Caracas is the capital of Venezuela, the country whose northern coast faces the Caribbean Sea.
The city is officially called Santiago de León de Caracas and was founded by Spanish settlers in 1567. It lies in a mountain valley close to the Caribbean coast, separated from the sea by the Coastal Range and the Ávila massif, now protected within Waraira Repano National Park.
Caracas became the political center of Venezuela during the colonial period and retained that role after independence. It is the seat of the national government and one of the country’s principal centers of finance, education, and culture.
Maracaibo is another major Venezuelan city and the center of the oil-producing region around Lake Maracaibo, but it is not the national capital. Caracas’s mountain setting is one of its most recognizable geographic features.