Venezuela occupies the northeastern shoulder of South America with Caracas as its capital city. The country extents for approximately 650 miles (1,050 km) from north to south and about 800 miles (1,285 km) from east to west. Venezuela has 2,800 kilometers of Caribbean coastline, 72 tropical islands and a population of 21 million. It is bordered by Guyana on the east, by Brazil on the south, and by Colombia on the west.
Its surface can be divided into four main geographical regions. Humid, swampy lowlands surround the shallow lake Maracaibo in the northwestern part of the country. To the East the lowlands quickly rise into Sierra Nevada de Mérida, a north Andean spur that forms the second region. The Merida mountain range then swings eastwards to the Coastal highlands in the North. This range then dips under the ocean and appears as the string of Caribbean islands.
The third main geographical region is the vast plains of the Llanos, a low-lying grassland of central Venezuela that occupies about one-third of the country. The Llanos and the Guiana Highlands are drained by the Orinoco River (1,700 miles - 2,735 kilometers) system that flows into the Atlantic Ocean through a number of distributaries. Orinoco tributaries of the Guiana Highlands descend over gigantic, erosion-resistant mounds known as tepuis (steps). The highest waterfall in the world, Angel Falls (3,212 feet - 979 meters), descends from one of these tepuis.
The Guayana highlands form the southeastern part of the country. This is the world of the famous Gran Sabana tabletop mountains.
Generally, Venezuela is a green country; grasslands cover one half, while two fifths are still forested. Forests range from lush rainforests of the low-lying Orinoco River basin to semitropical evergreen at higher elevations.
Venezuela's principal mineral resources are petroleum that amounts to about 6 percent of the world's reserves, and natural gas, amounting to almost 3 percent. |
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Name: Venezuela |
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Area: 912,050 sq km |
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Capital City: Caracas |
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Population: 22.803.000 (67%, white 21%, black 10%, Amerindian) |
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Language: Spanish (official), native dialects |
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Currency: bolivar |
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Time Zone: GMT - 4 hours |
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Religion: Roman Catholic 96%, Protestant 2% |
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