30 Amazing Facts About Venezuela | Amazing Facts 4U
Land & Geography
- The term Venezuela literally means ‘Little Venice’. The country was so named by its explorers, who saw houses built on stilts in a lake here, reminding them of Venice.
- Venezuela is officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
- Venezuela is on the northern coast of South America, it covers an area of 916,445 km² (353,841 mi²).
- Venezuela shares a land border with Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south. Off its Caribbean Coastline lies the island nations of Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Curaçao, and Aruba.
- There are 28.5 million people living in Venezuela. Venezuela is one of the most urbanized countries in the world.
- The capital, and largest, city of Venezuela is Caracas. The population of the metropolitan area is about 4.1 million. The whole country boasts a population of 29 million.
- Pico Bolivar is the highest mountain in Venezuela at 4,979 meters.
- Venezuela is considered one of the seventeen megadiverse countries that contain most of Earth’s species. Venezuela is home to many weird and interesting animals including manatees, the Giant anteater, Three-toed sloth, Two-toed sloth, jaguar, Amazon river dolphins, Orinoco crocodiles, and the worlds largest rodent the capybara.
- To protect Venezuela’s unique wildlife the government has created 43 national parks. Canaima National Park in Venezuela is one of the largest national parks in the world.
- Venezuela has amazing 1400 bird species, including kingfishers, ibises, ospreys, and its national bird the yellow-orange Venezuelan Troupial.
- Amazingly there are over 25,000 species of orchids in Venezuela, including the country’s national flower.
History
- The first European to find the coast of Venezuela was Christopher Columbus.
- Venezuela was colonized by Spain in 1522. It declared independence from Spanish rule in 1811, on July 5th (it’s celebrated National Day). The country secured independence as part of the Republic of Gran Colombia in 1821 and became its own independent republic in 1830 after the dissolution of Gran Colombia.
Places
- The world’s tallest waterfall, Angel Falls, is in fact located in Venezuela named after American aviator Jimmy Angel who landed his plane at the top of the falls in 1936. It drops from 3,212 feet, which is around 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.
- The largest lake in South America, Lake Maracaibo, is found in Venezuela. In addition, it’s one of the oldest lakes on Earth at between 20 and 36 million-years-old.
People Customs & Culture
- The literacy rate of the country is about 96%.
- Religion is very important to the Venezuelan people with about 92% of the country nominating Roman Catholic as their religion.
- Spanish is the official language in Venezuela but over 30 other indigenous languages are officially recognized including Wayuu, Warao, and Pemon.
- A type of small guitar called the cuatro is the national instrument of Venezuela and the national dance of Venezuela is the waltz-like dance called joropo.
- Amazingly Venezuela has more Miss Universes and more Miss Worlds than any other country. Venezuelan beauties have won the Miss Universe title 7 times, Miss World 6 times, Miss International 6 times, and Miss Earth 2 times to date.
- An amazing fact is School children in Venezuela can choose between morning classes (7 am-Noon) or afternoon classes (Noon-– 5 pm). Older children can even choose night classes (5 pm—10 pm).
Politics/ Legal
- Slavery was abolished in Venezuela in 1854.
- Venezuela is one of the oldest democracies in South America.
- The Venezuelan flag is colored yellow, blue, and red. The yellow is for land wealth, the blue for the sea that separates Venezuela from Spain, and the red represents the bloodshed by the heroes of independence.
- The currency of Venezuela is called the bolivar fuerte named after the liberator of the country, Simón Bolívar.
Economy & Corporates
- Venezuela has one of the largest natural gas reserves and has the 2nd largest oil reserve in the world. It is one of the world’s top ten crude oil exporters. Venezuela was the largest oil exporter in the world in the early twentieth century.
- Venezuela was one of the founding members of OPEC, along with Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. The petroleum industry accounts for half of the revenue of the government of Venezuela.
- Due to the large petroleum industry and subsidies, Venezuela has in fact the cheapest gasoline prices in the world.
Literature
- “The Lost World”, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was actually about an expedition on Mt. Roraima in Venezuela.
Sport
- Baseball is Venezuela’s most popular sport, there has been a professional baseball league in the country since 1945.
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