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Lake Maracaibo ((スペイン語:Lago de Maracaibo)) is a large brackish bay〔(DEME: Lake Maracaibo )〕〔''The Compass of Sigma Gamma Epsilon'' (1939:184)〕〔Ralph Alexander Liddle (1946:24) ''The Geology of Venezuela and Trinidad''〕〔Kenneth Knight Landes (1951:535) ''Petroleum Geology''〕 in Venezuela. It is connected to the Gulf of Venezuela by Tablazo Strait which is wide at the northern end and fed by numerous rivers, the largest being the Catatumbo. It is sometimes considered a lake rather than a bay or lagoon, and at it would be the largest lake in South America. The geological record shows that it has been a true lake in the past, and as such is one of the oldest lakes on Earth at 20–36 million years old.〔(Lake Profile: Maracaibo ). ''LakeNet.''〕〔 (Maracaibo, Lake ). ''The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.''〕 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.〔 It also holds almost a quarter of Venezuela's population.〔http://www.worldlakes.org/lakedetails.asp?lakeid=9069〕 A dredged channel gives oceangoing vessels access to the bay. The long General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge which was completed in 1962 spanning 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. == History == The first known settlements on the bay were those of the Guajiros, who still are present in large numbers, but were re-settled in the western boundary area with Colombia. The first European to discover the bay was Alonso de Ojeda on August 24, 1499, on a voyage with Amerigo Vespucci (the same one for which the American continents were named). Legend has it that upon entering the lake, Ojeda's expedition found groups of indigenous huts, built over stilts on water (Spanish: ''palafitos''), and interconnected by boardwalks on stilts, with each other and with the lake shore. The stilt houses reminded Vespucci of the city of Venice, ((イタリア語:Venezia)), so he named the region "''Venezuela''," meaning "little Venice" in Italian. The word has the same meaning in Spanish, where the suffix ''-uela'' is used as a diminutive term (e.g., ''plaza / plazuela'', ''cazo / cazuela''); thus, the term's original sense would have been that of a "little Venice". (Examples of palafitos can still be found in "Santa Rosa", an area in the city of Maracaibo.) Although the Vespucci story remains the most popular and accepted version of the origin of the country's name, a different reason for the name comes up in the account of Martín Fernández de Enciso, a member of the Vespucci and Ojeda crew. In his work ''Summa de Geografía'', he states that they found an indigenous population who called themselves the "''Veneciuela''," which suggests that the name "Venezuela" may have evolved from the native word. The port town of Maracaibo was founded in 1529 on the western side. In July 1821, the bay was the site of the Battle of Lake Maracaibo, an important battle in the Venezuelan War of Independence. Oil production began in the surrounding basin in 1914, with wells drilled by Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij, a predecessor of Royal Dutch Shell. On April 6, 1964, at 11:45 pm, the supertanker ''Esso Maracaibo'', loaded with of crude oil, suffered a major electrical failure, so that control of steering was lost. Thus it collided with pier #31 of the two-year-old General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge across the mouth of the lake. A section of the bridge roadway fell into the water with a portion coming to rest across the tanker just a few feet from the ship's superstructure. No oil spill occurred, and there were no deaths or serious injuries on the tanker. However seven motorists and passengers in vehicles crossing the bridge were killed. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lake Maracaibo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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