The Venezuela Island
When the Spaniards landed in East Venezuela in 1498, in the course of Columbus’ third voyage, they found a poor country sparsely populated by Indians who had created no distinctive culture. Four hundred years later it was still poor, almost exclusively agrarian, exporting little, importing less. The miracle year which changed all that was 1914, when oil was discovered near Maracaibo.
Advertisement
Today, Venezuela is one of the richest countries in Latin America and is one of the largest producers and exporters of oil in the world. Venezuela has 72 island possessions in the Caribbean, of which the largest and the most visited is Isla de Margarita. This island, and two close neighbours, Coche and Cubagua, form the state of Nueva Esparta. Most of the other islands are Federal Dependencies (whose capital is Los Roques) stretching in small groups of keys to the east of Bonaire. Two other sets of islands are incorporated in the national parks of Morrocoy (west of the country’s capital, Caracas) and Mochima, east of Caracas.
Ads