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Geography Overview

Venezuela is a fair-sized country on the  north tip of South America covering about 912,050 square kilometers which is slightly larger than twice the size of California. Venezuela is bordered by the Caribbean on the North and the Atlantic Ocean on the Northeast. In total, the Venezuelan coastline is about 2800.3 kilometers. The mainland of Venezuela is divided into 3 parts: The Cordillera, The Llanos, and the Guiana Highlands. The Cordillera is a mountainous region in the northwest of Venezuela. Meanwhile, the Llanos are a wide grassland that stretches from Venezuela into Colombia covering the northeast and central parts of Venezuela and takes up about 570,000 square kilometers in total. The Guiana Highlands however is a plateau and low mountain area located in the southern half of Venezuela. The elevation of Venezuela varies from 16,427 feet (about 5,000 meters) up on Pico Bolivar, to 0 feet in the Caribbean. Some types of land that Venezuela has (shown in percentage) are agricultural land (24.5%), forest (52.1%), and other (23.4%). There are tropical jungles, huge mountains, and arid coastal plains that make up the country of Venezuela.  The climate is more hot, tropical and humid, but is more moderate around the Guiana Highlands (southeast). The mean elevation of the whole country is about 450 feet. Some of the water features in this country include the Orinoco River which mostly goes through Venezuela from east to west across the middle of the country with a length of about 2,101 kilometers in total. Another spectacular water feature is Lake Maracaibo which has an area of 13,010 square kilometers. Last but not least, the Guiana Highlands feature spectacular waterfalls, one of the biggest ones being Angel Falls with a height of 979 meters. These are formed through massive tabletop mountains in the Guiana Highlands which also support unique endemic plants and animals. Overall, Venezuela is a country filled with diverse landscapes and water features which would leave anybody who traveled there speechless.

BY HENRY DOKMO

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