VenezuelaBy Thinula De SilvaGr. 7-1

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

References

1. http://www. venezuelatuya.com/gransabana/index.html

2. http://www. venezuelatuya.com/tour/indexeng.html3. http://www.

globeandmail.com/report-on-business/study- news/energy-and-resources-/traders-brace-for-

venezuela -gold-transfer/article21340314.

http://www.photius.com/countries/venezuela/economy/ venezuela_economy_mining.html5. http://www.google.ca/images 6. World Book U.V.20