Patos Island (Venezuela)


Patos Island is a small uninhabited island in the northwestern Gulf of Paria. The island is a part of the Dependencias Federales of Venezuela.

Geography

Patos Island is located about northeast of Caracas in the Golfo de Paria. The coordinates are. It lies in the Boca Grande strait of the Bocas del Dragón, approximately off the Paria Peninsula of mainland Venezuela and about west-south-west of Chacachacare, which is part of Trinidad and Tobago.
The uninhabited island has an area of only with a length of and wide with the highest point reaching about.

History

Patos Island was part of the former British colony Trinidad and Tobago.
On 26 February 1942 the island became part of Venezuela in exchange for Soldado Rock to Trinidad and Tobago and was put under the administration of the Ministerio del Interior y de Justicia as part of the Dependencias Federales.
On 9 August 1972 the island, together with the other islands of the Dependencias Federales, were declared a national park with the park being established on 18 August.