JIMMIE ANGEL HISTORICAL PROJECT

Eureka, California 95501

United States of America
EIN: 68-0372407

NEWS RELEASE
24 December 2009

RENAMING OF ANGEL FALLS

Karen Angel
Jimmie Angel Historical Project
Eureka, California
United States of America
1 (707) 476-8764
kangel@humboldt1.com
www.jimmieangel.org

Angel Falls
Churún-Vená
Kerepakupai Meru
Parakupa- Vená
Salto Ángel

By any other name, still

the world’s tallest waterfall,
3,212 feet (979 m).

© Karen Angel

The news on December 20, 2009 that Hugo Chavez, President

of Venezuela, had renamed Angel Falls, the world’s tallest waterfall,
did not come as a surprise. I have known for some years that he
wanted to change the waterfall’s name.
Telephone 1.707.476.8764 ● www.jimmieangel.org ● kangel@humboldt1.com
 JIMMIE ANGEL HISTORICAL PROJECT
Eureka, California 95501
United States of America
EIN: 68-0372407

I am pleased that President Chavez has selected an indigenous

name for the waterfall. The Pemón people who live in the Kamarata
Valley next to Auyántepui, the great mesa from which the
waterfall flows, do not use the “Kerepakupai Meru” name that Chavez
is using for the waterfall. Their name for the waterfall is “Churún-
Vená.” I wonder if they can participate in the decision regarding
the indigenous name that he has selected.

President Chavez’s words about Jimmie Angel made me sad. He

seemed to not know about Jimmie Angel’s long association with the
Gran Sabana region of southeastern Venezuela. In fact, Jimmie Angel
was the pilot-guide for the Venezuelan Ministry of Development’s
Expedition to the Gran Sabana in 1939.

2 Jimmie and Marie Angel

with Carlos Herrera, a
Venezuelan
photographer-
cartographer, standing
by Angel's Hamilton
airplane NC-854E,
March 1939.

Venezuelan Ministry of
Development’s
Expedition to the Gran
Sabana, March - July
1939.
©Jimmie Angel Historical
Project Archive

Telephone 1.707.476.8764 ● www.jimmieangel.org ● kangel@humboldt1.com

 JIMMIE ANGEL HISTORICAL PROJECT
Eureka, California 95501
United States of America
EIN: 68-0372407

In December 1939, the government of Venezuela published the

findings of the expedition in a lengthy report titled Exploración de la
Gran Sabana which included the following introduction:

“Among the explorers of Kamarata, the North American

aviator James C. Angel merits special mention for
conducting three expeditions by airplane of this area from
1933 to 1937. One of Angel’s principal objectives was the
exploration and layout of Auyán-tepui’s plateau where he
proposed the construction of a landing strip and in 1936 he
organized the first climb to the summit in collaboration
with Captain Cardona and Gustavo Heny. At the beginning
of 1937, Cardona and Heny succeeded in climbing Auyán-
tepui and a little time later Angel landed on the summit of
the plateau on marshy terrain where the airplane

3 inundated itself in such a manner that it was necessary to

abandon it.”
“The explorations by Cardona and Angel contributed to a
great awakening of interest in Kamarata and Auyán-tepui
with the result that at the end of 1937, Mr. William H.
Phelps organized and funded a scientific expedition with
the cooperation of the American Museum of Natural
History. That same expedition, under the leadership of
Doctor G. H. H. Tate, remained in the area for three
months during which time they climbed Auyán-tepui,
gathering data on the flora and fauna for correlation with
studies done in Roraima and Duida.”

Jimmie Angel loved Venezuela and its people. During the

1930s and 1940s he flew missions of mercy for the indigenous Pemón
of the Kamarata Valley and assisted their Chief Alejo Calcaño by flying
him from village to village. Jimmie Angel and his wife Marie had an
Adopted Pemón son Jose Manuel (Angel) Ugarte. In 1994, I met Jose
Manuel in his home village of Kamarata. He died in Kamarata in 2001
at age 78.

Telephone 1.707.476.8764 ● www.jimmieangel.org ● kangel@humboldt1.com

 JIMMIE ANGEL HISTORICAL PROJECT
Eureka, California 95501
United States of America
EIN: 68-0372407

Karen Angel with Santo

(left) & Nered Ugarte in
the Kamarata Valley,
Canaima National Park,
2002. Their father was
Jose Manuel (Angel)
Ugarte, the adopted son of
Jimmie and Marie Angel.

©Jimmie Angel Historical Project

Archive

I think President Chavez may do more harm than good for the
indigenous people with his demand that the name Angel Falls not be
4 used by anyone. Angel Falls is a lovely, descriptive name for the
cascading wing of water that forms the waterfall. The name is known
throughout the world. President Chavez should want people from the
“outside” to come to see the waterfall because tourism to the waterfall
is the Pemón’s primary source of income.

I think Angel Falls, like Mt. Everest, will continue to be known as

Angel Falls as well as by several indigenous names including “Churún-
Vená” and President Chavez’s “Kerepakupai Meru.” The Jimmie Angel
Historical Project uses the Pemón’s indigenous name “Churún-Vená”
and “Angel Falls" in its work.

My position has always been that Jimmie Angel made the

waterfall known to the world, and thus he “discovered” it in that
context.

There is much scholarly work being done by Venezuelans –

scientists and historians – sorting through old missionary maps and
explorer maps. Auyantepui, the great mesa from which Angel
Falls/Churun Vena flows, first appears on a map as “Auyan” made in
1779 by Fray Carlos de Barcelona, a Catalunyan priest.

Telephone 1.707.476.8764 ● www.jimmieangel.org ● kangel@humboldt1.com

 JIMMIE ANGEL HISTORICAL PROJECT
Eureka, California 95501
United States of America
EIN: 68-0372407

Recent scholarship has in large measure debunked the

suggestions that the waterfall was first seen by other explorers
including Sir Walter Raleigh, La Cruz and Captain Cardona. It came
down to Jimmie Angel being the first “outsider” to see the waterfall
and accurately place it on maps and report it to the world.

After living with the history of Jimmie Angel all of my life and
researching the history of Jimmie Angel and exploration for sixteen
years, I am delighted that the Chavez news releases got his name
right. When I first started my research his name was usually printed
as “Jimmy” Angel.

James “Jimmie” Crawford Angel was born in the Cedar Valley

area of the mid western state of Missouri on 1 August 1899. He died
in Panama’s Gorgas Hospital in 1956 as the result of a plane accident.
Although a United States citizen, he spent much of his 57 years of life
outside of the United States. He lived for adventure and the love of
flying.
5
Some of his work, particularly in Venezuela, has had a lasting
impact. His explorations of the Gran Sabana of southeastern
Venezuela from 1933 through 1942 developed international interest in
the region and led to scientific exploration by the American Museum

Venezuelan Carlos A. Freeman took

this photo of Angel Falls from
Jimmie Angel’s airplane on May 1,
1939. It and a companion photo of
Angel Falls were the first published
photographs of Angel Falls
appearing in “Exploración de la
Gran Sabana,” Revista de Fomento,
No. 19, December 1939.

© Carlos A. Freeman Photo Archive in

association with the Jimmie Angel Historical
Project

Telephone 1.707.476.8764 ● www.jimmieangel.org ● kangel@humboldt1.com

 JIMMIE ANGEL HISTORICAL PROJECT
Eureka, California 95501
United States of America
EIN: 68-0372407

of Natural History of Auyántepui in 1938. The vast Gran Sabana was

explored, mapped, and opened to systematic scientific evaluation, in
part, due to Angel’s work for the Venezuelan Ministry of Development
and the Venezuelan-Brazil Boundary Commission in 1939.

Jimmie Angel first saw what became known to the world as

Angel Falls on 18 November 1933 on a solo flight around Auyántepui,
a table top mesa, in southeastern Venezuela. He was obsessed with
Auyántepui; a 348 square mile heart-shaped tepui not shown on the
official maps prior to his explorations of the region in southeastern
Venezuela.

It is difficult to know when any geological feature is actually

discovered. Perhaps they are never discovered. Rather, the
knowledge of their existence gains recognition by a larger, more
diverse audience. Jimmie Angel was the first person to accurately
place the waterfall on maps of the region and to make the waterfall
6 known to the world.

As a consequence of scientific exploration of the region,

Venezuela’s vast Canaima National Park has been preserved and
saved from the deprecations that have destroyed many other forests
and savannas in South America.

The Jimmie Angel Historical Project (JAHP) is a nonprofit

organization incorporated in the State of California in 1996 to foster
research and to provide accurate information about aviator-explorer
James “Jimmie” Crawford Angel (1899-1956), his associates, and
their era of exploration with an emphasis on exploration in Venezuela
during the 1920s through the 1940s.

Karen Angel, who is the daughter of Jimmie Angel’s youngest

brother Clyde Marshall Angel (1917-1997), is the founder and
president of the Jimmie Angel Historical Project. The JAHP board
members are from the U.S.A. and Venezuela.

JAHP maintains an archive of historical photographs, documents

and published materials that is shared by appointment with journalists,
filmmakers, museum curators, teachers and students. JAHP works in
cooperation with individuals, organizations, and governmental

Telephone 1.707.476.8764 ● www.jimmieangel.org ● kangel@humboldt1.com

 JIMMIE ANGEL HISTORICAL PROJECT
Eureka, California 95501
United States of America
EIN: 68-0372407

agencies which are interested in the preservation of Jimmie Angel’s

airplane El Rio Caroni which is a national monument in Venezuela.
With proper conservation El Rio Caroni will be preserved for future
generations to see.

Three perspectives: The naming of Angel Falls

Pemón Perspective

According to Venezuelan Isabel Barton, a filmmaker who has been

working with the elders of the Pemón people, the elders state that
their name for Angel Falls is Churún-Vená. Vená means waterfall. The
water, after it collects in the pool at the base of the waterfall and then
cascades over the rocks is called Churún-Merú. Merú means rapids or
cascade, in other words, water flowing over rocks. The Churún part of
the name comes from the fact that it is the largest waterfall flowing
into the Churún Canyon which is a very important place in their
7 culture. The word Churún is a sound in their language with no
particular meaning.

Isabel Barton to Karen Angel

Personal communication, 22 December 2009

Venezuelan Perspective

“The name Angel Falls came about during a reunion of Jimmie Angel,
Shorty Martin and Venezuelan Gustavo Heny in Caracas in 1937. They
were talking about the waterfall and when Martin and Angel didn’t
have a name for it; Heny suggested the name Angel, using Jimmie’s
last name because it was he who had made it known to the world.”

Enrique Lucca Escobar to Karen Angel

Caracas, Venezuela
29 February 1996

Telephone 1.707.476.8764 ● www.jimmieangel.org ● kangel@humboldt1.com

 JIMMIE ANGEL HISTORICAL PROJECT
Eureka, California 95501
United States of America
EIN: 68-0372407

United States Perspective

“The name Angel Falls was accepted in the United States because of
the Phelps-Venezuelan Expedition led by Dr. George H. H. Tate of the
American Museum of Natural History. Museum ornithologist and
expedition member E. Thomas Gilliard’s feature articles about the
expedition and Jimmie Angel and his waterfall made the name Angel
Falls known to the public.”

Mary LeCroy, Research Associate and former Assistant to E. Thomas Gilliard

American Museum of Natural History, to Karen Angel,
New York City, 9 August 2002

“His articles in national magazines were to some extent responsible

for the general acceptance of the name, Angel Falls, in honor of the
aerial prospector, James Angel, who discovered them ...”
8 Archive of the American Museum of Natural History
News Release, January 27, 1965
Reporting the death of E. Thomas Gilliard

FINISH

Telephone 1.707.476.8764 ● www.jimmieangel.org ● kangel@humboldt1.com