lake up to the mouth of the Motatán river, were the first occasions, after the discovery, in which they made contact the Europeans with

6670-418: The State of Maracaibo on the same territory as the province. At the end of the same year, the state's legislation determined to change the name to the Sovereign State of Zulia, but that lasted only a few months. In 1874, its name again became Zulia State. Federal government orders in 1881 created the combined Falcón Zulia state . Its autonomous state status continued until April 1, 1890, when congress legislated

6785-412: The Upper Eocene and another one during the Miocene-Pliocene defined the current form of these mountainous systems, conditioning the depression of the Maracaibo and its surrounding plains. These orogenic processes made the Perijá mountain range suffer a less intense uplift than the Andes and, therefore, its structural pattern and relief are more moderate. Likewise, the Ziruma mountain range develops towards

6900-419: The arid conditions that characterize the continental territory that borders it. The most important hydrological contributions are not located in the sector of the marabine coast, but come from the mountainous system of the state of Falcon. In the Maracaibo Lake basin, 21 major sub-basins have been identified, some of which go beyond the political-territorial limits of the State of Zulia. The most important basin

7015-571: The banana family, Musaceae . Banana plantations are subject to damage by parasitic nematodes and insect pests, and to fungal and bacterial diseases, one of the most serious being Panama disease which is caused by a Fusarium fungus. This and black sigatoka threaten the production of Cavendish bananas , the main kind eaten in the Western world, which is a triploid Musa acuminata . Plant breeders are seeking new varieties, but these are difficult to breed given that commercial varieties are seedless. To enable future breeding, banana germplasm

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7130-458: The banana, causing the banana to soften as it ripens. The vivid yellow color many consumers in temperate climates associate with bananas is caused by ripening around 18 °C (64 °F), and does not occur in Cavendish bananas ripened in tropical temperatures (over 27 °C (81 °F)), which leaves them green. Bananas are transported over long distances from the tropics to world markets. To obtain maximum shelf life, harvest comes before

7245-414: The base, so that the plant as a whole is perennial . The inflorescence contains many petal-like bracts between rows of flowers. The female flowers (which can develop into fruit) appear in rows further up the stem (closer to the leaves) from the rows of male flowers. The ovary is inferior , meaning that the tiny petals and other flower parts appear at the tip of the ovary. The banana fruits develop from

7360-419: The beginning of the 19th century, the province of Maracaibo had, besides the capital of its name, the cities of Mérida, Trujillo, San Cristobal, El Rosario de Perijá and San Bartolomé de Sinamaica, with their respective dependencies; but once the independence of Mérida, was segregated with the character of a province, while Maracaibo continued under the Spanish regime until January 18, 1821, on which date it joined

7475-496: The birds. At As for mammals , there are new species, such as the spider monkey, also known as the marimonda ( Ateles belzebuth hybridus ), a species that lives in the humid forests of the Maracaibo Lake Basin (includes the forests of the Perijá mountain range). In the Perijá sub-region (mountainous area), the ecosystem is made up of a great diversity of animal communities: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. Representatives of some species of mammals in this subregion are:

7590-455: The botanical characteristics of Musa balbisiana , those primarily exhibiting the botanical characteristics of Musa acuminata , and those with characteristics of both. Researchers Norman Simmonds and Ken Shepherd proposed a genome-based nomenclature system in 1955. This system eliminated almost all the difficulties and inconsistencies of the earlier classification of bananas based on assigning scientific names to cultivated varieties. Despite this,

7705-435: The buttonwood mangrove ( Conocarpus erectus ). The category of dry semi-deciduous lowland forest occupies the largest area in the state, 18,872.7 km (7,286.8 mi ). These plant formations are located above the western coast, in the municipalities Paez, Mara, Maracaibo, Jesus Enrique Lossada, San Francisco, La Cañada de Urdaneta, Rosario de Perijá, Machiques de Perijá, part of Catatumbo and Jesus Maria Semprum. On

7820-410: The capacity to absorb and dilute the contaminating elements that may be present in this water body. The Gulf of Venezuela, with a total surface of 17,840 km , without including the bay of El Tablazo, is located to the north of the outer portion of the marabinal depression. Its shape is approximately rectangular, with the major axis in the northeast–southwest direction. The outer limit of the gulf with

7935-450: The coastal area to the foothills of the Oca mountains. The fauna is distributed according to the terrestrial or aquatic habitat of fresh and marine water, lentic and lotic waters, and also ecotone fauna. The dry sub-region includes the municipalities of Paez, Mara, Maracaibo, Miranda, Jesus Enrique Lossada, Cabimas , La Cañada de Urdaneta and Lagunillas. This sub-region is home to vulnerable animal communities, considered to be taxa that face

8050-462: The coastal plains of the gulf of Venezuela. The natural region Cordillera de Perijá or western Andean mountain range is located in the west of Zulia state. This unit occupies an area of 4,170.55 km , which represents 12.92% of the state. Part of the most western sectors of the Machiques de Perijá, Rosario de Perijá, Jesús Enrique Lossada, Mara and Guajira municipalities are located in this natural region . The Perijá mountain range can be considered

8165-634: The common yellow dessert variety can be split lengthwise into three sections that correspond to the inner portions of the three carpels by manually deforming the unopened fruit. In cultivated varieties, fertile seeds are usually absent. A 2011 phylogenomic analysis using nuclear genes indicates the phylogeny of some representatives of the Musaceae family. Major edible kinds of banana are shown in boldface . Musa acuminata ssp. burmannica , Banana , S. India to Cambodia Musa ornata , Flowering banana of Southeast Asia Musa acuminata ssp. zebrina , Blood banana of Sumatra Musa mannii ,

8280-410: The destination country. These rooms are air-tight and filled with ethylene gas to induce ripening. This mimics the normal production of this gas as a ripening hormone. Ethylene stimulates the formation of amylase , an enzyme that breaks down starch into sugar, influencing the taste. Ethylene signals the production of pectinase , a different enzyme which breaks down the pectin between the cells of

8395-744: The development of refrigeration that allowed more time between harvesting and ripening. North American shippers like Lorenzo Dow Baker and Andrew Preston , the founders of the Boston Fruit Company started this process in the 1870s, with the participation of railroad builders like Minor C. Keith . Development led to the multi-national giant corporations like Chiquita and Dole . These companies were monopolistic , vertically integrated (controlling growing, processing, shipping and marketing) and usually used political manipulation to build enclave economies (internally self-sufficient, virtually tax exempt, and export-oriented, contributing little to

8510-501: The early to middle of the Holocene the process was complete. From New Guinea, cultivated bananas spread westward into Island Southeast Asia . They hybridized with other (possibly independently domesticated) subspecies of Musa acuminata as well as M. balbisiana in the Philippines, northern New Guinea, and possibly Halmahera . These hybridization events produced the triploid cultivars of bananas commonly grown today. The banana

8625-541: The eastern coast they are distributed in the municipalities of Miranda, Santa Rita, Cabimas, Simón Bolívar, Lagunillas and part of the municipality of Valmore Rodriguez. In the municipality of Paez, these plant formations develop in dry climates with an annual average temperature of 28 °C (82.4 °F), average annual rainfall of 125 mm to 250 mm (5 inches to 10 inches) and in Aridisols and Entisols soils. The vegetation varies in size, density and species from

8740-460: The eastern flank of the Serranía del Perijá in Zulia, Venezuela, the formation is also found in other parts of the mountain range, on the Colombian western side in the east of San Diego and Curumaní , Cesar . Zulia Zulia State ( Spanish : Estado Zulia , IPA: [esˈtaðo ˈsulja] ; Wayuu : Mma’ipakat Suuria ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela . The state capital

8855-564: The effects of the activities human) stand out: the flamingo ( Phoenicopterus ruber ) , distributed in the swamp of Los Olivitos, Miranda municipality, and in the Gran Eneal lagoon, Paez municipality. Although this species cannot be classified as particularly threatened, the loss of its habitats, feeding and nesting areas, together with the lack of adequate management of its shelters, has led to important studies and pro-conservation campaigns, in order to protect and ensure its integrity. Among

8970-421: The entry and exit of products and goods to the international market . Consequently, it is a nodal center of development in the western geography of Venezuela that manages and concentrates its internal flows and placed at any point of the planet by its expeditious air, land, sea and lake routes. The state of Zulia, from the geomorphological point of view, can be defined as a depression that presents in its center

9085-597: The estates at Episkopi, near modern-day Limassol , including the region's banana plantations. In the early modern period , bananas were encountered by European explorers during the Magellan expedition in 1521, in both Guam and the Philippines . Lacking a name for the fruit, the ship's historian Antonio Pigafetta described them as "figs more than one palm long." Bananas were introduced to South America by Portuguese sailors who brought them from West Africa in

9200-592: The export market, such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guatemala; worldwide they cover only 8–10% of production. Mutation breeding can be used in this crop. Aneuploidy is a source of significant variation in allotriploid varieties. For one example, it can be a source of TR4 resistance . Lab protocols have been devised to screen for such aberrations and for possible resulting disease resistances. Wild Musa spp. provide useful resistance genetics, and are vital to breeding for TR4 resistance, as shown in introgressed resistance from wild relatives. Bananas form

9315-489: The fact that "seedless" varieties do rarely produce seeds; they obtained around fifteen seeds from some 30,000 cultivated plants, pollinated by hand with pollen from wild Asian bananas. As of 2018 , bananas are exported in larger volume and to a larger value than any other fruit. In 2022, world production of bananas and plantains combined was 179 million tonnes, led by India and China with a combined total of 26% of global production. Other major producers were Uganda, Indonesia,

9430-481: The family Musaceae . The APG III system assigns Musaceae to the order Zingiberales , part of the commelinid clade of the monocotyledonous flowering plants. Some 70 species of Musa were recognized by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families as of January 2013 ; several produce edible fruit, while others are cultivated as ornamentals. The classification of cultivated bananas has long been

9545-414: The fruit is mature. The fruit requires careful handling, rapid transport to ports, cooling, and refrigerated shipping. The goal is to prevent the bananas from producing their natural ripening agent, ethylene. This technology allows storage and transport for 3–4 weeks at 13 °C (55 °F). On arrival, bananas are held at about 17 °C (63 °F) and treated with a low concentration of ethylene. After

9660-865: The host economy). Their political maneuvers, which gave rise to the term banana republic for states such as Honduras and Guatemala, included working with local elites and their rivalries to influence politics or playing the international interests of the United States, especially during the Cold War , to keep the political climate favorable to their interests. The vast majority of the world's bananas are cultivated for family consumption or for sale on local markets. They are grown in large quantities in India, while many other Asian and African countries host numerous small-scale banana growers who sell at least some of their crop. Peasants with smallholdings of 1 to 2 acres in

9775-430: The lands are very flat and low, particularly those closest to Lake Maracaibo are flooded during rainy periods or when there is an overflow of rivers, giving rise to alluvial sandy-clay soils. This natural region includes the 21 municipalities that make up the state of Zulia and occupies an area of 24,377.81 km , representing 75.51% of the state. In the center of the depression is the engraved tectonic pit occupied by

9890-572: The largest body of water of its kind in Latin America . Its basin covers one of the largest oil and gas reserves in the Western Hemisphere . Zulia is economically important to the country for its oil and mineral exploitation, but it is also one of the major agricultural areas of Venezuela, highlighting the region's contribution in areas such as livestock, bananas , fruits, meat, and milk. There are several competing theories about

10005-466: The late 6th century AD. Malagasy people colonized Madagascar from South East Asia around 600 AD onwards. Glucanase and two other proteins specific to bananas were found in dental calculus from the early Iron Age (12th century BCE) Philistines in Tel Erani in the southern Levant . Another wave of introductions later spread bananas to other parts of tropical Asia, particularly Indochina and

10120-541: The lower parts. There are very arid zones with others of great humidity, very populated zones in small spaces and other extensive semi-populated areas. Very rich areas and others of great poverty. The Lake Maracaibo Basin covers the large to the north and west, from the Guajira Peninsula to the Perijá Mountains . Venezuela's Andean states of Táchira , Mérida and Trujillo border Zulia State at

10235-514: The marshes. Towards the southeast of the lake, in the sector located between the Pocó and Escalante rivers, there is close contact with the northwestern Andean slope, and there is a reduced relief of excrement cones, terraces and torrential lava flows that sometimes manifest themselves in low, rounded hills. In the northern sector a semi-arid climate prevails, with an irregular pluviometric regime. The annual medial precipitation registered in Maracaibo city

10350-430: The mouth of the Catatumbo River , where it empties into Lake Maracaibo, is the famous Catatumbo lightning ( Relámpago del Catatumbo ) which is represented on the state's flag and coat of arms by lightning bolts. Due to its geographical location, Zulia has geostrategic and geopolitical advantages combined in the diversity of resources given by the nature of its geography, geology and hydrography, drawing in its territory

10465-582: The name was borrowed into the Austronesian languages and across Asia, accompanying the cultivation of the banana as it was brought to new areas, via the Dravidian languages of India, into Arabic as a Wanderwort . The word "banana" is thought to be of West African origin, possibly from the Wolof word banaana , and passed into English via Spanish or Portuguese . Musa is the type genus in

10580-463: The northeast and northwest of the state of Zulia. The decrease in vegetation as a result of livestock activity has generated a destruction of their habitat . Among the bird species, the little cardinal ( Carduelis cucullata ) is considered the most threatened not only in Zulia, but in the whole country. The cause of this situation is related to its capture and trade: the beauty of its plumage has been used as an ornament for hats. In less risk (prone to

10695-495: The origin of the state's name. One is that Guaimaral, son of the cacique Mara, was on pilgrimage in the Pamplona region, where he fell in love with the beautiful Zulia, but she was killed in a battle against the conquerors. Gaimaral sadly returned to his father's domains, naming rivers, towns and regions for his lost love there is little historical proof, but that is the most popular theory. Indigenous peoples have been living in

10810-437: The original names are still recognized by some authorities, leading to confusion. The accepted scientific names for most groups of cultivated bananas are Musa acuminata Colla and Musa balbisiana Colla for the ancestral species, and Musa × paradisiaca L. for the hybrid of the two. An unusual feature of the genetics of the banana is that chloroplast DNA is inherited maternally, while mitochondrial DNA

10925-411: The peel. The fruit has been described as a "leathery berry". There is a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with numerous long, thin strings ( Vascular bundles ), which run lengthwise between the skin and the edible inner white flesh. The peel is less palatable and usually discarded after peeling the fruit, optimally done from the blossom end, but often started from the stalk end. The inner part of

11040-414: The physiographic and climatic characteristics of the entity, hence to differentiate the types of existing soils the sectorization of the state is used, even though spatially they do not always maintain continuity, but similarity in the existing types of soil. The state of Zulia, due to its great territorial extension and the great variability of type of landscapes , climate and soil, allows the existence of

11155-436: The position. The term of office of the state governor is four years. A governor may be re-elected an undetermined number of times. Banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa . In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing them from dessert bananas . The fruit

11270-770: The region between Java , Borneo , and New Guinea ; while Pacific plantains were introduced to the Pacific Islands from either eastern New Guinea or the Bismarck Archipelago . 21st century discoveries of phytoliths in Cameroon dating to the first millennium BCE triggered a debate about the date of first cultivation in Africa. There is linguistic evidence that bananas were known in East Africa or Madagascar around that time. The earliest prior evidence indicates that cultivation dates to no earlier than

11385-569: The region for a long time, including Yukpa , Barí , Arawakos (Western), Timotes and Cuica , Caquetío , Wayúu , and Añú (es). The area that is now Zulia was first seen by Europeans in 1499 during an expedition commanded by Alonso de Ojeda . Transferred by the Crown of Spain to German Businessmen (to the banking company of the Welsers of Augsburg), in 1527, the Governorship and lands of

11500-487: The reptiles, the following stand out: the coastal caiman ( Crocodylus acutus ), whose distribution is severely reduced at present, is located mainly in the Pueblo Viejo dam, municipality of Lagunillas. It is an endangered species, threatened mainly by the commercialization of its skin. In lesser risk is a species of turtle, Morroccoy sabanero ( Geochelone carbonaria ), which is distributed in dry forest areas, and

11615-520: The rivers Araure, Mene, Ulé, Tamare, Pueblo Viejo, Machango and Misoa. This landscape corresponds to flat lands, of recent origin and scarce height, which varies between 50 and 100 meters above sea level. The swampy landscape of Zulia State corresponds to the southern lands of Lake Maracaibo . They occupy an area of 1,766.53 km , which represents 5% of the state. In this plain, the Santa Ana River system converges, formed on its left bank by

11730-402: The rivers Limón, Guasare, Cachirí and Socuy (municipalities Mara and Jesús Enrique Lossada); the rivers Palmar, San Juan and Apón (municipalities Rosario de Perijá, Machiques de Perijá and La Cañada de Urdaneta); in the western alluvial plains, while in the eastern alluvial plains (municipalities of Miranda, Cabimas, Santa Rita and Lagunillas) they are the result of the deposition of sediments from

11845-530: The separation of the Falcon-Zulia State. It suffered further territorial changes towards the end of the 19th century, until the current delimitation in 1899 was finally drawn. Since that time the name has remained Estado Zulia . The state of Zulia is a compendium of diverse geographical areas. Plains, mountains, a large lake to which about 135 rivers flow that contribute water and sediment, an infinite number of lagoons, swamps and marshes that are in

11960-509: The southeast, considered as a pre-mountain range system of relatively lower altitudes, where only tertiary rocks emerge. . According to the most recent classification, the state of Zulia presents three basic physical-natural units: the natural region of the Perijá mountain range; the natural region of the Corian sierras and the natural region formed by the depression of the Maracaibo lake and

12075-400: The southern end of Lake Maracaibo . The name Venezuela comes from the lake. When Spanish conquistadors sailed into the area, they found the indigenous peoples living in communities of huts supported by stilts along the shores of the lake. They were reminded of Venice and named the place "Little Venice" or Venezuela . The lake has a number of islands, some of which are populated. Near

12190-404: The specific case of the northern part of the state, the wind added to the flat relief causes dry climates, with values that vary between 200 mm and 600 mm of average annual precipitation, and a higher average annual evaporation than the precipitation, such as that which occurs in Maracaibo for the period 1993-2003 of 2,339 mm. The distribution of precipitation in the state of Zulia

12305-481: The spectacled bear ( Tremarctos ornatus ), which is in a category of threat (critical danger) due to the pressure exerted by the hunt, which has caused the decrease of the populations of these animals, in spite of being distributed in areas protected by the Venezuelan laws. Since the creation of the Sovereign State of Zulia on February 17, 1864, with the approval of the first State Constitution, it regulates

12420-505: The structure and function of the government of Zulia. Like all Venezuelan State Constitutions, it is subject to national judicial review. Any of the provisions of the Constitution may be annulled if they conflict with national law and the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The Constitution of the State of Zulia was promulgated on August 13, 2003, and partially amended in 2011, currently in force, thus repealing

12535-512: The uplifts of the Perijá and Andean mountain ranges that occurred during the Tertiary period (late Eocene and Oligo-Miocene), and the Falcón mountain ranges (Oligo-Miocene). This pit occupies about 12,870 km of surface. This type of landscape is formed by the deposition of sediments from the rivers of the western and eastern margins of the state of Zulia, specifically in the lower courses of

12650-658: The water masses of the Maracaibo Lake system, "where more than 10,000 m3 of sediments have been accumulated, whose ages are from the Cretaceous (Mesozoic) to the Recent (Cenozoic). These deposits of both marine and terrestrial origin contain an important accumulation of hydrocarbons that make it one of the richest oil basins in South America. The tectonic fossa is a product of the orogenesis directly related to

12765-521: The waters of the Caribbean Sea, on the north side, is given by a line between Punta Espada and Punta Macolla. The distance between both points is 111.12 km. The gulf of Venezuela is a body of water that presents the following movements: of sea, of tides , marine currents and investments of water mass, which provides a high capacity to oxygenate itself and to dilute the pollutants and sediments. Scarce fluvial currents flow into this gulf, due to

12880-451: Was divided into the five Cantons: Maracaibo, Perijá, Zulia, Gibraltar and Altagracia. By Decree of April 9, 1850 were added. the territory of the Province of Trujillo the parishes of La Ceiba and La Ceibita, belonging to Maracaibo, so that that Andean Province had an exit to the Lake. Venezuela's federal constitution , April 22, 1864, changed the denomination of "province" to "state", creating

12995-524: Was from naturally occurring parthenocarpic (seedless) individuals of Musa banksii in New Guinea . These were cultivated by Papuans before the arrival of Austronesian-speakers . Numerous phytoliths of bananas have been recovered from the Kuk Swamp archaeological site and dated to around 10,000 to 6,500 BP . Foraging humans in this area began domestication in the late Pleistocene using transplantation and early cultivation methods. > By

13110-692: Was one of the key crops that enabled farming to begin in Papua New Guinea. From Island Southeast Asia, bananas became part of the staple domesticated crops of Austronesian peoples . These ancient introductions resulted in the banana subgroup now known as the true plantains , which include the East African Highland bananas and the Pacific plantains (the Iholena and Maoli-Popo'ulu subgroups). East African Highland bananas originated from banana populations introduced to Madagascar probably from

13225-484: Was the city of Santa Fé de Bogotá and its jurisdiction extended, in a capricious and extravagant way, to the Provinces of Guayana, Cumaná, Maracaibo and the Islands of Margarita and Trinidad The difficulties that to its good administration offered this curious conglomerate, forced the Court of Madrid to modify the primitive division and by Royal Decree of September 8, 1777, the Provinces of Maracaibo, Cumaná, Guayana and

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