The Venezuelan Coastal Range ( es, Cordillera de la Costa or ), also known as Venezuelan Caribbean Mountain System ( es, Sistema Montañoso Caribe) is a mountain range system and one of the eight natural regions of Venezuela, that runs along the central and eastern portions of Venezuela's northern coast. The range is a northeastern extension of the Andes, and is also known as the Maritime Andes. It covers around 48,866 km², being the 4th largest natural region in Venezuela.

Geography

The Coastal Range actually consists of two parallel ranges, which run east and west along the coast of the Caribbean Sea. The Cojedes River separates the western end of Coastal Range from the Cordillera de Mérida to the southeast. The range is divided into eastern and western sections by the wide bay between Cape Codera and

Cumaná Cumaná () is the capital city of Venezuela's Sucre State. It is located east of Caracas. Cumaná was one of the first cities founded by Spain in the mainland Americas and is the oldest continuously-inhabited Hispanic-established city in South ...

Serranía del Litoral—Serranía del Interior

In eastern section of the range, the parallel ranges are known as the Serranía del Litoral, which runs along the Caribbean coast, and the Serranía del Interior to the south. The valley between these two ranges, which includes Lake Valencia, the valleys of metropolitan

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as 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 ...

, and the Tuy River at its eastern end, is the most densely populated region of Venezuela. The Capital District lies in a valley between two branches of the Serranía del Litoral: with Cerro El Ávila (peak) and El Ávila National Park in the Cordillera de la Costa Central to the north, and smaller hills to the south. Both the Littoral and Interior ranges reappear between Cumaná and the Gulf of Paria to form the eastern section of the Venezuelan Coastal Range. The Littoral range forms the

Araya Peninsula The Araya Peninsula is a peninsula on the Caribbean Sea, located in Sucre State, northern Venezuela. The peninsula is part of the eastern Serranía del Litoral mountain range, in the Venezuelan Coastal Ranges System of the northern Andes. It exte ...

to the west and the Paria Peninsula to the east, and extends across the straits known as the Dragon's Mouths to form the Northern Range of the island of Trinidad.

Ecoregions

The lower elevations of the mountains are mostly covered by the

La Costa xeric shrublands The La Costa xeric shrublands (NT1309) is an ecoregion in Venezuela that stretches along the Caribbean coast. The dry scrub and savanna has been subject to modification since the 16th century by European colonists who replaced it by a patchwork of ...

ecoregion of the Deserts and xeric shrublands Biome. The

Araya and Paria xeric scrub The Araya and Paria xeric scrub (NT1301) is an ecoregion in Venezuela that stretches along the Caribbean coast to the west of Trinidad, and that includes Margarita Island and some smaller islands. The ecoregion includes dune herbs, dry thorn scrub ...

occupies the arid zones of Araya and Paria peninsulas, with the exception of the montane areas of the Paria Peninsula, which are included in the La Costa xeric shrublands ecoregion. The Araya and Paria xeric scrub also includes Isla Margarita and extends south on to the mainland to Cumaná. At elevations from lie the humid evergreen Cordillera de la Costa montane forests ecoregion of the montane Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Biome, which form eleven discontinuous enclaves across the high summits of the eastern and western portions of the range.

External links

* * * * {{Natural Regions of Venezuela Mountain ranges of the Andes Mountain ranges of Venezuela Cordillera de La Costa Cordillera de la Costa Geography of Caracas Geography of Capital District (Venezuela) Geography of Miranda (state) Geography of Vargas (state) Geography of Aragua Geography of Carabobo Geography of Anzoátegui Geography of Sucre (state) Geography of Monagas Geography of Guárico Geography of Cojedes (state) El Ávila National Park