Venezuela

Venezuela is a country in South America. It's one of three South American countries which lie entirely north of the equator. Hugo Chavez is the president.

Venezuela has a large rainforest and vast oil reserves. The area was once part of the Spanish Main.

The coast of Venezuela was surveyed by Christopher Columbus in 1498. People who came to the region of the Orinoco river later saw some huts standing on poles in the middle of the river, and they thought it was similar to a small Venice, thus they called the region Venezuela. Alonso de Hojeda was the one who named it Venezuela.

Venezuela is home to Angel Falls, the highest waterfalls on Earth at 979 meters of height.