Venezuela
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Venezuela is divided into 23 states (estados), 1 Capital District (Distrito Capital) and the Federal Dependencies (Dependencias Federales) that consist of a large number of Venezuelan islands. Venezuela also claims the Guayana Esequiba territory which comprises six districts in the independent nation of Guyana.

Contents 1 Historical states 2 States 3 Special status areas 4 Naming 5 See also 6 External links

Historical states

Prior to the Federal War (1859–1863), Venezuela 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 (1994), and Vargas (1998).

States

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

Flag	Coat of Arms	States	Capital city	Population (2010 est.)	Area	Region	Location
		Amazonas	Puerto Ayacucho	142,200	180,145 km²	Guayana
		Anzoátegui	Barcelona	1,654,900	43,300 km²	Nor - Oriental
		Apure	San Fernando de Apure	499,900	76,500 km²	Llanos
		Aragua	Maracay	1,665,200	7,014 km²	Central
		Barinas	Barinas	756,600	35,200 km²	Andean
		Bolívar	Ciudad Bolívar	1,852,800	238,000 km²	Guayana
		Carabobo	Valencia	2,531,000	4,650 km²	Central
		Cojedes	San Carlos	340,300	14,800 km²	Central
		Delta Amacuro	Tucupita	159,700	40,200 km²	Guayana
		Falcón	Coro	961,500	24,800 km²	Central - Occidental
		Guárico	San Juan De Los Morros	745,100	64,986 km²	Llanos
		Lara	Barquisimeto	1,999,100	19,800 km²	Central - Occidental
		Mérida	Mérida	895,800	11,300 km²	Andean
		Miranda	Los Teques	3,010,900	7,950 km²	Capital
		Monagas	Maturín	999,300	28,930 km²	Nor - Oriental
		Nueva Esparta	La Asunción	508,900	1,150 km²	Insular
		Portuguesa	Guanare	919,400	15,200 km²	Central - Occidental
		Sucre	Cumaná	945,600	11,800 km²	Nor - Oriental
		Táchira	San Cristóbal	1,225,300	11,100 km²	Andean
		Trujillo	Trujillo	747,400	7,400 km²	Andean
		Vargas	La Güaira	337,900	1,496 km²	Capital
		Yaracuy	San Felipe	640,700	7,100 km²	Central - Occidental
		Zulia	Maracaibo	4,020,200	63,100 km²	Zulian

Special status areas

Flag	Coat of Arms	Area	Capital city	Population (2007 est.)	Area	Location
		Capital District	Caracas	2,085,500	433 km²
		Federal Dependencies	Los Roques	15,420	342 km²

Naming

Several states are named for historical figures:

• Anzoátegui for José Antonio Anzoátegui
• Bolívar for Simón Bolívar
• Falcón for Juan Crisóstomo Falcón
• Lara for Jacinto Lara
• Miranda for Francisco de Miranda
• Monagas for José Tadeo Monagas and José Gregorio Monagas
• Sucre for Antonio José de Sucre
• Vargas for José María Vargas

Several states are named for natural features:

• Amazonas is named for the Amazon River
• Apure is named for the Apure River
• Aragua for the Aragua River
• Barinas for the Barinas River
• 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 for the Portuguesa River
• Táchira for the Táchira River
• Yaracuy for the Yaracuy River

Other naming origins:

• Carabobo, named for an ethnic village
• Caracas, named for the Caracas indigenous group
• Mérida, for the capital city, Mérida, itself named for 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, for the capital city, Trujillo, itself named for Trujillo in Spain.
• Zulia's name stems from a vocal transliteration from the chibcha language, being the name they called an exotic blue-flowered plant known as "Edging Lobelia" (Lobelia erinus). Also for the Zulia River.

See also

• ISO 3166-2:VE

External links

• CityMayors feature