Venezuela is located in northern South America, bordered by the Caribbean Sea, Colombia, Brazil and Guyana. It has a diverse landscape that includes Andes mountains, highlands, plains, and the world's tallest waterfall, Angel Falls. Venezuela has a tropical climate with temperatures ranging from 26-30 degrees Celsius depending on altitude. The population is over 27 million, most of whom are Roman Catholic, and speak Spanish. Venezuela has a federal republic government led by President Hugo Chavez since 1999. The economy relies heavily on oil exports and agriculture. Popular tourist destinations include Caracas, the Andes, and Margarita Island.

1. Venezuela
By Thinula De Silva
Gr. 7-1

2. Location
Under the equator, in the
continent of South
America, there lies
Venezuela. To its north is
the Caribbean Sea. On the
east side is Guyana, while
to the west side is
Colombia. In its southern
side lies Brazil. This
pictures shows Venezuela
with its borders.

3. Geographic Features
There are many variations
in Venezuela’s landscape.
Andes mountains lie in the
northeast of the country.
Towards the south, there
are highlands. It is also
home to the Angel Falls,
the tallest waterfall in the
world. In the central area,
there are plains such as
Los Llanos.

4. Climate
In Venezuela, the temperature is
always about 30o Celsius. The
main factor to this heat is
humidity. Venezuela has been
divided into 4 temperature zones
that are measured by the altitude
of the land. Less than 800m
above sea level, the temperature
measures 26-28oC. 800-2000m
above sea level has a temperature
of 12-25oC. When the ground is
2000-3000m above sea level, the
temperature measures 9-11oC.
And when the altitude is more
than 3000m, it is below 8oC.

5. Venezuela vs. Canada
If Venezuela were your home
instead of Canada, you would…
- Have 4.2 higher chances of
dying in infancy
- Have 97.37% more siblings
- Use 80.8% less electricity
- Make 65.89% less money
- Consume 58.83% less oil
- Die 7.52 years sooner

6. People
There is a population of 27
675 740 people in
Venezuela as of 2011 thus
it’s the 45th most populous
country. Their official
language is Spanish, but
some inhabitants use other
languages. 96% of the
people there are Roman
Catholics, 2% are
Protestants and the
remaining 2% follow other
religions. In 2006, the
population of the capital,
Caracas was 1 and now it is
8.3 million.

7. Environment
Venezuela is the most
biodiverse country in the
world. Yet, most of the animal
in this country are originally
from Asia. When there was a
land bridge connecting Asia
and North America, new
species came travelled
through this land bridge,
down North and Central
America and filtered in South
America. Some of the animals
in Venezuela include jaguars,
giant anteaters, eagles,
anacondas, monkeys, big cats,
vampire bats, etc.

8. History
In 1499, Christopher Columbus
landed in Venezuela in the year.
The Spanish began to colonize
Venezuela in 1535. In 1550,
African slaves were sent to
Venezuela to work. Spain
combined Venezuela and its
borders, to form one large
colony, in the 1700s. In 1810,
Napoleon overthrew the king of
Spain. On July 5th, 1811 Venezuela
declared its independence. There
was a war in 1812 where Spain
tried to take back Venezuela’s
independence, but Simon Bolivar
and his troops defeated Spain.

9. Government
Venezuela uses a federal republic
government with 5 branches:
executive, legislative, judiciary,
electoral and citizen. Hugo
Chavez has been Venezuela’s
president since 1999 and forth.
If you’re the president, you’re in
charge of the federal, provincial
and municipal problems. There’s
no provincial and municipal
governments there. In
Venezuela, they choose their
leader by voting. Their elections
happen every 6 years. The next
election is going to be on
October 7th, 2012.

10. Economy
Venezuela produces corn,
rice, bananas, coffee, bee,
pork, milk, eggs, etc. They
have many kinds of
industries, namely
petroleum, food
processing, iron ore mining,
steel, aluminum, and much
more. For currency, they
use Bolivars. They export
mainly oils, gases and
agricultural products. The
picture in the right is 100
Bolivars.

11. Tourism
Venezuela offers you a
large amount of tourism.
The number of tourists
that visited Venezuela this
year increased by 49.5%.
This country provides
places such as Caracas,
The Andes, The Amazon,
Margarita Island, as well
as museums in Caracas.

12. Interesting Facts
Venezuela is 912 050 square
feet, making it twice as big as
California and the 33rd largest
country by size. It is one of
the oldest democracies in
South America. It’s
geographical location are 8oN,
66oW.The highest point is
Bolivar Peak, at a height of 5
007 meters. The people’s life
expectancy is 73. The Angels
Falls, located in the Amazon, is
the world’s tallest waterfall,
with a height of 979m.

13. References
1. http://www. venezuelatuya.com/gransabana/index.html
2. http://www. venezuelatuya.com/tour/indexeng.html
3. http://www. globeandmail.com/report-on-business/study-
news/energy-and-resources-/traders-brace-for-venezuela
-gold-transfer/article2134031
6. http://www.photius.com/countries/venezuela/economy/
venezuela_economy_mining.html
8. http://www.google.ca/images
9. World Book U.V.20