Alonso de Hojeda and map

Lake Maracaibo is a large brackish tidal bay in Venezuela and an "inlet of the Caribbean Sea". It is connected to the Gulf of Venezuela by Tablazo Strait, which is 5.5 kilometres wide at the northern .. Read more »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. The first European to discover the bay was Alonso de Ojeda on August 24, 1499, on a voyage with Amerigo Vespucci.

Country:	Venezuela
Type:	Postage stamps
Series:	Discovery of Lake Maracaibo, 450th Anniv.
Nominal:	5 c
Year:	1950
Material:	Granite
Size:	27 x 42 mm
Perforation:	comb 11¾
Mintage:	500,000