1.
Colombia
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Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a transcontinental country largely situated in the northwest of South America, with territories in Central America. Colombia shares a border to the northwest with Panama, to the east with Venezuela and Brazil and to the south with Ecuador and it shares its maritime limits with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is a unitary, constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments, the territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples including the Muisca, the Quimbaya and the Tairona. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonization ultimately creating the Viceroyalty of New Granada, independence from Spain was won in 1819, but by 1830 the Gran Colombia Federation was dissolved. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada, the new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation, and then the United States of Colombia, before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886. Since the 1960s the country has suffered from an asymmetric low-intensity armed conflict, Colombia is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse countries in the world, and thereby possesses a rich cultural heritage. Cultural diversity has also influenced by Colombias varied geography. The urban centres are located in the highlands of the Andes mountains. Colombian territory also encompasses Amazon rainforest, tropical grassland and both Caribbean and Pacific coastlines, ecologically, it is one of the worlds 17 megadiverse countries, and the most densely biodiverse of these per square kilometer. Colombia is a power and a regional actor with the fourth-largest economy in Latin America, is part of the CIVETS group of six leading emerging markets and is an accessing member to the OECD. Colombia has an economy with macroeconomic stability and favorable growth prospects in the long run. The name Colombia is derived from the last name of Christopher Columbus and it was conceived by the Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda as a reference to all the New World, but especially to those portions under Spanish and Portuguese rule. The name was adopted by the Republic of Colombia of 1819. When Venezuela, Ecuador and Cundinamarca came to exist as independent states, New Granada officially changed its name in 1858 to the Granadine Confederation. In 1863 the name was changed, this time to United States of Colombia. To refer to country, the Colombian government uses the terms Colombia. Owing to its location, the present territory of Colombia was a corridor of early human migration from Mesoamerica, the oldest archaeological finds are from the Pubenza and El Totumo sites in the Magdalena Valley 100 km southwest of Bogotá. These sites date from the Paleoindian period, at Puerto Hormiga and other sites, traces from the Archaic Period have been found
2.
Orinoco
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The Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America at 2,140 kilometres. Its drainage basin, sometimes called the Orinoquia, covers 880,000 square kilometres, with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela, the Orinoco and its tributaries are the major transportation system for eastern and interior Venezuela and the llanos of Colombia. The Orinoco is extremely diverse and hosts a variety of flora. The mouth of the Orinoco at the Atlantic Ocean was documented by Columbus on 1 August 1498 and its source at the Cerro Delgado–Chalbaud, in the Parima range, was not explored until 1951,453 years later. The source, near the Venezuelan–Brazilian border, at 1,047 metres above sea level, was explored in 1951 by a joint Venezuelan–French team. The Orinoco Delta, and tributaries in the eastern llanos such as the Apure and Meta, were explored in the 16th century by German expeditions under Ambrosius Ehinger and his successors. In 1531 Diego de Ordaz, starting at the outlet in the delta. Antonio de Berrio sailed down the Casanare to the Meta, and then down the Orinoco, alexander von Humboldt explored the basin in 1800, reporting on the pink river dolphins. He published extensively on the flora and fauna. The first bridge across the Orinoco was the Angostura Bridge at Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela, in 2006 a second bridge was completed near Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela, known as the Orinoquia Bridge. The first powerline crossing of the Orinoco was completed in 1981 for an 800 kV TL single span of 1,200 metres using two towers 110 metres tall. In 1992, a power line crossing for two 400 kV-circuits was completed just west of Morocure, north of the confluence of Routes 1 and 19. It had three towers, and the two spans measured 2,161 metres and 2,537 metres, respectively, at its mouth, the Orinoco forms a wide delta that branches off into hundreds of rivers and waterways that flow through 41,000 km2 of swampy forests. In the rainy season, the Orinoco can swell to a breadth of 22 kilometres, most of the important Venezuelan rivers are tributaries of the Orinoco, the largest being the Caroní, which joins it at Puerto Ordaz, close to the Llovizna Falls. The Orinoco crocodile is one of the rarest reptiles in the world and its range in the wild is restricted to the Orinoco River Basin. More than 1000 fish species have recorded in the river basin. Among the fish in the river are found in brackish or salt water in the Orinoco estuary. By far the largest orders are Characiformes and Siluriformes, which account for more than 80% of the fresh water species
3.
Venezuela
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Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of 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, Venezuela covers 916,445 km2 and has an estimated population of 31775371. The territory now known as Venezuela was colonized by Spain in 1522 amid resistance from indigenous peoples and it gained full independence as a separate country in 1830. During the 19th century, Venezuela suffered political turmoil and autocracy, since 1958, the country has had a series of democratic governments. This new constitution changed the name of the country to República Bolivariana de Venezuela. Venezuela is a presidential republic consisting of 23 states, the Capital District. Venezuela also claims all Guyanese territory west of the Essequibo River, oil was discovered in the early 20th century, and Venezuela has the worlds largest known oil reserves and has been one of the worlds leading exporters of oil. Previously an underdeveloped exporter of commodities such as coffee and cocoa, oil quickly came to dominate exports. The recovery of oil prices in the early 2000s gave Venezuela oil funds not seen since the 1980s, the Venezuelan government then established populist policies that initially boosted the Venezuelan economy and increased social spending, significantly reducing economic inequality and poverty. However, such policies later became controversial since they destabilized the economy, resulting in hyperinflation, an economic depression. According to the most popular and accepted version, in 1499, the stilt houses in the area of Lake Maracaibo reminded the navigator, Amerigo Vespucci, of the city of Venice, so he named the region Veneziola Piccola Venezia. The name acquired its current spelling as a result of Spanish influence, where the suffix -uela is used as a term, thus. The German language 16th century-term for the area, Klein-Venedig, also means little Venice, however, Martín Fernández de Enciso, a member of the Vespucci and Ojeda crew, gave a different account. In his work Summa de geografía, he states that they found people who called themselves the Veneciuela. Thus, the name Venezuela may have evolved from the native word and it is not known how many people lived in Venezuela before the Spanish conquest, it has been estimated at around one million. In addition to indigenous peoples known today, the population included historic groups such as the Kalina, Auaké, Caquetio, Mariche, the Timoto-Cuica culture was the most complex society in Pre-Columbian Venezuela, with pre-planned permanent villages, surrounded by irrigated, terraced fields. They also stored water in tanks and their houses were made primarily of stone and wood with thatched roofs. They were peaceful, for the most part, and depended on growing crops, regional crops included potatoes and ullucos
4.
Arauca Department
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Arauca Department is a department of Colombia located in the extreme north of the Orinoco Basin of Colombia, bordering Venezuela. The southern boundary of Arauca is formed by the Casanare and Meta Rivers, separating Arauca from the departments of Casanare, to the west, Arauca borders the department of Boyacá. The Caño Limón oil fields located within Arauca account for almost a third of the Colombian oil output and its capital is the town of Arauca. The first conquistador who discovered the region of present-day Arauca was Nikolaus Federmann in 1539 and he was first a soldier in the company of Georg von Speyer, who passed through the south of present Venezuela and the eastern part of what is today known as Colombia. In 1659, the missions were establishing new settlements in tribal Guahibo, Uwa, Aeric. In the eighteenth century, being expelled from the Jesuits under Viceroy Pedro Mesia de la Zerda and they founded five centers of the catechism, Solitude of Cravo, Cuiloto San Javier, San Jose del Ele, Lipa San Joaquin and San Fernando de Arauca. In 1810, the Araucanian territory became part of the newly created province of Casanare, by 1857, Arauca was made part of the Sovereign State of Boyacá, that later became the Boyacá department. In 1891, the Arauca police station was established with chief executive Pedro León Acosta, by decree 113 of January 20,1955, the territory was elevated to the national quartermaster, and finally, with the Constitution of July 5,1991, Arauca became a department. Arauca is the capital since 1911. Many Venezuelan-born nationals live in the department, around 10-15 percent of the population is of Venezuelan origin, the departments total indigenous population amounts to 3591 people. Across the department 26 resguardos are located in an area of 128,167 hectares, the predominant ethnic group in the department are the Uwa. They are located in the foothills of the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. Its total population is estimated at 7231 people, belong to the Chibcha language family, Uwa means intelligent people who can speak. The Betoye with 800 members constitutes the second-largest ethnic group in the department and they inhabit the banks of the Cravo River and the municipality of Tame. The area of its territory is 702 hectares and their language is considered part of the Chibcha language family. Although not retaining their language, the people speak a mixture of Betoye with Spanish. Certain grammatical structures of the Betoye language persist in this mixture, the Guahibo are subdivided into tribes known as Sikuani, Kuiba, Chiricoa, Hitanü and Hitnü, who speak Arawakan languages. The main economical activity of Arauca is centered around the oil industry, with the Caño Limón oilfields as the most important source
5.
Los Llanos (South America)
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Los Llanos is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the grasslands and savannas biome. The Llanos main river is the Orinoco, which part of the border between Colombia and Venezuela and is the major river system of Venezuela. During the rainy season from May to October, parts of the Llanos can flood up to a meter and this turns the woodlands and grassland into a temporary wetland, comparable to the Pantanal of central South America. This flooding also makes the area unique for its wildlife, the area supports around 70 species of water birds, including the scarlet ibis. A large portion of the distribution of the flycatcher is in the Llanos. The flooding also made the area unfit for most agriculture before the advent of modern, therefore, during the Spanish colonial era, the primary economic activity of the area was the herding of millions of heads of cattle. An 1856 watercolor by Manuel María Paz depicts sparsely populated open grazing lands with cattle, the term llanero became synonymous with the cowhands that took care of the herds, and had some cultural similarities with the gauchos of the Pampas or the vaqueros of Spanish and Mexican Texas. In the wet season most of the Llanos is flooded and travel is by boat down the numerous temporary, in Los Llanos the governments of Venezuela and Colombia had developed a strong oil and gas industry in zones of Arauca, Casanare, Guárico, Anzoátegui, Apure and Monagas. The Orinoco Belt, entirely in Venezuelan territory, consists of deposits of extra heavy crude. The Orinoco belt oil sands are known to be one of the largest, behind that of the Athabasca Oil Sands in Alberta, Canada. Venezuelas non-conventional oil deposits of about 1,200 billion barrels, the llanos music The llanos of Colombia and Venezuela Los Llanos de Colombia Llanos
6.
Andes
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The Andes or Andean Mountains are the longest continental mountain range in the world. They are a range of highlands along the western edge of South America. This range is about 7,000 km long, about 200 to 700 km wide, the Andes extend from north to south through seven South American countries, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. Along their length, the Andes are split into several ranges, the Andes are the location of several high plateaus – some of which host major cities, such as Quito, Bogotá, Arequipa, Medellín, Sucre, Mérida and La Paz. The Altiplano plateau is the worlds second-highest after the Tibetan plateau and these ranges are in turn grouped into three major divisions based on climate, the Tropical Andes, the Dry Andes, and the Wet Andes. The Andes are the worlds highest mountain range outside of Asia, the highest mountain outside Asia, Mount Aconcagua, rises to an elevation of about 6,961 m above sea level. The peak of Chimborazo in the Ecuadorean Andes is farther from the Earths center than any other location on the Earths surface, the worlds highest volcanoes are in the Andes, including Ojos del Salado on the Chile-Argentina border, which rises to 6,893 m. The etymology of the word Andes has been debated, the majority consensus is that it derives from the Quechua word anti, which means east as in Antisuyu, one of the four regions of the Inca Empire. In the northern part of the Andes, the isolated Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta range is considered to be part of the Andes. The term cordillera comes from the Spanish word cordel, meaning rope, the Andes range is about 200 km wide throughout its length, except in the Bolivian flexure where it is about 640 kilometres wide. The Andes are the result of plate tectonics processes, caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath the South American plate. The main cause of the rise of the Andes is the compression of the rim of the South American Plate due to the subduction of the Nazca Plate. In the south, the Andes share a boundary with the former Patagonia Terrane. To the west, the Andes end at the Pacific Ocean, from a geographical approach, the Andes are considered to have their western boundaries marked by the appearance of coastal lowlands and a less rugged topography. The Andes Mountains also contain large quantities of iron ore located in mountains within the range. The Andean orogen has a series of bends or oroclines, the Bolivian Orocline is a seaward concave bending in the coast of South America and the Andes Mountains at about 18° S. At this point the orientation of the Andes turns from Northwest in Peru to South in Chile, the Andean segment north and south of the orocline have been rotated 15° to 20° counter clockwise and clockwise respectively. The Bolivian Orocline area overlaps with the area of maximum width of the Altiplano Plateau, the specific point at 18° S where the coastline bends is known as the Arica Elbow
7.
Guiana Shield
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The Guiana Shield is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a 1.7 billion-year-old Precambrian geological formation in northeast South America that forms a portion of the northern coast, the higher elevations on the shield are called the Guiana Highlands, which is where the table-like mountains called tepuis are found. The Guiana Highlands are also the source of some of the worlds most spectacular waterfalls such as Angel Falls, Kaieteur Falls, the Guiana Shield underlies Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, as well as parts of Colombia, and Brazil. From this arc, the southern uplands slope gently downwards towards the Amazon River, the Chiribiquete Plateau is a sandstone topped plateau with an elevation of 900 m that forms the western edge of the shield. The plateau is separated from the eastern Andes by the thick Neogene sediments of the Sub-Andean Trough that runs along the northern and western rim of the Guiana Shield, the highest point in the shield is Pico da Neblina in Brazil at 2,995 metres. The Guiana Shield is one of the regions of highest biodiversity in the world, the region houses has over 3000 vertebrate species,1168 fresh water fish,269 amphibians,295 reptiles,1004 birds, and 282 mammals. Diversity of invertebrates remains largely undocumented, but there are species of endemic butterflies. Plant life is rich and 13,367 species of vascular plants have been found. The shield is overlain by the largest expanse of undisturbed rain forest in the world. In Venezuela the forests are protected by Canaima, Parima-Tapirapeco and Serranía de la Neblina national parks, according to recent researches, ecosystems of the Guayana Highlands are in danger because of non-native plant species and infectious faecal bacteria Helicobacter pylori introduced by tourists. Tepui Canadian Shield Caribbean South America Monte Roraima Pico da Neblina Great American Interchange Geography of South America Media related to Guiana Highlands at Wikimedia Commons
8.
Meta River
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The Meta River is a major left tributary of the Orinoco River in eastern Colombia and southern Venezuela, South America. The Meta originates in the Eastern Ranges of the Andes and flows through the Meta Department, Colombia as the confluence of the Humea, Guatiquía and it flows east-northeastward across the Llanos Orientales of Colombia following the direction of the Meta Fault. The Meta River is 804 kilometres long and its basin is 93,800 square kilometres. The major tributaries of the Meta are the Cravo Sur, the Casanare, the Cusiana, the Upía and the Manacacías rivers. An 1856 watercolor by Manuel María Paz, of three people with a boat at Orocué, near the Old Macuco Mission, is an early depiction of life on the river. Living along the Meta are various indigenous groups, in the upper part of the river, close to the foothills of the Eastern Ranges and farther downstream, the Guayupe, Achagua, Sáliva and Guahibo people are living. Starting at Puerto López the Meta becomes navigable, and thus is an important component of the trade across the Colombian and Venezuelan Llanos
9.
Meta Department
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Meta is a department of Colombia. It is close to the center of the country, to the east of the Andean mountains. A large portion of the department, which is crossed by the Meta River, is covered by a grassland plain known as the Llanos. The department has a monument placed in the geographic centre of Colombia, at a place known as Alto de Menegua. Achagua, which is similar to Piapoco, is an Indigenous language spoken by a minority in the department, folklore llanero Government Meta Territorial-Environmental Information System of Colombian Amazon SIAT-AC website San Martín Territory
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