opposed to that of Froissart. His democratic sympathies led him to support Étienne Marcel, and though he returned to his allegiance to the kings of France he remained a severe critic, Jean de Venette also wrote a long French poem, La Vie des trois Maries, about 1347.
See Lacurne de Sainte-Palaye in Memoires de l’Académie, vols. viii. and xiii. ; Géraud and Déprez in Mélanges de l’ecole de Rome (1899), vol. xix. ; and A. Molinier, Les Sources de l’histoire de France (1904), tome iv.
VENEZUELA,[1] a republic of South America; facing the
Caribbean sea, and bounded E. by British Guiana and Brazil,
S. by Brazil and W. by Colombia. Its boundary with Colombia
is unfixed, a decision by the king of Spain, as arbitrator, in
March 1891, having been rejected by Venezuela. The boundary
dispute with British Guiana was settled in October 1899 by an
arbitration court in Paris. The line is subject to any question
between the two countries and Brazil. The boundary with
Brazil was fixed by a special commission in 1880. The republic
lies between lat. 1° 40′ S. and 12 26′ N., long. 50° 40′ and
73° 31′ W., and has an area of 599,538 sq. m. according to the
Venezuelan Year Book of 1906. This area, however, was
subject to the settlement of the Colombia boundary line, and
the measurement is only approximate.
Topography.—The surface of Venezuela is broken into three very irregular divisions by its mountain systems: (1) the mountainous area of the N.W. and N.; (2) the Orinoco basin with the llanos on its northern border and great forested areas in the S. and S.W. ; and (3) the Guiana highlands. A branch of the eastern chain of the Andes enters Venezuela in the west about 7° N. lat., and under the name of the Sierra Nevada de Merida proceeds north-eastwards towards Trieste Gulf. This branch consists of parallel chains enclosing elevated valleys, in one of which lies the town of Merida at the height of 5410 ft., overlooked by the highest summit of the chain (Picacho de la Sierra, 15,420 ft.). The sierra contains the water-parting between the basin of the Orinoco and those of the small rivers on the north-west. Hence it may be considered to terminate where the Rio Cojedes, which drains the elevated valley in which Barquisimeto stands, after rising on its western slopes flows eastwards into the basin of the Orinoco. Beyond the Cojedes begin two parallel ranges known as the Maritime Andes of Venezuela, which stretch east and west along the coast. The valley, between these two ranges is the most densely peopled part of Venezuela. Above Caracas the highest peak of the system, Silla de Caracas, rises to 8531 ft. Behind the wide bay between Cape Codera and Cumana there is an interruption in the Maritime Andes; but both ranges reappear between Cumana and the Gulf of Paria. West of the Maritime Andes low ranges (3500–5000 ft.) trend northwards from the end of the Sierra de Merida towards the coast on the east side of the Lake of Maracaibo, while the region on the west of that lake consists of lagoon-studded lowlands. East and south of the Sierra de Merida and the Maritime Andes the region is thinly populated and little known. It consists of two portions—a vast, hilly or mountainous area, densely wooded, in the south-east and south, and level plains in the north-west between the Orinoco and the Apuré and the mountains. The latter is known as the llanos of the Orinoco, a region described by Humboldt as a vast “sea of grass,” with islands of wood scattered here and there. Since the time of Humboldt, however, the aspect of these plains would seem to have changed. On the occasion of Karl F. Appun’s visit in 1850 trees seem still to have been comparatively rare; but a different aspect was presented when Dr P. Jonas visited the llanos in 1878. From the Galera, the southernmost range of hills north of the Orinoco basin, the traveller saw a vast plain thickly grown with low trees. As far as Calabozo (about one-third of the distance between the hills and the Apuré) it was now chaparros (Curatella americana), now mimosas, which were the prevailing feature of the landscape. But towards the south the open grass-covered spaces increased in number and area. To the south of Calabozo woods of considerable extent were seen. This change is due to the decline of horse- and cattle-rearing in the llanos, partly in consequence of political disturbances and partly of a murrain which broke out in 1843 among horses, mules and asses. The decline in stock-raising would also suspend the practice of burning off the dead grass to improve the new pasturage. Along the Brazilian frontier and about the sources of the Orinoco tributaries on the eastern slopes of the Andes there are extensive forests, sometimes broken with grassy campos. The surface of the llanos is almost a dead level, the general elevation varying from about 375 to 400 ft., rising almost imperceptibly to 600–800 ft. around its immediate margins, So uniform is the level over a great part of these plains that in the rainy season hundreds of square miles are submerged, and the country is covered with a network of connecting channels. When the Orinoco is reached its lower basin is contracted between the Guiana highlands and the northern sierras, and its tributaries begin to come in more nearly at right angles, showing that the margins of the actual valley are nearer and higher. About 62° 30′ the great river reaches what may be considered sea-level, and from this point numerous channels find their way across the silted-up delta plain to the sea. This region, together with that of the Guiana frontier, is heavily forested. In the extreme S. (territory of Amazonas) and S.E. the surface again rises into mountain ranges, which include the Parima and Pacaraima sierras on and .adjacent, to the Brazilian frontier, with a number of short spurs reaching northward toward the Orinoco, such as the Mapichi, Maraguaca, Maigualida, Matos, Rincote and Usupamo. All this region belongs to the drainage basin of the Orinoco, and rivers of large volume flow down between these spurs. Some of the culminating points in these ranges are the Cerros Yaparana (7175 ft.) and Duida (8120 ft.) in the Parima sierras near the upper Orinoco, the Sierra de Maraguaca (8228 ft.), and the celebrated flat-topped Mt Roraima (8530 ft.) in the Pacaraima sierras on the boundary line with Brazil and British Guiana. Near the Orinoco the general elevation drops to about 1500 ft. All this region is densely forested, and is inhabited only by scattered tribes of Indians.
Probably not less than four-fifths of the territory of Venezuela belong to the drainage basin of the Orinoco (q.v.). The Orinoco is supposed to have 436 tributaries, of which, among the largest, the Caroni-Paragua, Aro, Caura, Cuchivero, Suapure, Sipapo and Ventuari have their sources in the Guiana highlands; the Suata, Manapere and Guaritico in the northern sierras; and the Apuré, Uricana, Arauca, Capanaparo, Meta, Vichada and Guaviare (the last three being Colombian rivers) in the llanos and Andes. The Apuré receives two large tributaries from the northern sierras—the Guarico and Portuguesa. Apart from these, the rivers of Venezuela are small and, except those of the Maracaibo basin, are rarely navigable. The larger are the Guanipa and Guarapiche, which flow eastwards to the Gulf of Paria ; the Aragua, Unare and Tuy, which flow to the Caribbean coast E. of Caracas; the Yaracui, Aroa and Tocuyo to the same coast W. of Caracas; anditheMotatan, Chama, Escalante, Catatumbo, Apan and Palmar, which discharge into Lake Maraoaibo. The hydrography of the region last mentioned, where the lowlands are flat and the rainfall heavy, is extremely complicated owing to the great number of small rivers and of lakes on or near the lower river courses. The deep lower courses of these streams and the small neighbouring lakes were once part of the great lake itself, which is being slowly filled by silt. The lakes of Venezuela are said to number 204. The largest are the Maracaibo (q.v.); El Zulia, with an area of 290 sq. m., a short distance S. of Maracaibo among a large number of lakes, lagoons and swamps; Valencia, near the city of that name, in the Maritime Andes, about 1350 ft. above sea-level, with an area of 216 sq. m.; Laguneta, in the state of Zulia; and Taciragua, a coastal lagoon in the state of Miranda. There are numerous lagoons in the llano districts caused by the periodical floods of the rivers, and extensive esteros and cienagas, in part due to the same causes, but these either dry up in the dry season or are greatly reduced in area.
The coast outline of Venezuela is indented with a large number of gulfs and bays, comparatively few of which, however, are open to foreign commerce. The larger indentations are the Gulf of Maracaibo, or Venezuela, which extends inland through the Lake of Maracaibo, with which it is connected by a comparatively narrow channel, and is formed by the peninsulas of Goajira and Paraguana; the Gulf of Paria, between the peninsula of that name and the island of Trinidad; the Gulf of Coro, opening into the Gulf of Maracaibo; the Gulf of Cariaco, between the peninsula of Araya and the state of Bermudez; the Golfo Triste, on the E. coast of the state of Lara; and the small Gulf of Santa Fé on the northern coast of Bermudez. Besides these there are a number of small indentations, sheltered anchorages formed by islands and reefs like that of Puerto Cabello, and estuaries and also open roadsteads, like those of La Guaira and Cariipano, which serve important ports. The islands on the coast forming part of the national territory number 71, with an aggregate area of 14,633 sq. m., according to official calculations. The largest of these is the island of Margarita, N. of the peninsula of Araya, in the vicinity of which is the island of Tortuga and several groups of islets, generally uninhabited. (A. J. L.)
Geology.—Geologically Venezuela consists of three distinct regions: (1) South of the Orinoco a great mass of granite, gneiss, pyroxenite and other crystalline rocks, continuous with that of Guiana and probably of Archean age. This mass also forms the bed of the Orinoco from its junction with the Apuré nearly to its mouth, and it probably extends northwards for some distance beneath the more recent deposits of the plain. (2) The llanos. covered by deposits of Quaternary or late Tertiary age. (3) The mountain ranges of the north-west and north. These ranges appear to belong to two systems. The Cordillera of Merida is one of the
- ↑ The name means “little Venice,” and is a modification of the name of Venecia (Venice), originally bestowed by Alonzo de Ojeda in 1499 on an Indian village, composed of pile dwellings on the shores of the Gulf of Maracaibo, which was called by him the Gulf of Venecia.
