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Venezuela
Oil, the Orinoco, and the world's highest waterfall
Venezuela sits on the Caribbean shoulder of South America atop some of the largest proven oil reserves on the planet, a country whose extraordinary natural wealth has been shadowed by economic collapse and one of the largest migration crises in the world. Its landscapes are equally dramatic: snowcapped Andean peaks in the west, the vast grassy plains of the Llanos through the center, the sweeping Orinoco River, and the table mountains of the Guiana Highlands, where Angel Falls drops nearly a kilometer as the highest uninterrupted waterfall on Earth.
A spur of the Andes rises in the northwest to Pico Bolivar at 4,978 meters, the country's highest point. Across the center spread the Llanos, seasonally flooded plains that support cattle and abundant wildlife. To the south and east lie the ancient sandstone tepuis of the Gran Sabana, flat-topped mountains including Roraima and Auyantepui, over whose edge Angel Falls plunges. The Orinoco, one of the great rivers of the continent, drains much of the country and forms a vast delta on the Atlantic coast. The climate is tropical, tempered by altitude in the mountains.
Part of Bolivar's independence struggle, Venezuela broke from Spain in the early nineteenth century and later from Gran Colombia. Oil discovered in the early twentieth century made it wealthy but fragile. Under Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, polarization and mismanagement brought hyperinflation and shortages that drove millions to emigrate. In January 2026 a US military operation seized Maduro, who faces US drug charges, and Vice President Delcy Rodriguez became acting president. Her government signed a long-term oil pact with Washington but set no election date, and twin earthquakes in June 2026 killed over 6,000 people, officials say.