Carabobo State (Estado Carabobo, esˈtaðo kaɾaˈβoβo) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The state capital city is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is and as of the 2011 census, had a population of 2,245,744.
Carabobo State was the site of the Battle of Carabobo on 24 June 1821. This was a decisive win in the war of independence from Spain, and was led by Simón Bolívar.
There are several versions about the origin of the name Carabobo. One of them refers to a voice coming from a local Arawaco language: Karau means savannah and bo means water. The repeated bo acts as a superlative, i.e. a lot of water or streams. Thus, Carabobo would mean Savannah of Waters or Savannah of Ravines.
When Europeans arrived to what would become Venezuela, one of the most important cultural centres was located around the Valencia Lake. The Native Americans in the region were hunters, gatherers, but also fishers and farmers. Many petroglyphs and ceramics remain from this time.
There are signs of human presence in the Valencia region from the fourth millennium BC onwards. Humans were also present earlier in other areas of what is now Carabobo, like in Bejuma.
An important human settlement occurred around the Valencia Lake between 200 and 1000 AD. These people already practiced some kind of agriculture.
At the end of the first millennium new populations started to arrive from the Orinoco region, probably via the El Pao River. From the eighth century onwards the Orinoco populations started to merge with the older groups. This fusion produced what is known as Valenciode culture .
People lived in houses built on artificial mounds in the very fruitful valleys to the East and West of the Valencia Lake. They produced specially anthropomorphic sculptures.
Around the year 1200 the Valencioide culture reached the whole area of the Valencia Lake basin, the centre of Northern Venezuela and several islands in the Caribbean.