Venezuela was named after the Italian city of Venice by Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda in 1499 due to the similarity of some houses built on stilts. Venezuela is home to Angel Falls, diverse wildlife, and the world’s largest rodent.
Venice is the Italian city that gave its name to a South American country: Venezuela. The name of the town actually means “Little Venice”. It was named after the Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda in 1499. He felt that some of the town’s small houses built on stilts above Lake Maracaibo were reminiscent of Venice, a city built on 118 small islands connected by canals and bridges and with its structures on stilt houses. The first Spanish settlement in Venezuela was founded a year after its name, but was destroyed in a tsunami. Venezuela did not officially become independent from the Spanish until 1819.
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Venezuela is home to the world’s tallest waterfall, Angel Falls, which has a height of 3,212 feet (979 m).
There are over 21,000 plant species, 350 mammal species, and 1,400 bird species in Venezuela, making it one of the most biodiverse places on Earth due to the country’s vast rainforests.
The largest rodent in the world, the capybara, is native to Venezuela: the rodent can grow up to 2 centimeters tall.
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