Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is an archipelagic island U.S. territory comprised of the eponymous main island of Puerto Rico and 142 smaller islands, including Vieques, Culebra, and Mona. It is located between the Greater and Lesser Antilles in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, east of Hispaniola, west of Saint Thomas, north of Venezuela, and south of the Puerto Rico Trench. 177 km long and 65 km wide with a land area of 8,868 sq km, the main island is the 3rd largest in the U.S., 4th in the Caribbean, 29th in the Americas, and 81st in the world, making it the 174th largest country or dependency by surface area. With 3.2 million residents, it is the 2nd largest in the U.S., 4th in the Caribbean, 4th in the Americas, and 31st in the world, making it the 136th largest country or dependency by population.
Transport in Venezuela revolves around a system of highways and airports. Venezuela is connected to the world primarily via air and sea. In the south and east the Amazon rainforest region has limited cross-border transport; in the west, there is a mountainous border of over 1,375 miles (2,213 km) shared with Colombia. The Orinoco River is navigable by oceangoing vessels up to 400 km inland, and connects the major industrial city of Ciudad Guayana to the Atlantic Ocean.
Caracas, officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas. Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern part of the country, within the Caracas Valley of the Venezuelan coastal mountain range. The valley is close to the Caribbean Sea, separated from the coast by a steep 2,200-meter-high (7,200 ft) mountain range, Cerro El Ávila; to the south there are more hills and mountains. The Metropolitan Region of Caracas has an estimated population of almost 5 million inhabitants.
Bolívar is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital city is Ciudad Bolívar and the largest city is Ciudad Guayana. Bolívar State covers a total surface area of 242,801 km2 (93,746 sq mi) and as of the 2011 census, had a population of 1,410,964. The state contains Angel Falls.
La Guaira State, known until 2019 as Vargas State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. Formerly named after Venezuela's first civilian president, José María Vargas, Vargas comprises a coastal region in the north of Venezuela, bordering Aragua to the west, Miranda to the east, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Capital District to the south. It is home to both the country's largest seaport and airport. The state capital and largest city is La Guaira followed by Catia La Mar and Maiquetía. The Litoral Varguense conurbation is the principal urban agglomeration in the state, which is part of the Greater Caracas Area.
The Gulf of Paria is a 7,800 km2 (3,000 sq mi) shallow semi-enclosed inland sea located between the island of Trinidad and the east coast of Venezuela. It separates the two countries by as little as 15 km at its narrowest and 120 km at its widest points. The tides within the Gulf are semi-diurnal in nature with a range of approximately 1m. The Gulf of Paria is considered to be one of the best natural harbors on the Atlantic coast of the Americas. The jurisdiction of the Gulf of Paria is split between Trinidad and Venezuela with Trinidad having control over approximately 2,940 km2 (1,140 sq mi) (37.7%) and Venezuela the remainder (62.3%).
Margarita Island is the largest island in the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, situated off the northeastern coast of the country, in the Caribbean Sea. The capital city of Nueva Esparta, La Asunción, is located on the island.
The Federal Dependencies of Venezuela encompass most of Venezuela's offshore islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Venezuela, excluding those islands that form the State of Nueva Esparta and some Caribbean coastal islands that are integrated with nearby states. These islands, with a total area of 342 square kilometres, are sparsely populated – according to the preliminary results of the 2011 Census only 2,155 people live there permanently, with another hundred from Margarita Island who live there seasonally to engage in fishing. Local government is officially under the authority of Central government in Caracas, although de facto power is often held by the heads of the sparse and somewhat isolated communities that decorate the territories.
La Asunción is a city in Venezuela. The capital of Nueva Esparta state, it lies on Margarita Island in the Caribbean Sea, off the South American mainland. It is situated in a fertile valley surrounded by green hills, 6 miles (10 km) inland from the port of Porlamar, where a cooler climate exists. The city was founded in 1565 by Captain Pedro González Cervantes de Albornoz. It has an imposing backdrop of Santa Rosa Castle, also known as the Santa Rosa Fort, which was built to protect the city. The most important structures in the city are built around the Plaza Bolívar. The Catedral Nuestra Señora de La Asunción, dated to the 16th century, is one of the earliest churches in the country. According to the 2011 census, it has a population of 28,513 people.
La Guaira is the capital city of the Venezuelan state of the same name and the country's main port. It was founded in 1577 as an outlet for Caracas, 30 kilometres (19 mi) to the southeast. The town and the port were badly damaged during the December 1999 floods and mudslides that affected much of the region.
There are several hypotheses about real-world events that could have inspired Plato's fictional story of Atlantis, told in the Timaeus and Critias. While Plato's story was not part of the Greek mythic tradition and his dialogues use it solely as an allegory about hubris, researchers have speculated about real natural disasters that could have served as inspiration. Additionally, many works of pseudohistory and pseudoarchaeology treat the story as fact, offering reinterpretations which tie to national mysticism or theories of ancient aliens. While Plato's story explicitly locates Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean beyond the Pillars of Hercules, location hypotheses include Helike, Thera, Troy, and the North Pole.
The Los Roques Archipelago is a federal dependency of Venezuela consisting of approximately 350 islands, cays, and islets in a total area of 40.61 km2 (15.68 sq mi). The archipelago is located 128 km (80 mi) directly north of the port of La Guaira, in the Caribbean Sea.
The State Railways Institution is a state-run organization of Venezuela that manages the railway systems of the country. Its headquarters are located in Caracas, Venezuela.
The Misteriosa Bank is a submerged bank or atoll in the Caribbean Sea, located at 18°48′N83°54′W – approximately equidistant from Mexico, Honduras and Cuba.
Deportivo La Guaira is a professional football club promoted to the Venezuelan league in 2009, based in La Guaira but playing its home games in Caracas at the Estadio Olímpico de la UCV.
Placer is a term used by Portuguese and Spanish navigators and cartographers to refer to a certain kind of submerged bank or reef. Commonly the bottom of such a reef is sandy, but there are some where the bottom is muddy or stoney. Although most reefs designated as placer are flat and shallow, exceptionally there are some that do not share those characteristics and are known as placer acantilado. A placer usually provides an anchorage for seagoing vessels.
The Preston–Somers expedition, or the Capture of Caracas, was a series of military actions that took place from late May until the end of July 1595 during the Anglo-Spanish War. The English expedition headed by George Somers and Amyas Preston sailed to the Spanish Main initially intending to support Sir Walter Raleigh's expedition which set out at the same time.
The 1900 Venezuelan earthquake also known as the San Narciso earthquake, occurred on October 28 at between 4:30 and 4:45 am local time. This earthquake had an epicenter off Miranda State or near the Venezuelan capital Caracas, in the Cariaco Basin. It had an estimated moment magnitude of 7.6–7.7 and a surface-wave magnitude of 7.7–8.4. It had a maximum Mercalli intensity assigned VIII–X, causing landslides and liquefaction events. Many buildings were severely damaged or collapsed during the earthquake. It is thought to be the last great earthquake of the 19th century and the largest instrumentally recorded in the republic, having been felt throughout.
Hyser Albani Betancourt Machado is a Venezuelan model, public figure, influencer and beauty pageant titleholder who was titled as Miss Supranational Venezuela 2015, after having obtained the title of Miss Sport Venezuela 2015. Betancourt represented Venezuela in the Miss Supranational 2015 competition.
