Venezuela

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Officially named the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (República Bolivariana de Venezuela), VENEZUELA is a Spanish-speaking country situated in northern South America, south of the Caribbean Sea. Bordering countries are Brazil located south and southeast of Venezuela, Colombia to the west, and Guyana to the east. The island country Trinidad and Tobago, islands belonging to the Netherlands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao), and smaller islands are located north of Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea. Venezuelans annually celebrated Independence Day since July 5th in 1811, when the nation declared independence from Spain.

● ● ● ● ●  People and Places  ● ● ● ● ●  The capital of Venezuela is Caracas, which has a population around 2,100,000. Other large cities in Venezuela include Ciudad Guayana, Maracaibo, Mérida, San Cristóbal, and Valencia. For their currency, Venezuelans use the Venezuelan Bolívar. The ISO 4217 currency code is VEF. Indigenous Indian groups in Venezuela, including but not certainly not limited to Baniwa, Barí, Warao, Wayuu, and Yaruro tribes, speak about 25 languages. They typically inhabit western and southern Venezuela, especially the provinces of Zulia (west) and Amazonas (south). Spanish is the national and official language, while English has become the second most spoken language. Religion-wise, most Venezuelans are Roman Catholics while indigenous people continue worshipping their own religions and beliefs.

● ● ● ● ●  Land Features  ● ● ● ● ●  Venezuela has some neat land geography facts. Standing at almost 980 meters and over 3,000 feet in the Bolívar state of southeastern Venezuela, the world-renown Angels Falls is the tallest waterfall with no interruptions. Lake Maracaibo in northwestern Venezuela is generally considered a lake even though it is technically a bay. The northernmost land-connected extension of Venezuela, the Paraguaná Peninsula features the Paraguaná Refinery Complex. This refinery facility is one of the largest oil refineries in the world. Another major peninsula of Venezuela jutting out into the Caribbean Sea is Paria Peninsula, also known as Peninsula de Paria ↗ (blog post link). This peninsula is about 1,000 kilometers east of Paraguaná Peninsula and just west of Trinidad and Tobago. The Andes Mountains (Cordillera de los Andes in Spanish) stretch from southwest to northeast across western Venezuela. Pico Bolívar is Venezuela's highest peak, standing tall at over 5,000 meters and over 16,400 feet.