The

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

is a

federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

made up of twenty-three states ('' es, estados''), a

Capital District A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any politica ...

('' es, Distrito Capital'') and the Federal Dependencies ('' es, Dependencias Federales''), which consist of many islands and

islets An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanent ...

in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

. Venezuela also claims the

Guayana Esequiba (), sometimes also called or Essequibo, is a disputed territory of west of the Essequibo River that is administered and controlled by Guyana but claimed by Venezuela.

territory which comprises Regions of Guyana, six districts in the independent nation of Guyana. The states and territories of Venezuela are usually organized into Regions of Venezuela, regions ( es, regiones), although these regions are mostly geographical entities rather than administrative entities.

Historical states

Prior to the Federal War (1859–1863), the country was divided into provinces rather than states (see Provinces of Venezuela). The victorious forces were supposed to grant more autonomy to the individual states, but this was not implemented. From 1863 to the early 1900s there were numerous territorial changes, including the merger and splitting of states, but from then until the 1990s the states were left unchanged. States that existed during this time included ''Guzmán Blanco State'' (1873–1889). Originally a renamed Aragua State, in 1881 the states of Miranda, Guárico, Nueva Esparta and the Vargas department of the Federal District were merged into the state. This was part of a territorial reorganisation reducing the number of states from 20 to 9, which was reversed in 1901. The 1990s saw the creation of three new states: Delta Amacuro (1991), Amazonas State (Venezuela), Amazonas (1994), and Vargas State, Vargas (1998).

Regions

Venezuela's territory is generally divided into nine geographical regions, which are mostly used for geographical, cultural and planning purposes but do not have active administrative bodies.

States

Below is a list of the 23 states of Venezuela. The states are listed along with their correspondent emblems, data and location.

By Human Development Index

Special status areas

State name etymologies

Several states are named for historical figures: *Anzoátegui for José Antonio Anzoátegui *Bolívar (state), Bolívar for Simón Bolívar *Falcón for Juan Crisóstomo Falcón *Lara (state), Lara for Jacinto Lara *Miranda (state), Miranda for Francisco de Miranda *Monagas for José Tadeo Monagas and José Gregorio Monagas *Sucre (state), Sucre for Antonio José de Sucre *Vargas (state), La Guaira (Vargas) for José María Vargas Several states are named for natural features: *Amazonas (Venezuelan state), Amazonas is named for the Amazon Rainforest *Apure is named for the Apure River *Aragua for the Aragua River *Cojedes (state), Cojedes for the Cojedes River *Delta Amacuro for the river delta of the Orinoco River, and for the Amacuro River *Guárico for the Guárico River *Portuguesa (Venezuela), Portuguesa for the Portuguesa River *Táchira for the Táchira River *Yaracuy for the Yaracuy River Other naming origins: *Barinas State, Barinas, named after the indigenous ethnic group in the area *Carabobo, named for an ethnic village *Caracas, named for the ''Caracas'' indigenous group *Mérida (state), Mérida, for the capital city, Mérida, Mérida, Mérida, itself named for Mérida, Spain, Mérida in Spain *Nueva Esparta ("New Sparta") is named for the heroism shown by its inhabitants during the Venezuelan War of Independence, deemed similar to that of the Spartan soldiers of Ancient Greece. *Trujillo (state), Trujillo, for the capital city, Trujillo, Trujillo, Trujillo, itself named for Trujillo, Cáceres, Trujillo in Spain *Zulia's name stems from a vocal transliteration from the Chibcha language, the name they called an exotic blue-flowered plant known as "Edging Lobelia" (''Lobelia erinus''); also for the Zulia River.

References

Bibliography

* Some information was retrieved from the Venezuela
National Institute of Statistics

External links

{{Subnational entities by Human Development Index States of Venezuela, Subdivisions of Venezuela Lists of administrative divisions, Venezuela, States First-level administrative divisions by country, States, Venezuela Venezuela geography-related lists