German town in Venezuela.

**~~Black Sun Dimension~~** · 04-19-2011, 02:53 PM

Colonia Tovar (Tovar Colony) is a city located in the Tovar Municipality of the state of Aragua in Venezuela, 60 km west of Caracas. The town was named after Martín Tovar y Ponte who donated the land over 150 years ago, and was founded by Agostino Codazzi. The city is mainly known for its Germanic characteristics, culture, and a dessert called "golfeado", which is very similar to a cinnamon bun. Founded in 1843 by German settlers, the city remained isolated from the rest of the world until 1960, a factor that stunted any technological advances and permitted the inhabitants to keep their culture and traditions. The majority of its residents are descendants of Germans and have a Northern European appearance. The Alemannic dialect of German, known as Alemán Coloniero ("colony German"), is nearly extinct.

The town and surrounding mountainous countryside have a superficial resemblance to Southern Germany. The visitor will occasionally see Germanic oddities such as waitresses in traditional Bavarian dress hawking "torta selva negra" and the odd "D" plate on some cars but will be unlikely to find anyone who understands German fluently.

As an interesting observation, most buildings in the area have steeply pitched roofs, a necessity in Germany to ward off any dangerous build-up of snow, but of course, not at all needed in this tropical region, where snowfall is nonexistent. Whether this architectural style was an attempt by early 19th century settlers to replicate German architecture for the sake of nostalgia, or whether they just built the only way they knew, is a subject for discussion.