Venezuela is a country on the northern coast of South America with diverse natural attractions. Along its Caribbean coast are tropical resort islands including Isla de Margarita and the Los Roques archipelago. To the northwest are the Andes Mountains and the colonial town of Mérida, a base for visiting Sierra Nevada National Park. Caracas, the capital, is to the north.
- Venezuela's name comes from the Italian word "Veneziola" (little Venice). Explorer Amerigo Vespucci saw native stilt houses built in Lake Maracaibo, reminding him of Venice.
- Oil is cheaper than water in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.
- Angel Falls in Venezuela is 17 times higher than Niagara.
- Venezuela had the world's highest inflation rate in 2015 with over 141%.
- In 1863, Venezuela became the first modern country to abolish the death penalty for all crimes.
- Over 1.5 million Venezuelans 4% to 6% of the country's population left Venezuela following Hugo Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution.
- Venezuela was the most murderous place on Earth in 2015, where one person was murdered every 21 minutes.
- Bolivia was named after Simon Bolivar, a military leader who led Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia to independence.
- Since 2007, an unfinished skyscraper in Caracas, Venezuela, has been re-appropriated by squatters into a vast 'vertical slum' which now includes grocery stores, hairdressers, and an unlicensed dentist.
- There is a persistent storm at Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela. Lightning storms occur for about 10 hours a night, 140 to 160 nights a year, for a total of about 1.2 million lightning discharges per year.
- There's a nightclub inside a prison in Venezuela.
- While most of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil (60%), it's also in Peru (13%), Colombia (10%), Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and three countries.
- After Hurricane Katrina, Cuba offered medical aid and Venezuela gasoline plus US$5 million. The U.S. rejected them all.
- In 2012, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez rewarded his 3,000,000th Twitter follower, a 19-year old girl, with a new home.
- Canada has the third largest oil reserves of any country in the world after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
- Venezuela ranks 7th in the world's listof nations with the most number of species.
- In Venezuela, 4 in 100,000 adult males opt for penis enlargement surgery, the second highest rate in the world.
- Hugo Chávez, as president of Venezuela, hosted a TV show every Sunday from 1999 to 2012.
- The South American revolutionary Simon Bolivar was, at various times, president of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
- Of the population of Venezuela lost at least 19 pounds in 2016 due to a lack of proper nutrition amid an economic crisis.
- Venezuela had the world's 4th highest GDP per capita in 1950, trailing only the United States, Switzerland, and New Zealand.
- In 2017, US $ 10 made you a millionaire in Venezuela's local currency.