Assorted References

• education
  • In education: Administration
• flag history
  • In flag of Venezuela
• jewelry
  • In jewelry: Central and South American: pre-Columbian
• Latin American dance
  • In Latin American dance: Central America, Colombia, and Venezuela
• Latin American Integration Association
  • In Latin American Integration Association
• UNASUR
  • In UNASUR

commerce, industry, and mining

• fossil fuels
  • In South America: Mineral fuels
• OPEC membership
  • In OPEC: Membership and organization
• Petróleos de Venezuela, SA
  • In Petróleos de Venezuela, SA
• petroleum
  • In petroleum: Venezuela and Brazil

physical geography

• In Venezuela: Relief

• Amazon River basin
  • In Amazon River
• Andes Mountains
  • In Andes Mountains: Physiography of the Northern Andes
• highland climate
  • In mountain ecosystem: Environment
• Orinoco River
  • In Orinoco River

population and demography

• In Venezuela: Immigration and ethnic composition

• South American Indians
  • In South American Indian
  • In South American forest Indian

Geography

General introductions are provided by Richard A. Haggerty (ed.), Venezuela: A Country Study, 4th ed. (1993); and James Ferguson, Venezuela: A Guide to the People, Politics, and Culture (1994). The country’s geography is discussed in David Robinson and Alan Gilbert, “Colombia and Venezuela,” chapter 5 in Harold Blakemore and Clifford T. Smith (eds.), Latin America—Geographical Perspectives, 2nd ed. (1983), pp. 187–240; and Pablo Vila (Pau Vila), Geografía de Venezuela, 2nd ed., vol. 1, El territorio nacional y su ambiente físico (1969), which also includes information on culture. Alfredo Armas Alfonso et al., Maravillosa Venezuela, ed. by Edgar Bustamente (1982), portrays the splendour and diversity of regional landscapes. Geographic, economic, and historical themes are presented by Venezuela, Dirección de Cartografía Nacional, Atlas de Venezuela, 2nd ed. (1979). Studies of the population include Jesús A. Aguilera, La población de Venezuela: dinámica histórica, socioeconómica, y geográfica, 2nd ed. (1980); and Angelina Pollak-Eltz, “The Family in Venezuela,” in Man Singh Das and Clinton J. Jesser (eds.), The Family in Latin America (1980), pp. 12–45. A fascinating treatment of the culture and thought of the Warao (Warrau) people is found in Johannes Wilbert, Mystic Endowment: Religious Ethnography of the Warao Indians, (1993); while the rituals of the Wakuenai people are discussed in Jonathan D. Hill, Keepers of the Sacred Chants (1993).

Economic development issues are addressed in The Economist Intelligence Unit, Country Profile Venezuela (annual); Moisés Naim, Paper Tigers and Minotaurs: The Politics of Venezuela’s Economic Reforms (1993); Joseph Tulchin and Gary Bland (eds.), Venezuela in the Wake of Radical Reform (1993); and Loring Allen, Venezuelan Economic Development: A Politico-Economic Analysis (1977). An economic study and proposals to improve the competitiveness of Venezuela’s economy in the 1990s are presented in Michael Enright, Antonio Francés, and Edith Scott Saavedra, Venezuela: The Challenge of Competitiveness (1996).

Regional disparities and urban and regional planning strategies are discussed by John Friedmann, Regional Development Policy: A Case Study of Venezuela (1966); and Lloyd Rodwin et al., Planning Urban Growth and Regional Development: The Experience of the Guayana Program of Venezuela (1969). Conservation and sustainable development issues are examined in Marta Miranda et al., All That Glitters Is Not Gold: Balancing Conservation and Development in Venezuela’s Frontier Forests (1998).

Recent political developments, particularly the stresses on the democratic state, are analyzed in Damarys Canache and Michael R. Kulísheck (eds.), Reinventing Legitimacy: Democracy and Political Change in Venezuela (1998); Jennifer McCoy et al. (eds.), Venezuelan Democracy Under Stress (1995); Louis W. Goodman et al. (eds.), Lessons of the Venezuelan Experience (1995); and Richard S. Hillman, Democracy for the Privileged: Crisis and Transition in Venezuela (1994).

A systematic history of Venezuelan politics and economy since 1958 is found in John D. Martz and David J. Myers (eds.), Venezuela: The Democratic Experience, rev. ed. (1986); and also in Daniel C. Hellinger, Venezuela: Tarnished Democracy (1991). Also of interest is John A. Peeler, Latin American Democracies: Colombia, Costa Rica, Venezuela (1985). Studies of political parties include Michael Coppedge, Strong Parties and Lame Ducks: Presidential Partyarchy and Factionalism in Venezuela (1994); John D. Martz, Acción Democrática: Evolution of a Modern Political Party in Venezuela (1966), a sympathetic history and analysis of the period 1941–64; and Donald L. Herman, Christian Democracy in Venezuela (1980). For the political left, see Steve Ellner, Venezuela’s Movimiento al Socialismo: From Guerrilla Defeat to Innovative Politics (1988). Enrique A. Baloyra and John D. Martz, Political Attitudes in Venezuela: Societal Cleavages and Political Opinion (1979), examines democratic public opinion. Daniel H. Levine, Religion and Politics in Latin America: The Catholic Church in Venezuela and Colombia (1981), analyzes historical and contemporary relations.

The impact of the oil economy on Venezuelan politics and society is analyzed in Terry Lynn Karl, The Paradox of Plenty: Oil Booms and Petro-States (1997); Fernando Coronil, The Magical State: Nature, Money, and Modernity in Venezuela (1997); Juan Carlos Boué, Venezuela: The Political Economy of Oil (1993); and Jorge Salazar-Carrillo and Robert D. Cruz, Oil and Development in Venezuela During the Twentieth Century (1994). Various aspects of the Venezuelan oil industry are treated in Edwin Lieuwen, Petroleum in Venezuela: A History (1954, reprinted 1980); Franklin Tugwell, The Politics of Oil in Venezuela (1975); James F. Petras, Morris Morley, and Steven Smith, The Nationalization of Venezuelan Oil (1977); Rómulo Betancourt, Venezuela: Oil and Politics (1979; trans. from Spanish 2nd ed., 1967), a review by a former president; Gustavo Coronel, The Nationalization of the Venezuelan Oil Industry: From Technocratic Success to Political Failure (1983); and David Eugene Blank, Venezuela: Politics in a Petroleum Republic (1984).

Venezuela’s art and music are discussed in Alfredo Boulton et al., Arte de Venezuela (1977); and Luis Felipe Ramón y Rivera, La música popular de Venezuela (1976). Max H. Brandt, “Venezuela,” in Dale A. Olsen and Daniel E. Sheehy (eds.), The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, vol. 2 (1998), pp. 523–545, surveys musical traditions within the cultural context.

History

Overviews of Venezuela’s history are found in Edwin Lieuwen, Venezuela, 2nd ed. (1965, reprinted 1985); J.M. Siso Martínez, Historia de Venezuela, 8th ed. (1968); J.L. Salcedo-Bastardo, Historia fundamental de Venezuela, 11th ed. (1996); John V. Lombardi, Venezuela: The Search for Order, the Dream of Progress (1982); and Judith Ewell, Venezuela: A Century of Change (1984). A recommended bibliography is John V. Lombardi, Germán Carrera Damas, and Roberta E. Adams, Venezuelan History: A Comprehensive Working Bibliography (1977).

The evolution of U.S.-Venezuelan relations is examined in Judith Ewell, Venezuela and the United States: From Monroe’s Hemisphere to Petroleum’s Empire (1996). Donna Keyse Rudolph and G.A. Rudolph, Historical Dictionary of Venezuela, 2nd ed., rev., enlarged, and updated (1996), provides succinct information on major events and persons. Interviews with Venezuela’s “father of democracy” are found in Robert J. Alexander, Venezuela’s Voice for Democracy: Conversations and Correspondence with Rómulo Betancourt (1990). José De Oviedo y Baños, The Conquest and Settlement of Venezuela (1987; originally published in Spanish, 1723), details events from the time of Columbus to 1600. Francisco González Guinán, Historia contemporánea de Venezuela, 15 vol. (1909–25, reissued 1954), contains an encyclopaedic treatment of the 19th century.

Specific events and periods are analyzed in Steve Ellner, Organized Labor in Venezuela, 1958–1991: Behavior and Concerns in a Democratic Setting (1993); Benjamín A. Frankel, Venezuela y los Estados Unidos, 1810–1888 (1977), a fine account of 19th-century diplomatic relations; Robert L. Gilmore, Caudillism and Militarism in Venezuela, 1810–1910 (1964), on the evolution from military personalism to military professionalism; Mariano Picón-Salas et al., Venezuela independiente, 1810–1960 (1962), which includes essays on the evolution of society, culture, the economy, and the political system; Winfield J. Burggraaff, The Venezuelan Armed Forces in Politics, 1935–1959 (1972), an account of the 20th-century role of the military; and Jacqueline Anne Braveboy-Wagner, The Venezuela-Guyana Border Dispute: Britain’s Colonial Legacy in Latin America (1984), which elaborates the arguments in the dispute. The impact of coffee on one state is analyzed in Doug Yarrington, A Coffee Frontier: Land, Society, and Politics in Duaca, Venezuela, 1830–1936 (1997).

Most sources list Lake Maracaibo as the largest (that is, most extensive in terms of surface area) lake in South America, but, according to some texts (notably Bolivian ones), Lake Titicaca holds that distinction. At the root of this disagreement is a debate about whether a tidal body of water may be classified as a lake. Some scholars argue that without exception a lake cannot be tidal (that is, linked at sea level to the ocean). Others focus on the amount of salinity involved, noting that a tide is a transmission of energy via a wave and thus may or may not have a large effect on the salinity of the water at its inland end. For example, some lakes lie many miles upstream along a river that has a tidal connection to the sea yet are themselves fully freshwater bodies. The level of salinity is largely dependent on how much water is moving down the river in the opposite direction. Even when there is agreement on this distinction, scholars differ as to the level of salinity that must be present to tip the balance in terms of categorizing a body of water as a lake.

Claims for Titicaca’s preeminence are generally based on one or more of the following points: (1) Titicaca is a freshwater lake, whereas Maracaibo is more saline, especially in its northern portion; (2) Titicaca is undeniably an inland body of water, while Maracaibo is a coastal lake; and (3) despite Titicaca’s smaller surface area, it is considerably deeper and contains a much greater volume of water.

Regarding the first point, Britannica historically has classified any large inland body of standing or slowly moving water as a lake, regardless of whether its waters are fresh, brackish, or salty (in line with the longtime scientific consensus). Thus, the saline Caspian Sea in Central Asia is considered a lake.

The question of whether Maracaibo is an inland body of water is more contentious. Maracaibo, located on the Venezuelan coast, may be described as an inlet or lagoon of the Caribbean Sea. According to Robert G. Wetzel’s Limnology (1983), such an inlet is classified as a lake if the mouth of the inlet is crossed by a type of bar, which may or may not be submerged. A natural, underwater bar exists at the mouth of Lake Maracaibo, and a channel was dredged there in the early and mid-20th century to permit the transit of large vessels such as oil tankers.

On average Lake Titicaca is much deeper than Maracaibo and has a considerably larger volume of water. The maximum depth of Maracaibo is commonly estimated at 165 feet (50 metres), but some sources give 115 feet (35 metres). In Lake Titicaca, depths of about 920 feet (280 metres) have been recorded off Isla Soto, and the lake’s maximum depth may approach 1,000 feet (300 metres). Lake Titicaca’s volume has been variously estimated at 170 and 198 cubic miles (710 and 827 cubic km), while one estimate puts Maracaibo’s volume at 67 cubic miles (280 cubic km). On the basis of depth and volume, Titicaca could be called the largest body of water in South America; however, in lists of principal lakes, size rankings are usually based on surface area rather than volume. Venezuelan atlases and the Encyclopædia Britannica report that Maracaibo covers some 5,130 square miles (13,280 square km), but other estimates are from 5,023 to 5,538 square miles (13,010 to 14,344 square km). Calculations for Lake Titicaca’s area range between 3,100 and 3,259 square miles (8,030 and 8,440 square km), but many sources give 3,200 square miles (8,300 square km).

Ultimately, on one hand recognizing the scholarly debate over the definition of a lake while on the other using a single measuring stick—surface area—to determine size, Britannica has chosen to very specifically characterize Lake Maracaibo as the largest lake in South America with a sea-level interconnection to the ocean and Lake Titicaca as the largest without such a connection.

Works consulted:

Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Atlas censal de Bolivia (1982), p. 22, a publication of the Bolivian government.

Atlas universal y de Bolivia (1983?), p. 122.

Instituto Nacional de Estadística, “Acerca de Bolivia...,” http://www.ine.gov.bo/iwd0102.htm (accessed October 22, 1999), published by the Bolivian government.

Ministerio del Ambiente y de los Recursos Naturales Renovables, Atlas de Venezuela, 2nd ed. (1979), p. 199, a publication of the Venezuelan government.

María E. Alvarez del Real (ed.), Atlas de Venezuela (1983), pp. 59, 297.

Peter H. Gleick (ed.), Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World’s Fresh Water Resources (1993), gives comprehensive depth and volume figures, though one depth estimate is cited as 250 metres when 50 metres was intended.

V.I. Korzun et al. (eds.), World Water Balance and Water Resources of the Earth (1978; originally published in Russian, 1974), p. 36. This commonly cited text was published by the U.S.S.R. Committee for the International Hydrological Decade and translated into English by UNESCO.

Frits van der Leeden, Fred L. Troise, and David Keith Todd, The Water Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. (1990).

Frits van der Leeden (compiler and ed.), Water Resources of the World: Selected Statistics (1975), pp. 387, 417, 464, cites data from the Economic Commission for Latin America (CEPAL), the water resources commission of the Venezuelan government (COPLANARH), and the National Geographic Society.

Felix Monheim, Contribución a la climatología e hidrología de la Cuenca del Titicaca (1963; originally published in German, 1956).

Ismael Montes de Oca, Geografía y recursos naturales de Bolivia (1982).

Robert G. Wetzel, Limnology, 2nd ed. (1983).