Venezuela

Currency

The bolivar was adopted by the monetary law of 1879, replacing the short-lived Venezolano. the bolivar was defined on the silver standard, equal to 4.5gr. of fine silver. After the black Friday in 1983 the bolivar had been the regions most stable currency.

In 2007 the goverment revalued and renamed it to BOLIVAR FUERTE which means "strong bolivar"

The Central Bank of Venezuela is promoting the new currency with an ad campaign and slogan "Una economia fuerte, un bolivar fuerte, un pais fuerte.

The Bolivar fuerte exchages for 7 for 1 US dollar. It is illegal to publish this statistic in Venezuela.

GEOGRAPHY

Venezuela covers 353,841 sq .mi in the far northern part of South America. It is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, by Guyana to the east, by Brazil to the south and by Colombia to the west.

It is a land of diverse landscapes and there are five main geographical regions:the Andes (mountains), the coast, the highlands, the lowlands and the llanos (plains)

The Andes Range stretches 4,500 miles across South America. The coastal regios is found along the Caribbean Sea. The coastal strip is very thin. The area between the sea and the mountains is very fertile and cities have flourished in this area. Venezuela's capital, Caracas, is located near the coast.The highlands in southeastern part of Venezuela. It is a part of one of the world's oldest rock formation. Forests are a great natural resource here and the underground deposits of iron ore, bauxite, gold and diamonds too. This area contains more than 100 tepuis. Tepuis are flat-topped mountains, mesas.The lowlands is one of the hottest regions in South America.It is known for its petroleum deposits.The llanos region are the great treeless, grassy lands of the Orinoco River Valley, very fertile, country's cattle are raised here.

Economy

Venezuela is one of the founding members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the nation has the largest proven oil reserves in the western hemisphere, and the second largest natural gas reserves,after the United States.

The petroleum industry accounts for more than half the goverments revenue;however, few Venezuelans benefit from its wealth and most live in poverty.

DID YOU KNOW?????

The oil reserves are so vast, that from time to time engineers drill in the wrong place by mistake, miles away from where they think they should be, only to end up finding oil anyway.

National Flag of Venezuela

The flag of Venezuela consists of three equal sized horizontal stripes the top stripe is yellow, the middle blue, and the bottom stripe is red. In the middle of the blue stripe and flag there are seven, white, five-pointed stars that are arranged in a semi circle. In the top left hand corner of the Venezuelan flag is the country's coat of arms.

The Venezuelan flag is based on one flown by independence fighters fighting against Spanish colonial rule. At that time the yellow represented the gold of the Americas, blue stood for the Atlantic Ocean which separated the new Americas from the bloody old world of Europe and Spain whis is signified by red. A modern meaning but yet similar of the Venezuela flag states that the yellow represents new opportunities, the red symbolizes Spain, and the blue stands for the Atlantic Ocean, which separates the two. The seven stars represent the seven provinces that existed at the time of Venezuelan independence.

DID YOU KNOW????

There are many Venezuelan flags that do not have the coat of arms on them;this is the country's civil flag.