Amazonas (Venezuelan state)

Amazonas State (Spanish: Estado Amazonas, IPA: [esˈtaðo amaˈsonas]) is one of the 23 states (estados) into which Venezuela is divided. It covers nearly a fifth of the area of Venezuela, but has less than 1% of Venezuela's total population.

The state capital is Puerto Ayacucho. The capital until the early 1900s was San Fernando de Atabapo. Although named after the Amazon River, most of the state is drained by the Orinoco River. Amazonas State covers a total surface area of 176,899 km² and, in 2007, had a population of 142,200. Its density is of 0.8 inhabitants per km².

Amazonas has Venezuela's highest proportion of indigenous peoples of Venezuela; these make up only around 1.5% of the population nationwide, but the proportion is nearly 50% in Amazonas.

History

The territory covered by present-day Amazonas was previously part of the Guayana Province, a Province of the Spanish Empire (from 1585) and later of Venezuela (until 1864, when the Provinces of Venezuela were replaced by the States of Venezuela, following the Federal War). Amazonas was created as a state in 1994, having been a Federal Territory since 1864.

Venezuela

Coordinates: 8°N 66°W / 8°N 66°W / 8; -66

Venezuela (ⁱ/ˌvɛnəˈzweɪlə/ VEN-ə-ZWAYL-ə; Spanish: [beneˈswela]), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a federal republic located on the northern coast of South America. It is bordered by Colombia on the west, Brazil on the south, Guyana on the east, and the islands of Trinidad and Tobago to the north-east. Venezuela's territory covers around 916,445 km² (353,841 sq mi) with an estimated population around 33,221,865. Venezuela is considered a state with extremely high biodiversity (currently ranks 7th in the world's list of nations with the most number of species), with habitats ranging from the Andes Mountains in the west to the Amazon Basin rain-forest in the south, via extensive llanos plains and Caribbean coast in the center and the Orinoco River Delta in the east.

Venezuela (disambiguation)

Venezuela is a country in South America, officially named the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Venezuela may also refer to:

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See also

First Republic of Venezuela

The First Republic of Venezuela (Primera República de Venezuela in Spanish) was the first independent government of Venezuela, lasting from July 5, 1811, to July 25, 1812. The period of the First Republic began with the overthrow of the Spanish colonial authorities and the establishment of the Junta Suprema de Caracas on April 19, 1810, initiating the Venezuelan War of Independence, and ended with the surrender of the republican forces to the Spanish Captain Domingo de Monteverde. The congress of Venezuela declared the nation's independence on July 5, 1811, and later wrote a constitution for it. In doing so, Venezuela is notable for being the first Spanish American colony to declare its independence.

History

Antecedents