page_title: Lake Maracaibo
hierarchical_section_title: Lake Maracaibo
caption_attribution_description: English: Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, looking southward, taken from the Space Shuttle Challenger (Spacelab-2 mission) at an altitude of 169 nautical miles (313 km), for further details see source link below. Deutsch: Maracaibosee, Venezuela, Blick nach Süden, aufgenommen vom Space Shuttle Challenger (Spacelab-2-Mission) aus in einer Höhe von 169 Seemeilen (313 km), für weitere Details siehe Quellenlink unten.
context_page_description: Lake Maracaibo is a large brackish tidal bay in Venezuela and an "inlet of the Caribbean Sea". It is sometimes considered a lake rather than a bay or lagoon. It is connected to the Gulf of Venezuela by Tablazo Strait, which is 5.5 kilometres wide at the northern end. It is fed by numerous rivers, the largest being the Catatumbo. At 13,210 square kilometres it was once the largest lake in South America; the geological record shows that it was a true lake in the past, and as such is one of the oldest lakes on Earth at 20–36 million years old.
  Lake Maracaibo acts as a major shipping route to the ports of Maracaibo and Cabimas. The surrounding Maracaibo Basin contains large reserves of crude oil, making the lake a major profit center for Venezuela. The basin also holds almost a quarter of Venezuela's population. A dredged channel gives oceangoing vessels access to the bay. The 8.7-kilometre long General En Jefe Rafael Urdaneta Bridge, which was completed in 1962 and spans the bay's outlet, is one of the longest bridges in the world.
  The weather phenomenon known as the Catatumbo lightning at Lake Maracaibo regularly produces more lightning than any other place on the planet.
context_section_description: Lake Maracaibo (Spanish: Lago de Maracaibo, [ˈlaɣo ðe maɾaˈkajβo] (listen)) is a large brackish tidal bay (or tidal estuary) in Venezuela and an "inlet of the Caribbean Sea".  It is sometimes considered a lake rather than a bay or lagoon. It is connected to the Gulf of Venezuela by Tablazo Strait, which is 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) wide at the northern end. It is fed by numerous rivers, the largest being the Catatumbo. At 13,210 square kilometres (5,100 sq mi) it was once the largest lake in South America; the geological record shows that it was a true lake in the past, and as such is one of the oldest lakes on Earth at 20–36 million years old.
  Lake Maracaibo acts as a major shipping route to the ports of Maracaibo and Cabimas. The surrounding Maracaibo Basin contains large reserves of crude oil, making the lake a major profit center for Venezuela. The basin also holds almost a quarter of Venezuela's population. A dredged channel gives oceangoing vessels access to the bay. The 8.7-kilometre (5.4 mi) long General En Jefe Rafael Urdaneta Bridge, which was completed in 1962 and spans the bay's outlet, is one of the longest bridges in the world.
  The weather phenomenon known as the Catatumbo lightning at Lake Maracaibo regularly produces more lightning than any other place on the planet. 
  The villages of Barranquitas and San Luis, on the lake's western shore, have the highest concentration of Huntington's disease sufferers in the world.
caption: Lake Maracaibo from space (STS-51-I) in August 1985. North is at the bottom left of the image.
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