Venezuela - Tourism and Travel

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is a country on the Caribbean Sea, in northern South America.

It has an area of 352,144 square miles (912,050 square kilometers.)

Venezuela has a highly indented coastline.

Lake Maracaibo, a shallow inlet of the Caribbean, lies in the west. Lake Maracaibo is rich with oil.

The Orinoco river runs through Venezuela. The Orinoco Delta is a swampy region in in the east.

In central Venezuela, there are low grasslands that are drained by the Orinoco river system.

Mountain ranges run parallel to the coast. These turn southwest, forming a northeastern extension of the Andes.

Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world, is in Venezuela. Angel Falls is 312 feet (979 meters) high. It is located in the Guiana Highlands, a remote region in southern Venezuela that is made of ancient crystalline rocks with gold, diamond and iron ore deposits.

The Guiana Shield, one of the Earth's oldest land surfaces, underlies Venezuela's Guiana Highlands. It also underlies the countries of Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana, as well as parts of Brazil and Colombia. The Guiana Shield is probably more than 4 billion years old.

Venezuela has a tropical climate. Most of the rainfall occurs in summer .

Caracas, on the Caribbean coast, is the capital of Venezuela.

28,583,000 people live in Venezuela.

Almost 90 percent of them live in urban areas. Most of them live around the coastal mountains.

69% of the people are mixed white and Native American, 20% are white, 9% are black and 2% are Native American.

Spanish is the official language. Native American languages are also spoken.

89% of the people are Roman Catholic.

Venezuela is one of the world's major oil producers. Oil makes up about three quarters of export income.

Cattle ranching and dairy farming are important industries.

The major crops are coffee, sugar cane, rice and corn.

Venezuela has gold, copper, iron ore and bauxite mines.

There are petrochemical, aluminum, steel, food product and textile industries.

Venezuela has a presidential system of government.

The bolívar, which is equal to 100 céntimos, is the official currency.