Figure 2. Topography and Drainage

Angel Falls, the world's highest waterfall, in southeastern Venezuela
Courtesy Martie B. Lisowski Collection, Library of Congress

Located at the northernmost end of South America, Venezuela has a total area of 912,050 square kilometers and a land area of 882,050 square kilometers, about twice the size of California. Shaped roughly like an inverted triangle, the country has a 2,800-kilometer coastline and is bounded on the north by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, on the east by Guyana, on the south by Brazil, and on the west by Colombia (see fig. 2).

Data as of December 1990