Triste Gulf

The Gulf of Triste is a broad indentation on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, between the shores around Tucacas and Puerto Cabello. Islands, cays and coastal shallows break up its waters. The name appeared on European maps from the seventeenth century onward. On the western side of the gulf, Tucacas became a centre of trade in cacao between merchants from Curaçao and producers in the Venezuelan interior.