The Brazil–Venezuela border is the limit that separates the territories of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. It was delimited by the Treaty of Limits and River Navigation of May 5, 1859 and ratified by the Protocol of 1929. The geographical boundary begins at the triple point between Brazil-Colombia-Venezuela at Cucuy Rock and continues up the Maturacá channel to the Huá waterfall; it then follows a straight line to the top of a mountain called Cerro Cupi. It then follows the crest of the

drainage divide A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a single ...

between the

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

river basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, th ...

s up to the Brazil-

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

-Venezuela border tripoint on top of

Mount Roraima Mount Roraima (; ) is the highest of the Pacaraima chain of tepuis (table-top mountain) or plateaux in South America. It is located at the junction of Brazil, Guyana and Venezuela. A characteristic large flat-topped mountain surrounded by cliff ...

, thus covering a total of 2,199 kilometres (of which 90 km are conventional boundaries and the other 2,109 km correspond to the watershed between the basins of the Amazon (Brazil) and Orinoco (Venezuela)) through the Imeri, Tapirapecó, Curupira and Urucuzeiro mountain ranges (Brazilian state of Amazonas), and the Parima, Auari, Urutanim and Pacaraima ranges (State of

Roraima Roraima ( ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas t ...

), in the

Guiana Shield The Guiana Shield (; ; ; ) is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a 1.7 billion-year-old Precambrian geological formation in northeast South America that forms a portion of the northern coast. The higher elevations on ...

. Historically, Brazil and Venezuela have both made land claims for the western portion of Guyana, referred to as the Guayana Esequiba by Venezuela. The tributaries of the Amazon that extend into Guyana were claimed by Brazil but this was settled during the Pirara arbitration in 1904. The Venezuelan claim to the area is not officially recognized by Brazil, and Guyana exerts effective control over the disputed region. The internationally recognized border is mostly located in remote and inaccessible wilderness areas, and it has only one road crossing, between the towns of Pacaraima (Brazil) and

Santa Elena de Uairén Santa Elena de Uairén () is a small Venezuelan city (29,795 inhabitants in 2006) in the state of Bolívar State (Venezuela), Bolívar near the border with Brazil and Guyana. It was founded by Lucas Fernández Peña in 1923. The city's name origin ...

(Venezuela), where the Brazilian

BR-174 BR-174 is a federal highway of Brazil. The road connects Cáceres to Pacaraima on the Venezuelan border. It is the only road connection of the state of Roraima with the rest of the country. 458 kilometres are under construction, and there is n ...

federal highway from Boa Vista and

Manaus Manaus () is the List of capitals of subdivisions of Brazil, capital and largest city of the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Amazonas (Brazilian state), Amazonas. It is the List of largest cities in Brazil, seventh-largest city in Brazil, w ...

joins the Venezuelan Troncal 10 from

Ciudad Guayana Ciudad Guayana () (English: Guayana City) is a city in Bolívar State (Venezuela), Bolívar State, Venezuela. It stretches 40 kilometers along the south bank of the Orinoco, Orinoco river, at the point where it is joined by its main tributary ...

and

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

Recent developments

, Brazil's northernmost state, experienced a large influx of Venezuelan

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

along its border in 2018. On August 7, the regional government requested that the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil close the border, and later that day the Supreme Federal Court denied the request on

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

grounds. On February 22, 2019, amid the

Venezuelan presidential crisis The Venezuelan presidential crisis was a political crisis concerning the leadership and the legitimate president of Venezuela between 2019 and 2023, with the nation and the world divided in support for Nicolás Maduro or Juan Guaidó. Venezu ...

, President

Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and former union leader serving as the 53rd president of Venezuela since 2013. Previously, he was the 24th Vice President of Venezuela, vice president from 2012 to 20 ...

closed the border to prevent international humanitarian aid from reaching Venezuela by land. In May 2019, the Venezuelan government announced the re-opening of the border.

2020 coronavirus pandemic

On March 16, 2020, President

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and former military officer who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as a member of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies (Brazil), Chamb ...

partially closed the border with Venezuela because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

to slow the spread, as the epidemic has advanced in Brazil with 291 confirmed cases and the first death reported on Tuesday. Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta had urged closure of the border due to Venezuela's collapsing health system. On March 17, 2020, the Venezuelan government implemented a nationwide quarantine after detecting 16 new cases of the novel coronavirus, President Nicolas Maduro said, adding that the total number of cases in the South American country has risen to 33, had begun a quarantine in a handful of states.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brazil-Venezuela border Borders of Brazil International borders Borders of Venezuela