Cumana

Statue at the city entrance

View of the cathedral and city

Cumana has the honor of being the first city in the American continent founded by the Spanish, back in 1521, under the comand of Gonzalo de Ocampo. Its name, in the language of the Cumanagoto native tribe, means the union between the see and the river.

Even if the city was founded officially in 1521, since 1515 the Franciscan missionaries were present since 1521.

Monument to the Indian and missionary

Cumana is located at the end of the river Manzanares. It is a flat city, dominated by a hill with a castle, where you have a beautiful view of the whole city and the gulf of Cariaco, that separates the peninsula of Araya from the rest of the country.

Statue of Sucre, one of Venezuela's major hero

Park by the river Manzanares

Cumana is where one of the most important Venezuelans, Antonio Jose de Sucre, was born. Sucre won the battle of Ayacucho, which consolidated the independence of the South America from Spain. Sucre was also the first president of Bolivia.

Museum Antonio José de Sucre

The museum

Internal patio

In this museum, you can appreciate many paintings and objects of the 19th century, that will remind this great independence hero.

Peace signature after Ayacucho

A museum guide

Cumana's Churches

Santa Inés

Santa Ines front

One of the most beautiful churches in Cumana, is Santa Ines, just below the hill where the castle is located. By its side you find the remaining parts of a house destroyed by an earthquake in 1929. Another important church is the cathedral, located downtown, by the Bolivar Square.

Old house

Cathedral

Castle

One of Cumana's most important attraction is, with no doubt, the castle from where you can see the whole city and the gulf of Cariaco. Today the castle is far from the sea, which doesn't seem very logical, given that castles were built to protect the city from enemy ships. The explanation is that the sea has retreated, and what is today the newest part of the city, used to be under the sea, in the past centuries.

More pictures of the castle