Cumanagoto

The Cumanagoto inhabited the country west of Cumaná, between the northeastern Venezuelan coast and the plains inland. Their communities resisted repeated Spanish attempts to establish settlements and control routes through the region. The colonial province and several early towns took their names from the people whom the Spaniards sought to subdue.

In 1570 Indigenous fighters killed Governor Diego Fernández de Serpa during his advance inland. Later expeditions founded forts and settlements, but some were soon abandoned. From 1633 Juan de Orpín attempted to establish himself in the region despite continued resistance, and founded Nueva Barcelona in 1638. The town became a lasting Spanish centre in a district whose conquest had taken generations, and whose Indigenous inhabitants had long defended their own lands against the invaders.

The later city of Barcelona lies here.