Maracaibo meaning

West of the Maritime Andes low ranges (3500-5000 ft.) trend northwards from the end of the Sierra de Merida towards the coast on the east side of the Lake of Maracaibo, while the region on the west of that lake consists of lagoon-studded lowlands.

The surface of the llanos is almost a dead level, the general elevation 1 The name means " little Venice," and is a modification of the name of Venecia (Venice), originally bestowed by Alonzo de Ojeda in 1499 on an Indian village, composed of pile dwellings on the shores of the Gulf of Maracaibo, which was called by him the Gulf of Venecia.

Apart from these, the rivers of Venezuela are small and, except those of the Maracaibo basin, are rarely navigable.

of Caracas; and the Motatan, Chama, Escalante, Catatumbo, Apan and Palmar, which discharge into Lake Maracaibo.

of Maracaibo among a large number of lakes, lagoons and swamps; Valencia, near the city of that name, in the Maritime Andes, about 1350 ft.