1. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela By Chris and Minos

2. General Capital: Caracas Population: 27 million (40 th ) National language: Spanish Area: 916,445km2 (33 rd ) 93% of all literate.

3. Cultures and People Indigenous peoples 92 percent are Roman Catholic. Many native Venezuelans still feel repressed by the ‘white’ Spanish, despite having independence The biggest Venezuelan festivals are: San Juan, and native celebrations.

4. History of the Economy Economy really began when: Venezuela = main oil exporter. 1908 to 1935. Only rich oligarchs & foreign oil firms benefited on oil. 1978, Economic crisis! 1992, Inflation, dept, and Corruption. 1999, Chavez promises to stabilize economy with socialist ideals.

5. Government Venezuela is a federal republic Has a president, vice-president, and a parliament (known as a National Assembly) Two political blocs: United Socialist Party, and social democratic A New Era Foreign relations: Close with Latin American countries (especially Cuba), shaky with US

6. Key Political Events 1830: Became an official autonomous nation 1830-1947: Unstably, a series of dictators overthrew one after another. 1947: Leftist gov’t came into power 1970’s: Made many relations with communist Russia 1992: Failed coup by Chavez (more info next slide) 1999: Chavez becomes president legally 2000, 2002: Riot over Chavez’s leftist policies 2005, 2006: Chavez named one of Time’s 100 most influential people

7. Hugo Chavez Current President (from 1998) Socialist Critic of globalization and American foreign policy Philosophy: Bolivarism Foreign policy: Strong Latin American ties Economic policy: Socialism

8. SOURCES We didn’t copy & paste we just read from these websites: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/venezuela www.geographia.com/venezuela/history.htm www.mapsofworld.com/south.../history/v enezuela.html