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.

Indigenous peoples have been living in the region for a long time, including Yukpa, Barí, Arawakos (Western), Timotes and Cuica, Caquetío, Wayúu, and Añú (es).

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.

It is entity was governed by the President of the Court, whose official seat 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 the Islands of Margarita and Trinidad were incorporated into the General Captaincy of Caracas.

At 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 the Great Colombia, proclaiming its independence from the Government of Madrid.

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 the lower parts.

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 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 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 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.

Throughout its geological history, the Andes and Perijá became positive zones; however, an orogenic pulsation in 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.

In the center of the depression is the engraved tectonic pit occupied by 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).

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.

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.

The Gulf of Venezuela, with a total surface of 17,840 km2, without including the bay of El Tablazo, is located to the north of the outer portion of the marabinal depression.

The dry sub-region includes the municipalities of Paez, Mara, Maracaibo, Miranda, Jesus Enrique Lossada, Cabimas, La Cañada de Urdaneta and Lagunillas.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

In lesser risk is a species of turtle, Morroccoy sabanero (Geochelone carbonaria), which is distributed in dry forest areas, and is illegally extracted.

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: 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.

Oil activity has been carried out intensively since 1912, both on the mainland and in Lake Maracaibo, generating an income that exceeds the regional domain, since it is the main support of the national economy.

It is the first producer of various agricultural and livestock items: oil palm, grapes, milk, cheese, cattle, sheep and poultry; the second in eggs and the third in cambur, bananas and goats.

The migration of Venezuelans from other regions and immigrants from neighboring countries in combination with indigenous communities present in Zulia has created its enormous and unique cultural richness.

According to the 2011 census, the racial composition of the population was as follows: [10] The state is home to the Gaiteros del Zulia, 4-time Champion of the Liga Profesional de Baloncesto, Venezuela's top professional basketball league.

The Maracaibo Metro is a mass transportation system that integrates surface, air and subway modes that was inaugurated pre-operatively and free of charge to the public on November 25, 2006, while it began commercial operations three years later, on Tuesday, June 9, 2009.

The largest church is the Catholic one, being the devotion to the Virgin Mary in her advocation of Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá, an important annual event that is part of the Zulian culture.