Cagua

For the language, see Cagua language.

Cagua
A square in central Cagua A square in central Cagua
Cagua
Coordinates:
Country	Venezuela
State	Aragua
Municipality	Sucre Municipality
Founded	1620
Area
• Total	40 km2 (20 sq mi)
Elevation	458 m (1,503 ft)
Population (2001)
• Total	107,932
• Demonym	cagüeño/a or cagüense
Time zone	VST
Postal code	0122
Area code(s)	0244

Cagua (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkaɣwa]) is a city of Venezuela, capital of the Sucre municipality of Aragua State. Cagua is part of the metropolitan area of Maracay.

History

Cagua was established in 1620 as "Cagua La Vieja", a town of original Spaniards. Cagua was rebuilt in its current location in 1622 with the new name of "Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Cagua", which was changed to "San José de Cagua" during the 18th century. The city is now known as Cagua. The origin of the name comes from the indigenous Cumanagoto word "Cahigua", which means snail.

Geography

Cagua is located at 458 meters above sea level in the valley of Aragua, in the northwestern part of the Aragua State. Its weather is tropical-heat.

Cagua is one of the most important cities of Aragua state because it is close to Maracay (about 14 km away), the capital city of Aragua, it is close to Valencia, Carabobo (about 65 km away) and also it is close to Caracas (about 100 km away from Cagua), the capital city of Venezuela. Cagua has been, for a long time, an important industrial zone.