Venezuela; Trinidad and Tobago; the Netherlands--part: Aruba; Curaçao; Bonaire

How is the land laid out?

Venezuela is dominated by the Orinoco River¹, which originates in the southeast and flows in a great 'C' to empty in the northeast in a wide delta. Oddly the upper Orinoco branches with part of the flow diverted--as the Casiquiare--south to the Negro², a southward flowing tributary of the Amazon. Thus northern South America is technically an island, though never regarded as such. The eastern and southern headwaters of the Orinoco and Casiquiare system are in the Guiana Highlands and the watershed bounds are also the national border. Just west of the delta are the isolated Northeast Highlands. Beyond some lowlands begins the Central Highlands and the beginning of the Andes system. These continue northwest as the Segovia Highlands and west as the Mérida Range which reach above 5000 meters at Bolívar Peak. North and west is the petroleum-rich Maracaibo basin and lake³. This is flanked westward by the Serranía de⁴ Perijá along the Colombian border.

Who lives there?

This is one part of a large area of the Americas where Spanish and Roman Catholic Christianity represent the majority.

Caracas, Venezuela's capital, boasts the Panteón Nacional⁵, Bolívar's tomb. Maracaibo is on the northwest shore of the lake that produces 70% of Venezuela's petroleum.

Who was there before?

A sampling of pre-Columbian languages follows: I. Arawakan languages were spoken in parts of southwestern Venezuela near Colombia. II. Carib languages were spoken in much of Venezuela; the sea, as well as the language group, is named for one of the languages.

north
northeast of Venezuela, and east of Trinidad and Tobago
east of northern Venezuela
south
west
northwest

Other broad topics

South America
The Netherlands and its possessions

Footnotes

1. South America's tenth longest.
2. Translates as Black.
3. South America's largest; it is connected to the sea.
4. Translates as Little Mountains of.
5. Translates as National Pantheon.