PARAGUAN PENINSULA

Spanish Pennsula De Paraguan, Falcn estado (state), northwestern Venezuela. It lies between the Caribbean Sea on the east and the Gulf of Venezuela on the west. Of low elevation, the peninsula has infertile soil and is sparsely populated, but the development of the petroleum industry, especially in the 1950s and '60s, gave Paraguan great economic importance. Pipelines lead from the oil fields at Lake Maracaibo to the large oil refineries at Amuay and Punta Cardn on the western side of the peninsula, where coastal indentations permit easy access by deep-draft tankers. In the 1960s Punto Fijo emerged as the peninsula's major urban centre. Coro, the state capital, lies at the base of the isthmus linking the peninsula to the mainland and is connected by highways with the oil-refining centres of the peninsula and with Venezuela's principal highland cities.