Maturin

Maturín stands in the plains of northeastern Venezuela near the Guarapiche River and its fertile valley. It began as San Judas Tadeo de Maturín, a Capuchin mission founded by Friar Lucas de Zaragoza in 1760 among the Indigenous peoples of the region. The settlement was part of a wider network of missions extending from the coastal mountains towards the Orinoco, as friars established mission settlements among the peoples of the eastern lowlands.

During the war for independence Maturín became a contested position in the eastern campaign. In March 1813 its defenders, including José Bernardo Bermúdez and Manuel Piar, repelled a royalist attack. Fighting continued in the region, and in 1814 refugees from Caracas reached the town while fleeing the forces of José Tomás Boves.