La Orchila Island is an island and a military base off the coast of Venezuela, north of Caracas. It has numerous beaches, including one where the sand is markedly pink (Arena Rosada). There is a presidential retreat on this island, and the residential complex reserved for the military houses consists mainly of elevated houses made of wooden logs. There is also a court for bolas criollas. All the facilities are connected by pathways, mostly unpaved but smooth and clean. History The Spanish explorer Alonzo de Santa Cruz described the island, calling it Orchilla, in the first half of the 16th century: ...to the east of this island [Tortuga] for eight leagues is another joy, Orchilla, eight leagues long and seven wide, with two islands to the south of it; this name was given because there is a lot of Orchilla, of which we speak long in the islands of Canaria General Islario... In 1589 by order of the Spanish governor Diego de Osorio La Orchila and other islands like Los Roques were formally taken over by the Spanish Crown. At the end of the 16th century the islands were considered part of the Province of Venezuela. The author M.D. Teenstra wrote in 1836 (in his book The Dutch West Indies): The government of Curaçao also includes the uninhabited islets and rocks Little Curaçao, Aves, Roques and Orchilla." He goes on to say that "Orchilla, although we consider it to belong to Curaçao, is of too little importance to justify any dispute with Spain which claims this island as well. The Republic of Venezuela also considers it theirs and their coastal guard often chases away the fishermen from Curaçao who go there to collect shell fish, fire wood, grass and hay, turtles, and birds' eggs or burn lime. Around the year 1870 the American company Philadelphia Guano Company was established in this group of islands, dedicated to the exploitation and exportation of guano, arriving to install a factory that would be abandoned over the years. On August 22, 1871, it became part of the Colon Territory, an administrative division created under the government of General Antonio Guzmán Blanco, which was later dissolved. In 1938, along with other islands, it became part of the Federal Dependencies created by law that same year. Until the 1950s it was populated by some 121 inhabitants, who were evicted during the government of General Marcos Pérez