Los Monjes Archipelago

The Los Monjes islands (Spanish: Archipiélago Los Monjes) is a federal dependency of Venezuela are located to the northwest 80 kilometres (49.7 miles) of the Gulf of Venezuela, 34.8 kilometres (21.6 miles) off the coast of Guajira Peninsula at the border between Colombia and the Venezuelan state of Zulia.

It is believed that they were discovered by the Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda in 1499, who named the islands after the similarity of the rock formations to the hoods worn by monks. This archipelago and the unwillingness of the governments of Colombia and Venezuela to define their maritime boundaries has generated diplomatic friction between the two nations.

With the Michelena-Pombo Treaty of 1833, the Guajira Peninsula was divided longitudinally between Venezuela and Colombia. However, the Venezuelan Congress refused to ratify that document because it was considered unfavorable to the nation in several of its parts.

In 1856, Venezuela protested Colombia's attempt to grant a guano concession, which finally did not materialize.

On August 22, 1871, the Venezuelan government included the islands as part of "Territorio Colón" (along with other archipelagos such as Los Roques, or islands such as La Tortuga), an entity that organized the islands that were not incorporated into the Venezuelan states but belonged to their territory.

In 1891, Queen María Cristina of Spain issued an arbitration ruling recognizing Colombia's ownership of almost the entire Guajira Peninsula based on the 1777 and 1790 decrees on the segregation of Maracaibo and Sinamaica, stating that all differences over boundaries were terminated.

In 1922, a Swiss arbitration decision reiterated the previous terms.

In July 1938, the Organic Law was approved by which Venezuela included the territory as part of the Federal Dependencies.