Geography of Venezuela

Venezuela is considered to be a large nation because of its total area. Its total land area is 912,050 km² (approx. 352,143 mi²). Continental shelf of Venezuela is approximately 98,500 km² (around 38,031 mi²). Venezuela is located in South America. The vast majority of South American citizens speak Spanish or Portuguese. South American countries include, but are not limited to, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Venezuela has 3 neighbouring countries. Its neighbours include Brazil, Colombia, Guyana. Venezuela is not a landlocked country. It means that is is bordered by at least one major body of water. The average elevation range of Venezuela is 2,504 m (8,212 ft).

Neighbors

Total length of land borders of Venezuela is 5267 kilometers (~2,034 miles). Venezuela shares its land borders with 3 different countries, and has the same number of unique land boundaries to neigbouring territories. As in the case of Venezuela, if a country has the same number of unique neighboring territories as number of land borders, than that country has no non-contiguous sections of a land border. This is in contrast to several countries that have multiple non-contiguous sections of land borders. Venezuela has 3 neighbouring countries. Its neighbours include Brazil, Colombia, and Guyana. The lengths of the land borders of Venezuela with its neighbouring countries are as follows:

• Brazil - 2200 km (1,367 mi),
• Colombia - 2050 km (1,274 mi),
• Guyana - 743 km (462 mi).

Cities

The capital city of Venezuela is Caracas. The largest city in Venezuela is Caracas.

Elevation

The average elevation range of Venezuela is 2,504 m (8,212 ft). The highest point of Venezuela is Pico Bolívar, with its official height being 4978 m (16,333 ft). The lowest point of Venezuela is Caribbean Sea. The elevation difference between the highest (Pico Bolívar) and lowest (Caribbean Sea) points of Venezuela is 4978 m (2 ft).

Area

The total land area of Venezuela is 912,050 km² (approx. 352,143 mi²). and the total exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is 471,507 km² (~182,049 mi²). The continental shelf of Venezuela is approximately 98,500 km² (around 38,031 mi²). Including land mass and EEZ, the total area of Venezuela is approximately 1,383,557 km² (~534,192 mi²). Venezuela is considered to be a large nation because of its total area.

Forest and arable land

471,378 km² of Venezuela's territory is covered in forests, and forest land comprises 52% of all the land in the country. There are 25,138 km² of arable land in Venezuela, and it comprises 3% of the country's total territory.

Read our section on climate to discover what parameters affect these and other biomes of the country.

Natural resources

The most notable natural resources found in Venezuela are petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, bauxite, other minerals, hydropower, diamonds.