I already visited Cumaná and enjoyed it weeks ago.
However, when I was reading a travel book during last weekend, I realized that I missed many important parts of Cumaná. Bored with surfing internet, I decided a make-up trip to Cumaná today.
【About Cumaná】
Cumana, nicknamed "first-born of the Continent", was the first Spanish settlement on the continent of South America. It endured a turbulent first century of existence and was established by Franciscan friars [Roman Catholic Church. a member of a religious order, esp. the mendicant orders of Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, and Augustinians.] in 1515. After destruction through indigenous attacks, Cumana was re-established by Gonzalo de Ocampo in 1521. However, faced with continual assaults by Cumanagoto Indians, the fledgling city would fall several times until, in 1569, Diego Fernandez de Serpa established the city that survives today [Insight Guides Venezuela, ISBN 981-234-953-7].
Fortifications have been of primary importance in the history of Cumana. First they protected against attacking Caribe and Cumanagoto Indians, and subsequently against assaults by English, Dutch, and French pirates and slave traders[Insight Guides Venezuela, ISBN 981-234-953-7].
Here are pictures I took from this trip.
【Castillo de San Antonio de la Eminencia】
Castle of San Antonio de la Eminencia is overlooking the city and coatal waters from Cumaná 's highest point. The first fort on this site was erected in 1660. An earthquake in 1684 destroyed it and most of Cumaná, but by 1686 a new fort had been built. In 1853, another earthquake left the fort in ruins. General Castro had it rebuilt in the early 1990s, but once again nature prevailed and, in 1929, yet another earthquake, this time joined by a tidal wave, left the fort in the ruins. It has since been restored [Insight Guides Venezuela, ISBN 981-234-953-7].
【Iglesia (or church) de Santa Ines】
First constructed in 1637, this church, like most of Cumana, was destroyed and rebuilt five times between 1637 and 1927.
【Museums】
【Calles or Streets】
The old town of Cumaná has been well preserved and is one of the major visting spots on this one-day out.
【Conquistadors】
Conquistador means a conqueror, especially one of the 16th-century Spanish soldiers who defeated the Indian civilizations of Mexico, Central America, or Peru.
Sucre was born in a family of Cumaná which was then part of the Spanish Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada and the Captaincy-General of Venezuela, son of Vicente de Sucre y García de Urbaneja and wife María Manuela de Alcalá y Sánchez Ramírez de Arellano. There is some dispute as to his ancestry. According to one noted Venezuelan genealogist, Sucre is a descendant of Charles de Succre, a member of a French-Flemish family appointed by the king of Spain to be governor of Cuba. According to the German "Lexikon des Judentums", however, Sucre is a descendant of a Bavarian Jewish family named "Zucker".
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