Punto Fijo was founded in the early 1940s, on the outskirts of two refinery operations established by Standard Oil and Shell during the 1940s. Punto Fijo has an estimated population of 270,000 (est. 2002 census) mostly in the urban center.
Punto Fijo's name is commonly attributed to the late Rafael Gonz�lez Estaba, former city historian, who said that the place where the city now stands was a common stop (the "fixed point") for passers-by and fishermen
