Gran Roque

Gran Roque appears on Spanish colonial maps as part of the Captaincy General of Venezuela, though the islands long had no settled population, and in 1836 the Dutch government of Curaçao still counted "the uninhabited islets and rocks" of Los Roques among its dependencies. In the 18th century the Real Compañía Guipuzcoana set up on the islands and gave the first of them their names. Settlers from the Dutch Antilles arrived around the 1880s and left names such as Francisquí, Madrisquí and Crasquí, and in 1874 the government contracted Luis Oduber of Curaçao to build the lighthouse now called the Faro Holandés.

Under Antonio Guzmán Blanco the archipelago became part of the Colón Territory, and in 1895 Gran Roque served as its capital, with a governor sent from Caracas and fewer than a hundred inhabitants. Fishermen from Margarita settled over the following decades: there were 484 people in 1941 and 559 in 1950. In 1972 the government declared Los Roques a national park for its seabirds and marine life, and a scientific foundation set up a research station on Dos Mosquises.

Tourism was at first run by outsiders — wealthy Venezuelans from Caracas and foreigners who bought houses within the park — before posadas spread through the village. In the 1990s Gran Roque became the seat of the park's governing authority, replaced in 2011 by the Francisco de Miranda Insular Territory, run directly by the central government. The airport was modernised in 2019, and its runway was extended on reclaimed land in 2023–24.

Gran Roque's culture is that of a fishing village turned guesthouse island. Most of its families trace their roots to Margarita, and the islanders' seafaring life — fishing from small boats, lobster in season — shaped the village before tourism did. The names of many cays, from Francisquí to Selesquí, recall the settlers from Curaçao and the other Dutch islands.

The village itself has a strong visual identity: houses and posadas painted in bright colours, streets of sand, and almost no vehicles, so people walk barefoot from door to door. Life is lived outdoors, on the beach in front of the houses, at the harbour where the boats leave in the morning, and in the beach bars at sunset.

Because the whole archipelago is a national park, conservation is part of daily custom. The park is divided into seven zones, from areas open only to scientists to recreation and service zones, and since 2014 the community has lived under its own Norms of Communal Coexistence agreed with the territorial government. Visitors are expected to respect the zones, the reefs and the turtles.

The archipelago has about 1,500 permanent inhabitants, most of them on Gran Roque; the 2001 census counted 1,209 people. Its growth is limited by the rules of the national park. The island is not part of any state or municipality: it is the capital of Venezuela's Federal Dependencies and of the Francisco de Miranda Insular Territory, governed directly from Caracas, with offices of the parks institute and the National Guard.

Tourism is the economy. The archipelago receives around 70,000 visitors a year, many of them day visitors from Caracas and the mainland, and 96 per cent of tourists stay in posadas, which employ much of the village. Fishing, the work that first brought settlers from Margarita, continues alongside.

The day begins with boats loading at the harbour to take visitors to the cays, and the village is quietest in the middle of the day, when guests are out on the water. Everything from food to fuel arrives by boat or plane, so prices are high and supplies depend on transport from the mainland.

Food on Gran Roque is mostly what the sea provides and what the posadas cook. Grilled fish is the everyday meal, and fresh lobster is the island's speciality in season. Nearly all visitors stay in posadas, and the posadas serve these as their staples. The fish comes from the archipelago's own waters, whose rich marine life was one of the reasons the islands were made a national park in 1972.

Because almost everything else must be flown or shipped in, meals lean on the national staples that travel well: arepas, split and filled, at breakfast; rice, black beans and fried plantain on the plate; and strong black coffee through the day. In the evening the beach bars in front of the village serve cocktails such as mojitos on the sand as the sun goes down, and for many visitors that hour, rather than any meal, is the ritual of the day.