The Venezuelan territory, in the northwestern part of the country, consists of mountainous area chains belonging to the cordillera of the Andes, such as the Sierra de Perijá along the border between Colombia and Venezuela and the Cordillera de Mérida, that with the Pico de Bolivar (5,007 metres) reaches the highest point in the country. The two chains are separated by a depression where is the Lake Maracaibo (13,210 sq km). The central part of the country is characterized by large grassy floodplains called llanos, which account for around one third of the territory and come up to the Orinoco River. South of Orinoco river instead extends a wide area of plateaus, which form part of the Guyana massif, among which the most notable is the plateau of Gran Sabana, high on average about 1,000 meters, and features characterized by tabular mountains calls Tepuis. In this area there are some impressive waterfalls, such as Salto Kukenam (610 metres) and Salto Angel (979 metres) which is the highest waterfall in the world. The plateau reaches major altitudes with the Pico de Neblina (3,014 meters), near the borders with Brazil and with Mount Roraima (2,810 metres), on the border with Guyana. The main river in the country is the Orinoco 2,410 km long and with a basin of 948,000 sq km, is one of the longest rivers of the South America, it has its sources at the border with Brazil, then across the country, and it flows with a broad delta, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coasts of the island of Trinidad.

The economy of Venezuela is based mainly on the most important source of wealth, oil. The mineral and subsoil resources are the wealth of Venezuela, in addition to oil, which the country is one of the leading world producers, the country has important reserves of natural gas, iron, bauxite, zinc, copper, lead, gold, silver, diamonds, asbestos, magnesite, coal, tin, titanium, phosphate, manganese and salt. Considerable the hydroelectric potential after the construction of the Guri central, along the Caroní River, the second hydroelectric power station of the world, after the Itaipú central (between Brazil and Paraguay). The Venezuelan industry can boast textile, sugar, cement, glass steel, petrochemical and machining. Agriculture produces coffee, sugar cane, cocoa, corn, tobacco, rice, potatoes, cotton, cassava, fruits and bananas. Important are also fishing (pearls, tuna, shrimp and sardines), farming (mainly cattle), and forest reserves.