Los Roques Archipelago

The Archipelago Los Roques is a Federal dependency that groups together a set of islands and keys in the Lesser Antilles belonging to Venezuela that have an estimated area of ​​40.61 km² and that are located between the Las Aves archipelago ( west) and the island of La Orchila (east) 176 km north of the city of Caracas and which represents one of the main tourist attractions of the country, is part of the Insular Territory Francisco de Miranda, is a national park and according to estimates in 2014 it had 3,100 fixed inhabitants (being the most populated federal agency). It has an approximate surface area of ​​221,120 hectares between maritime and terrestrial spaces, and is considered the largest marine park in Latin America (see Los Roques Archipelago National Park). In addition, the archipelago has the largest coral reef in the Caribbean Sea.

Los Roques has an atoll structure, rare in the Caribbean but typical of the Pacific Ocean, with two external barriers formed by coral communities, which protect the archipelago from strong currents; also, an internal lagoon of shallow waters and sandy bottoms. This park is constituted by 40.61 km² of surface, 1500 km² of coral reefs, 42 keys of coral origin that surround a central lagoon of 400 km² and shallow waters, 2 reef barriers (East of 24 km and South 32 km) and 300 sandbanks, islands and cays ranging from a considerable area, such as Cayo Grande of 15.1 km², to the Gran Roque that despite being the most populated has only 1.7 km² (170 hectares) of extension.