Venezuela
Published on Dec 04, 2015
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Venezuela
History of Venezuela
On his third voyage to the New World in 1498, Christopher Columbus discovered Venezuela, which Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci explored the next year. The early explorers named the country “Venezuela” (Spanish for little Venice) because they found inhabitants living in stilt houses in lakes. Venezuela’s original inhabitants were the Carib and Arawak Amerindian peoples. Spanish explorers founded the settlements of Valencia in 1555 and Santiago de León de Caracas in 1567. Colonial Venezuela's primary value to Spain was geographic. During its annual journey between Portobelo, in present-day Panama, and Cuba, the Spanish bullion fleet depended on Venezuela’s long Caribbean coastline for security from foreign enemies and pirates. For the first two and a half centuries of colonial rule, Venezuela lacked political unity, in part because it was of no economic importance to Spanish officials.
Photo by Edgar Barany
GEOGRAPHY
Located in northern South America, Venezuela is bordered to the north by the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, to the east by Guyana, to the south by Brazil, and to the west by Colombia. Venezuela has a total area of 912,050 square kilometers (land: 882,050 square kilometers; water: 30,000 square kilometers), or more than twice the size of California. Venezuela’s borders total 4,993 kilometers, of which 2,200 kilometers adjoin Brazil; 2,050 kilometers, Colombia; and 743 kilometers, Guyana. Venezuela’s coastline totals 2,800 kilometers.
Photo by Stuck in Customs
Topography & Climate
The Orinoco and various mountain ranges divide the country into four distinct regions, with different climates: the dry, windless, and hot Maracaibo Lowlands in the far northwest; the northwestern Andean mountains and highlands stretching from southwest of then Maracaibo Basin across Northern Venezuela and including Pico Bolívar (La Columna), which is the highest point at 5,007 meters above sea level. The Orinoco is by far the most important of the more than 1,000 rivers in the country. At between 2,140 and 2,500 kilometers, the Orinoco is the third-longest river in South America, after the Paraná (4,000 to 4,700 kilometers) and the Amazon (6,296 to 6,516 kilometers). Located entirely within the tropics, Venezuela has a climate that is tropical, hot, and humid. The country has two distinct seasons: rainy (June–October) and dry (November–May). The rainy season is called invierno (winter), and the dry season, verano (summer).
Photo by capiotti
Culture
For centuries, Roman Catholicism was the country’s official religion. The percentage of Venezuelans who are still nominally Roman Catholic is estimated to be as high as 96, with the remaining 4 percent belonging to various Protestant denominations (2 percent) or other religions at (2 percent). However, the official Venezuelan government Web site puts the figure at 92 percent, with 8 percent belonging to other religions. Venezuela’s population includes inhabitants of Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Arab, German, and African ancestry, as well as indigenous peoples. Although not classified by the 2001 census, an estimated 67 percent of the population is mestizo (mixed race); 21 percent, Caucasian; 10 percent, black; and 2 percent, indigenous.
Photo by Marcio Cabral de Moura
Economy
Petroleum has been the mainstay of the Venezuelan economy since the 1920s and accounts for between one-quarter and one-third of gross domestic product (GDP), about 80 percent of export earnings, and as much as one-half of the central government’s operating revenue. Average real incomes fell sharply as a result of GDP growth averaging only 1 percent per year during the 1985–2003 period. The two-month general strike that began in December 2002 was a key factor in the collapse of real GDP in 2002 (–8.9 percent) and 2003 (–9.2 percent). Total GDP in 2002 was only US$95.4 billion, as compared with US$126.2 billion in 2001. Historically, inflation in Venezuela was low, averaging below 3 percent during 1958–73. However, since the bolívar was floated in February 2002, persistently high rates of inflation have been a problem.
Photo by p2-r2
