page_title: Federal Dependencies of Venezuela
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Federal Dependencies of Venezuela / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial view of the Gran Roque village, the largest settlement of the Los Roques archipelago (Venezuela). On the upper left corner of the image, El Faro Holandés (The Dutch Lighthouse, built between 1870 and 1880) is visible. Français&#160;: Vue aérienne du village de Gran Roque, principale agglomération de l'archipel de Los Roques, au Venezuela. Dans le coin en haut à gauche, on distingue El Faro Holandés («&#160;Le phare hollandais&#160;», bâti entre 1870 et 1880).
context_page_description: The Federal Dependencies of Venezuela encompass most of Venezuela's offshore islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Venezuela, excluding those islands that form the State of Nueva Esparta. These islands, with a total area of 342 square kilometres, are sparsely populated – according to the preliminary results of the 2011 Census only 2,155 people live there permanently, with another hundred from Margarita Island who live there seasonally to engage in fishing. Local government is officially under the authority of the mayor of Caracas, although de facto power is often held in the heads of the sparse and somewhat isolated communities that decorate the territories.
  In 2015, a diplomatic problem occurred between Venezuela and Colombia due to the incursion of Colombian and US frigates.
context_section_description: The federal dependencies are composed of 600 islands and smaller formations; many have an area of less than 10,000 square metres and are essentially simple rocks. The largest island, La Tortuga, accounts for almost half of the territory of the federal dependencies.
  Dependencias Federales stretch for 900 km (560 mi) along the coast from Archipiélago Los Monjes in the west at the Gulf of Venezuela to Isla de Patos southeast of Isla Margarita at the Gulf of Paria in the east.
caption: Los Roques Archipelago
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