In 1561, the island was seized by Lope de Aguirre, a notoriously violent and rebellious conquistador who killed the governor Juan Villadrando.

He captured a fleet of Spanish ships off port, before turning the guns on the forts which he stormed and claimed a large booty of pearls and gold.

In 1815 the general Pablo Morillo with a fleet of 18 warships and 42 cargo ships disembarked in Island Margarita with the mission to pacify the revolts against the Spanish monarchy in the American colonies.

[5] The island's status as a duty-free port was established in 1974 to promote commercial and tourism industries, with lower-priced imports driving increased visitors and the development of hotels.

This axial region several side brackets oriented north–south off, including deep valleys are dissected; the most important is San Francisco in the north central of Margarita.

The central massif is surrounded by foothills forming a more or less continuous, narrow strip, which reaches almost to the coast north and south of the peninsula.

[7] Isla Margarita eastern is formed by a mountain range which runs roughly north–south, from northern Porlamar to Cabo Negro; north from the town of El Espinal, the massif rises steeply to the culminations of San Juan and Copey hills, at heights of 920 and 890 m, respectively.

The road ascends and runs through this wide It is a valley with numerous curves, crossing the mountain through some trenches that have been artificially dug to avoid too steep a slope.

From the northwest, This small mountain range stands out clearly as two elongated hills of similar height, separated by a well-defined watercourse.

On the eastern slope, the main mountain range loses height sharply, however, until almost Boca del Río it extends in a sequence of rounded hills of little height that in their majority are of reddish sandstones and sparse, xerophilic, or absent, vegetation of aspect, but that at sunset acquires tonalities of surprising serenity and singular beauty.

These last ones, because they are protected from the direct action of the dominant winds, allow the sands to be deposited forming beaches like those of Tunar, La Wall or The Mule.

Its western end, which borders the Macanao Peninsula, receives the denomination of El Saco, zone that was habitually visited by the flamingos or tococos that formed a pink stain visible from afar; then, when they lift up their flight they offer a show of incomparable color quality, especially when the sun's rays from the dusk, already oblique, they make stand out, with variety of soft shades, the pink color of the birds and their "jet" plane morphology with the neck stretched out and the wings placed in the center of the fuselage, long and slender.

From the geomorphological and landscape point of view, the Peninsula is characterized by presence of a mountain range (whose highest hill reaches 745 m) that occupies the entire portion of the peninsula, leaving free only, to the south, a coastal strip more or less wide that forms cliffs on the sea, terraces of filling, mouth of ravines or extensive salinetas that were ancient lagoons formed as a result of the interaction between sea currents and the contributions of the rivers whose joint action created a restinga or bar.

In this coastal strip, which is between the road and the sea, There is an abundance of debris: fragments of metamorphic rocks, stones and earth that have been the hills; and on which grows a poor xerophilic vegetation more or less dense.

Being located in the Caribbean Sea near the Earth's equator, solar rays fall perpendicularly on the island and therefore it is advisable to always use some sort of sunscreen when visiting its beaches.

Ethnic minority populations of some significance include descendants of West Africans enslaved by the Spaniards, Lebanese, Syrians, Spanish, Italians, Germans, French, Dutch, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Portuguese, Argentines, Chileans, Uruguayans, Colombians, and Chinese.

Evangelical Christian churches have had a significant growth in recent years demonstrating their presence and impact in the population of the island.

One of the fastest-growing is the Centro Cristiano Casa de Alabanza (CCCA), present in Porlamar, Juan Griego, La Asunción and Tubores Municipality.

The legend told by the inhabitants of the island goes that the name María Guevara comes from a white young girl who was heavily involved in the War of Independence and that upon her death, the hills rose on her grave.

Another Margaritan myth says the source of the name also comes from the same woman, but that she was from Cumaná and came to the island to lead a group of men in fishing activities.

On 27 August 2010, an Italian tourist, Emiliano Astore, was murdered on his boat anchored off Margarita Island in an apparent robbery.

[10] On 18 July 2011, 28-year-old Briton Tom Ossel was killed resisting seven armed robbers who had tricked their way into the Posada Casa Rosa backpackers' hotel in Playa El Agua before they took the guests hostage and raided rooms for valuables.

[11] On 29 March 2011, French tourist Yves Le Bras was murdered in a robbery at the Laguna Mar hotel, while he and his wife dined at the Guacuco restaurant.

[12] In March 2011, Belgian tourist Philippe Bonne was murdered while eating in a fast food outlet in Playa El Agua, Margarita.

[13][14] On 20 January 2012, about 30 or 35 Brazilian tourists were robbed in their hotel in Antolin del Campo, Margarita, by a gang of between 13 and 15 armed robbers.