VENEZUELA
Venezuela, officially known as the Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela
(Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela) is the northernmost
country in South America and part of Caribbean
South America. It borders the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the
north, Guyana to the east, Brazil to the south, and Colombia to the
west. Off the Venezuelan coast are also found the Caribbean states of Aruba,
the Netherlands Antilles and Trinidad
and Tobago.
República
Bolivariana de Venezuela
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A former Spanish colony, Venezuela
is a Federal Republic. Culturally and geographically
it is the most Caribbean country of South America,
having in its possession over 600 islands in the aforementioned sea.
Historically, Venezuela has had
territorial disputes with Guyana,
largely concerning the Essequibo area. This
issue is not yet resolved. To this day, Venezuela is known for its
petroleum industry, the friendly temperment of its inhabitants, the
environmental diversity of its territory, and its sheer natural beauty. It has
been claimed that Christopher Columbus was so enthralled by Venezuela's
landscape, when arriving to its coast in 1498, that he referred to the land as Tierra de Gracia (Land of Grace),
which has become the country’s nickname.
The Name
The name "Venezuela"
is believed to have originated from the cartographer Amerigo Vespucci, who in
1499 led a naval exploration of the northwestern coast (known today as the Gulf of Venezuela), along with Alonso de Ojeda. On
reaching the Guajira
Peninsula, the crew
observed the stilt villages (palafitos) that the Añu natives had built
over the water. This reminded Vespucci of the city of Venice
and as a result the region was named Venezuela, which means Little
Venice. On the other hand, Spanish conquistador and geographer Martín
Fernández de Enciso, member of the same crew, says in his work Summa de
Geografía that the above mentioned population was called Veneciuela,
and that it was built on a large, plain rock. Therefore, the name Venezuela
would be a native word. Nevertheless, the first version remains today as the
most popular and widely accepted and by far regarded as the most likely.
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