Located in the Western Andean Region, Mérida State covers a total surface area of 11,300 square kilometres (4,363 sq mi), making it the fifteenth-largest in Venezuela.

According to recent studies in archaeology, history and anthropology, The Andean region seems to have been inhabited since very remote times (perhaps several thousand years) by unknown groups that have left very few traces.

Then, around our era, another ethnic group of great cultural importance arrives in the region, perhaps of Chibcha origin, since they share with these their mythology, funeral and settlement patterns, housing construction, agricultural techniques, etc.

From the data of the chroniclers and the archaeological testimonies, today we know that the indigenous agricultural techniques like the irrigation systems (called acequias by the Spaniards) and the cultivation in terraces or andenes (used in all the South American Andes to take advantage of the slopes of the mountains) show for the time of the contact the existence of an economic infrastructure that supposes the presence of a numerous native population in the Andean Mountain range, as well as the existence of a hierarchical political organization and a network of communications in all the zone.

Thanks to this, the current toponymy of the Venezuelan Andes has preserved the names of the many indigenous groups that inhabited this region: Timoto-Cuica, Chama, Mocotíes, Mucuchíes, Tabayes, Mucutuy, Aricagua, etc.

With the victory of Boyacá on August 7, only the provinces of Maracaibo and Coro remained realistic and Merida was incorporated into the Third Republic of Venezuela.

At the beginning of the century in 1912, after the closure of the Universidad Central de Venezuela by the government of Juan Vicente Gómez, the city of Mérida was left as the only one in the country with access to higher education, a situation that would last until 1922 when the UCV was reopened.

The most important river in the state is the "Chama" because a large part of the water resources of Venezuela originates in the Mérida mountains.

The legislative council approves the use of state funds, can create new municipalities and has a range of functions relating to regional government.

It is the first state producer of celery, potatoes, cauliflower, lettuce, carrots, garlic, beets and cabbage in the country.

An important factor in the economy is a wide range of handcrafted articles, such as: wool fabrics in the manufacture of beautiful blankets, wood carvings of original sculptures, clay articles, typical sweets, wines, punches and handcrafted liquors made with fruits grown in the region.

The cable car system, being the highest and longest in the world, attracts thousands of people every year who venture to climb to the vicinity of Pico Bolivar.

Basic and secondary education has a large number of institutions, mostly public, depending on both the national and state governments.

These depend mostly on the universities or the State within the framework of the Symphonic Orchestra System, and teach how to play multiple musical instruments, as well as instruct in lyrical interpretation and voice development.

The University of Los Andes, the most relevant in the region, offers undergraduate programs in various artistic areas, health sciences, forestry, science and technology, engineering, legal sciences, social sciences and economics, literature and humanities, between short and long careers, as well as courses, undergraduate, graduate, specializations, diplomas, among others, so it brings together more than 40.000 students and 6,000 teachers; this is divided into 3 nuclei within the state, in the cities of Merida, El Vigía and Tovar, in the case of the capital city is distributed in 4 complexes: "Pedro Rincón Gutierrez" (La Hechicera), La Liria, "Ciclo Básico" (Los Chorros) and the Campo de Oro, and more than one faculty watered by all the geography of the same as Medicine, Dentistry and Arts, established since 1785 in Merida.

Another house of studies of great importance is the Universidad Politécnica Territorial de Mérida Kléber Ramírez, formerly known as the Instituto Universitario Tecnológico de Ejido (IUTE), has its headquarters in the city of Ejido, was founded on November 25, 1981 by the national executive and raised to the rank of National Experimental University, changing its name to the current one on February 14, 2012.

The State of Merida is a scientific and technological entity par excellence, an activity that derives largely from the presence of multiple houses of higher education, as well as the contribution of public institutions such as IVIC and Fundacite, which have generated significant progress through research, development of new technologies and scientific work.

4,937 Extraordinary of the same year 10 The Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC) located in the State of Merida (IVIC-Merida) includes the Multidisciplinary Center for Science (CMC).

These teams bring together multidisciplinary personnel who focus their efforts on various fundamental and applied themes related to multiple disciplines such as agro-ecology, health, environment, agriculture and politics, without losing sight of the social relevance of the research topics.

The State of Merida is bounded by the States of Zulia, Trujillo, Tachira and Barinas, in the west of Venezuela, which allows any traveler to arrive by land through a series of roads that connect it with the states mentioned above: In addition to these roads it is important to note that the 2 main localities of the state as the cities of Merida (State Capital) and El Vigia (Economic Capital) are connected by the Rafael Caldera Highway, in a stretch of 60 km at an average speed of 100 km / h. Terminal of Short Routes: this project of great importance was executed in the previous ones of the City of Ejido, with the purpose of decongesting the internal traffic of the capital, since its location to the south of the conurbation, guarantees the entrance of transport of passengers of a comfortable and simple form to be located in the entrance of the same one, after its inauguration it has served as a terminal of routes feeding the Massive Transport System Trolleybus of Mérida having a network of articulated buses mark yutong known as BUSMÉRIDA with routes towards the zones South of the Lake of Maracaibo, Valley of the Mocotíes, Towns of the South, the Towns of the North and towns of the Páramo.

The typical dishes of the meridian food are: Among the most outstanding typical desserts are: the sweet polished (based on milk and covered with sugar), alfajores, guava sandwiches, milky candy and strawberries with cream, as well as drinks such as the Andean chicha, the calentaíto, mead, pineapple guarapo, blackberry wine and panela (paper).

In the Páramo and the southern villages next to the Mocotíes area, the tradition and folklore of the mountains is expressed with native instruments; the so-called Peasant Music made up of genres such as waltz and string meringue are typical of the region.

The sounds of the aboriginal cultures move like the wind around the whole state, being its epicenter the towns of San Juan, Chiguará and Lagunillas where the ethnic roots of the Meridians still prevail as if time never passed.

The most danceable genres typical of Caribbean cultures such as Salsa, Merengue, Colombian Cumbia, percussions and wind sounds are rooted in lands like Tovar, El Vigía, Ejido, Timotes, Zea and Merida; there the best orchestras of the Region and Venezuela have been formed and grown.

Although the Latin American, Afro-descendant, Caribbean and Timotocuica traditions and roots have not been erased with time, the influence of the Anglo-Saxon music has also had a place in these lands, this is obvious, it was impossible to think that cities like El Vigia and Ejido with an important commercial impact and cities like Merida and Tovar with a transcendental bohemian culture were not influenced by the Rock, Pop, Hip Hop, Dancehall, R&B genres, among others.

Bullfighting is a cultural expression of the mother country Spain, has had a strong follow up in the cities of the heights as those belonging to the States Merida and Tachira.

The Andean epicenter (Merida) is a state where bullfights are held almost by law accompanied by the festivities of each town, which is why it is called the main course of the celebrations, this has led to important national and international events which not only allow the recreation and entertainment of the people also allows a cultural exchange of own and others causing the representatives of the municipal and state executives invest a large amount of foreign exchange in both promotion and implementation of them.

Merida is a sports entity par excellence, home to different sports clubs and franchises, representing localities, commercial houses, public entities, educational institutions, municipalities and even the state in various competitions; The southern territory has been the scene of various sports such as chess, football, baseball, cycling, swimming, basketball, volleyball, trekking, athletics, mountaineering, paragliding, tennis, Basque pelota, judo, taekwondo, karate, fencing, table tennis, gymnastics, indoor football, beach volleyball, softball, bolas criollas, among other disciplines.