Venezuela, officially called a Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela) is the northmost united states around South America and part of Caribbean South America. It borders a Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Guyana to the east, Brazil to the south, and Colombia to the west. Off a Venezuelan coast come too discovered a Caribbean states of Aruba, the Netherlands Antilles and Trinidad and Tobago.

The previous Spanish colony, Venezuela is a Federal Republic. Unfeeling & geographically these are a virtually all Caribbean country of South America, having within its possession ended 600 islands in the aforesaid sea. Historically, Venezuela has experienced territorial disputes by having Guyana, largely concerning a Essequibo area. This issue is non eventually resolved. To this day, Venezuela is known for its petroleum industry, a friendly temperment of its habitant, the environmental diversity of its territory, and its sheer natural beauty. It has been claimed that Cristopher Columbus was so enthralled by Venezuela's landscape, after arriving to its coast around 1498, that he referred to the land when Tierra first state Gracia (Land of Grace), which has turn into a country’s nickname.

Name
A title "Venezuela" is believed to own originated from either a cartographer Amerigo Vespucci, who around 1499 led a naval exploration of a northwestern coast (known in todays world when the Gulf of Venezuela), along with Alonso de Ojeda. In reaching a Guajira Peninsula, a crew found the stilt villages (palafitos) that the Añu natives had built above a h2o. This reminded Vespucci of the city of Venice and as a result a area was known as Venezuela, which means Little Venice. But then, Spanish conquistador and geographer Martín Fernández de Enciso, member of the same crew, says around his function Summa de Geografía that the above mentioned people was known as Veneciuela, & that it was rest on the big, apparently rock. So, a title Venezuela would become the native word. Withal, a number one version remains in todays world when a virtually all popular & widely accepted, & by far regarded when a virtually all in all probability.

History
Venezuela was a places of one of a foremost lasting Spanish settlements in South America in 1522, and virtually all of the territory yet became a portion of the viceroyalty of New Granada. Area of what is nowadays eastern Venezuela became New Andalusia. Fallowing many stillborn rising, a united states declared independence from either Spain in July 5th 1811 under the leadership of its best known boy, Simón Bolívar. However, a fully control across Venezuelan territory was achieved when Bolivar, sustaining a support of General José Antonio Páez and especially the so General Grand Marshall Antonio José de Sucre, whose battle plan Bolívar chose to watch, won a Battle of Carabobo in June 24th 1821, and when José Prudencio Padilla won the Naval Battle of Lake Maracaibo on July 24th 1823. Afterward, Bolívar led a armies of Venezuela & more countries to freedom & founded what come today Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. A second crucial radical leader when you took a war was a aforesaid Antonio José de Sucre, who won numbers of battles for Bolivar & was the candidate to be his natural successor until he was murdered. Venezuela became, when a radical war, along using Colombia & Ecuador section of the Republic of Gran Colombia (República de Gran Colombia) until 1830, when the united states separated across a rebellion led per aforesaid Jose Antonio Páez & declared itself as a sovereign republic. Páez became a 1st president of Venezuela.

Great deal of Venezuela's 19th and early 20th century history was characterized by political instability, political struggle, and dictatorial rule. Charted a dying of Juan Vicente Gómez in 1935 and a death of caudillismo (authoritarian oligarchic rule), popular struggles at length forced the war machine to withdraw from either straight involvement around national politics around 1958. Since that season, Venezuela has enjoyed an unbroken tradition of popular civilian rule, though non forswearing conflict.

Venezuela is member of the South American Community of Nations (SACN). (more)

View likewise: Discoverer of the Americas, List of Presidents of Venezuela

Politics
A Venezuelan president is elected by a popular vote, by using directly & universal suffrage, and functions when two head of state and head of government. the term of professional is sextet years, & a president can be re-elected to one sequentially term. A president appoints a vice-president & decides a size & composition of the cabinet and makes appointments to it using a involvement of the law-makers. the president might ask a legislative assembly to reconsider portions of laws he finds objectionable, however a elementary parliamentary majority might override these objections.

A unicameral Venezuelan parliament is the National Assembly or Asamblea Nacional. Its 165 deputies, of which 3 come reserved for autochthonous peoples, help 5-month terms & can be re-elected for the utmost of 2 extra terms. It is elected by popular vote across the combination of person lists & individual member constituencies. A greatest judicial body is the Supreme Tribunal of Justice or Tribunal Supremo first state Justicia, whose justice come elected by parliament for one Twelve-month term. A Consejo Nacional Electoral is in charge of electoral processes; these are formed by 5 independent directors elected per National Assembly.

Around 1992, there was an attempt by rebellious entities in a Venezuelan war machine, led by Lieutenant Hugo Chávez, to remove 2-period democratically elected president, Carlos Andrés Pérez, from power. A coup ultimately failed, & Chávez and his supporters were jailed for treason. Pérez, meanwhile, was in time impeached and convicted for corruption. A coup besides caused a dying of Fourscore civilians and 17 members of the armed forces. Chávez's role inside resisting the president typically perceived when corrupt per lower classes made him a large, admired figure among the children. Chávez was one of these days freed from either poky within 1994 by Perez's elective successor, Rafael Caldera.

Chávez was elected president in 1998 with 56% of a vote as the portion of a freshly political person, the Movement for the Fifth Republic. His platform, (Bolivarian revolution), called for the sign language of the new constitution written by a Constituent Assembly and approved by referendum in 1999. Chávez was re-elected in 2000 under the freshly constitution by having 59% of the vote. Within November 2000, a National Assembly granted Chávez the right to rule by decree for one season, & around November 2001, Chávez processed the placed of 49 fiat, including big reforms in oil and agrarian policy. People rescript processed him potentially sir thomas more popular by using a poor people.

Lot to the displeasure of the United States government, Chávez openly admits to attempting to establish socialism in Venezuela and flaunts close ties using Cuban President Fidel Castro. A virtually all recent examples of his self-proclaimed socialist program include seizure of plantations that owner-occupants claim come private property. Although political parties supporting Chávez own systematically won the majority of seats around parliament, Chávez has only slowly been breathe to benefit control of virtually all branches of the government, due to the power of the corrupt public service bureaucracy. The food and drug administration has typically experienced to produce freshly grassroots public services in the form of "missions" to keep away from running through the corrupt bureaucracy.

Inside December 2001, the umbrella class action of the united states's big business, Fedecamaras, and many workers' groups, a Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela and the fossil oil workers' union, PDVSthe, organized a general strike. It was the 1st in the history of labour relations; owners, executives, managers & rank-&-file workers seemed to join together to protest what it said were Chávez's ruinous economic policies. Inside April 2002, high-high-level members inside a Armed Forces refused to carry out a Plan Avila, ordered by Chávez, in a period of massive oppositiin demonstrations that unexpectedly began to march towards the Presidential Palace on April 11th.

Based on data from television broadcasts, unarmed protesters were shot at by pro-government protesters, world health organization flushed more than Eighteen humans that day, although it has been shown that a anti-government class action & a pro-government of these were as well far out of every other for that to keep around occurred. To this day, a responsibility for these deaths has non been established. When you took the chaos that ensued, Chávez was taken surety to the armed services & forced to sign a letter of resignation (which has however to become witnessed) by members of the Armed Forces. In a period of the confusion, Fedecámaras President Pedro Carmona Estanga stepped higher & took power. Though at first supported per high-high-level war machine that experienced rebelled against Chávez, he misused trend lines when he proceeded to dissolve whole popular institutions formed under a Chávez regime - & a share of the war machine that remained truehearted to Chávez brought him back. Diosdado Cabello, Vice President of Venezuela, became temporary president every bit dictated per constitution. Chávez was restored to the Presidency inside 48 hours.

the charted ii years were marked by massive protests per oppositiin, world health organization managed within 2004 to obtain other than Two million signatures to require a referendum on Chávez, world health organization successively accused numerous of the signatures of existence fallacious. A recall referendum was held in 15 August 2004, and Chávez won (that is, he was permitted to stay inside professional) using close to 60% of the vote. Leaders & supporters of a opposition refused to assume a effects of the election, & claimed fraud, despite entirely international observers endorsing the election when loose & fair. A Organization of American States and the Carter Center certified the referendum.

Political-Administrative Division
States
Venezuela is subdivided into Xxiii states (estados), the Capital District (Distrito Capital) correspondent to the city of Caracas, and a Federal Dependencies (Dependencias Federales). Refer to the map for correspondence.

|- !State !! Capital City !! State !! Capital City |- |1) Amazonas||Puerto Ayacucho||13) Mérida||Mérida |- |2) Anzoátegui||Barcelona||14) Miranda||Los Teques |- |3) Apure||San Fernando de Apure||15) Monagas||Maturín |- |4) Aragua||Maracay||16) Nueva Esparta||La Asunción |- |5) Barinas||Barinas||17) Portuguesa||Guanare |- |6) Bolívar||Ciudad Bolívar||18) Sucre||Cumaná |- |7) Carabobo||Valencia||19) Táchira||San Cristóbal |- |8) Cojedes||San Carlos||20) Trujillo||Trujillo |- |9) Delta Amacuro||Tucupita||21) Yaracuy||San Felipe |- |10) Falcón||Coro||22) Vargas||La Güaira |- |11) Guárico||San Juan De Los Morros||23) Zulia||Maracaibo |- |12) Lara||Barquisimeto||24) Federal Dependencies||not appliable |}

Administrative Regions
A united states is likewise divided into x administrative regions (regiones administrativas), a administrative regions were established by presidential decrees.

align=center |- !Region !! Forming States |- |Capital||Miranda, Vargas, and a Capital District (we.e., Caracas). |- |Exchange||Aragua, Carabobo and Cojedes. |- |Insular||Nueva Esparta and the Federal Dependencies |- |Nor - Oriental||Anzoátegui, Monagas, and Sucre. |- |Zulian||Zulia. |- |Guayana||Bolívar, Amazonas and Delta Amacuro. |- |Andean||Barinas, Mérida and Trujillo. |- |South - Occidental||Táchira, and a Páez Municipality of the Apure State |- |Llanos||Apure and Guárico. |- |Central - Occidental||Falcón, Lara, Portuguesa and Yaracuy. |}

Geography
Venezuela is residence to a wide kind of landscapes, like the northerly-easternmost extensions of the Andes mountains in a northwest and along the northern Caribbean coast, of which the greatest point is the Pico Bolívar at 5,007 m.

A centre of a united states is characterized by extensive plains called the llanos that stretch from a Colombian border to the river delta of the Orinoco east. To a south come noticed the cleft Guiana Highlands, home to Angel Falls, the world's highest waterfall, and a northern edge of Amazonia. This occurs as definitive section, all the same.

A united states can too become divided into nine geographical areas, occasionally corresponding to a natural regions, of these existence the Andes Range. A Lake Maracaibo region comprehends a lowlands touching the Gulf of Venezuela. A Coro System, a mountainous prevent in the northern hesperian territory, is the fount of many sierras and valleys. A Central Range is tied higher by owning a coast & capitol hill surrounding Caracas, while a Eastern Range, separated from a Exchange per Gulf of Cariaco, covers all of Sucre State and northern Monagas. A Llanos Region involves a third section of the united states's front yard, above a Orinoco River. Under that, is the South Orinoco Region (the Guianas, above described). A Insular Region is formed by the Nueva Esparta State and the Federal Dependencies. A endure geographical area is the Deltaic System forms a pantanous triangle, covering Delta Amacuro State, with a Atlantic platform branchin off a coast.

A Orinoco River is a largest & first flow of any stream of the united states, originating one of the large watersheds in Latin America. More crucial streams, lakes, and wells throughout come a Caroní and the Apure.

A local climate is tropical & usually hot and humid, though other middle of the roader in the upland. A capital, Caracas is also a united states's big city. More major cities include Maracaibo, Barquisimeto, Valencia, Maracay, and Ciudad Guayana.

Venezuela is one of a 17 Megadiverse Countries, for the great total of beast & vegetal metal money that habitate there. (more)

Economy
Punta Cardón oil refinery complex in Paraguaná Peninsula

the crude sector dominates a economy, accounting for about a third of GDP, in 80% of exportation earnings, & to a higher degree half of government operational revenues. A sector operates through the government-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, which among other items owns a America Citgo distributor, which has 14,000 service stations in the US.

Venezuela as well depends extremely on the agrarian sector. Venezuelthe has a expected to export coffee & cocoa in a grand shell.

Demographics

the Venezuelan humans comprise a rich combination of heritages. A historically present Amerindians, Spanish colonists and Africans were joined by Italians, Portuguese, Arabs, Germans, and others from either neighboring countries inside South America during waves of immigration in the 20th century. All about 85% of the people sleep in populated area in the northern part of the united states. When virtually half of Venezuela's acreage lies to the south of the Orinoco river, this region contains lone 5% of the people.

A national & official language is Spanish, but many autochthonic languages too survive (Wayu, Pemon, Warao, etc), as run accent introduced by immigrants. Nominally 96% of the people is Roman Catholic; other denominations, primarily Protestants, make higher a remainder, likewise as a Jewish [http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/communities/world/latinamerica/venezuela.cfm community of about 30,000]. (more)

Military

Culture

the Venezuelan culture comes from either a wide kind of heritages, principally of the indigenous populations, Spanish and African provenance, dating from a Colony. Prior to this period of time, autochthonous ethnical manifestations were expressed inside art (petroglyphs), crafts, architecture (shabonos) and social organisation. Primeval culture was afterward assimilated by Spaniards; over a years, a intercrossed culture got diversificated by area.

Venezuelan art is gaining attention within & outside a united states. Foremost dominated by religious motives, in the late 19th century changed to historical and heroic representations, led by Martín Tovar y Tovar. Modernism took across in the 20th century. A select few super remarkable Venezuelan creative person include Arturo Michelena, Cristóbal Rojas, Armando Reverón, Jesús-Rafael Soto, Carlos Cruz-Diez (both world health organization contributed greatly to the kinetic art), and Manuel Cabré.

Venezuelan literature began developing before long when Spanish conquest, and it was dominated by Spanish culture and thinking. As punishment a rise of political literature in a period of the Independence War, was the Romanticism, the foremost significant genre in the region, whose outstanding exponent was Juan Vicente González. Although in the main focussed in narrative, poets figure with swell importance, existence Andrés Eloy Blanco the most famous of the two, aside Fermín Toro. Major writers & novelists come Rómulo Gallegos, Teresa de la Parra, Arturo Uslar Pietri, Adriano González León, Miguel Otero Silva and Mariano Picón Salas. An additional neat poet & humanist was Andrés Bello, besides being & pedagog & the intellect.

More philosophers & intellect, corresponding Laureano Vallenilla Lanz and José Gil Fortoul, along with numbers of more writers, sustained a theory of the Venezuelan positivism.

A dandy designer of the Venezuelan Modern era was Carlos Raúl Villanueva, who designed & built a Universidad Central de Venezuela and its Aula Magna. Venezuelan architecture examples come a National Pantheon, the Baralt Theatre, the Teatro Teresa Carreño,and a General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge.

Autoctonal music styles come kindthe a crisol of the Venezuelan ethnical inheritages, virtually all noted inside groups prefer Un Solo Pueblo and Serenata Guayanesa. A national instrument is the cuatro. A national songs come primarily from either a llanos area and its environment, and so is the outbreak of the Alma Llanera and Caballo Viejo by Simón Díaz. A gaitas is also the popular style, played typically in Christmas, average of Zulia State. A national dance is the joropo.

Teresa Carreño was a globe celebrated soft virtuosa during late 19th century.

Venezuelthe is besides a information for their globe illustrious ballplayer, like Luis Aparicio, David Concepción, Oswaldo Guillén, Andrés Galarraga, Omar Vizquel, Luis Sojo, and Johan Santana, winner of the Cy Young Award in 2004. Although baseball is tremendously popular, football (soccer) is as well gaining popularity, due to the increasing performance of the Venezuela national football team.

Music of Venezuela Cuisine of Venezuela

Holidays

Personalities
List of Venezuelans List of players from Venezuela in Major League Baseball

National Symbols
Venezuela's national symbols include the Flag, the Coat of Arms, and a National Anthem. More elements relative to the average flora and fauna of the territory are remarkable. A governments across history keep around officially declared these when national symbols:

National Flower
The orchid (Cattleya mossiae) This sort of orchid is also known as Flor de Mayo (Will Flower). Was foremost found within the northern land in 1839. Was given a status of National Flower on 23 May 1951.

National Tree
The araguaney (Tabebuia chrysantha) Known as aravanei per caribes, it can be obtained mostly inside regions using moderate weather. It potty email the height between 6 & 12 m. A araguaney flourishes within the period of time below a rainy season, mostly on the number 1 months of the year. Rómulo Gallegos referred to these months as "La primavera de oro de los araguaneyes" (a golden spring of the araguaneyes). Stated National Tree on 29 May 1945.

National Bird
The turpial (Icterus icterus) Fully colored by using yellow-yellowish-orange tones except upstairs an a wings, which are then melanise by owning two or three tones inside white; likewise has a blue spot surrounding the eyes. It may be incurred within woods, the llanos, at the shores of jungles, & around northern and southern Orinoco. A turpial is fairly appreciated due to its singing and was declared a National Bird on 23 May 1958.

Miscellaneous
Canaima National Park Communications in Venezuela East-West Railway Media of Venezuela List of hospitals in Venezuela List of newspapers in Venezuela List of universities in Venezuela Miss Venezuela OPEC South American Community of Nations Transportation in Venezuela