The name "Venezuela" is believed to have originated from the cartographer Amerigo Vespucci who, together with Alonso de Ojeda, led a naval expedition in 1499 along the northwestern coast of the Gulf of Venezuela.
Venezuela, known since 1999 as the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a petroleum-rich country on the northern coast of South America. In response to the high levels of poverty, the country elected populist Hugo Chavez Frias president in 1998. Since then, Chavez has embarked on a campaign to spread the income from oil contracts to the poor and working classes.
Falling within the tropics, Venezuela lays close to the Equator, in the Northern Hemisphere, and comprises of the mainland, and numerous islands in the Caribbean Sea. It borders Guyana to the East, Brazil to the South, and Colombia to the West.
This former Spanish colony, Venezuela is now a federal republic, and Venezuela is among the most urbanized countries in Latin America. The vast majority of Venezuelans live in the cities of the north, especially in the largest metropolis, Caracas.
