Cumaná

Cumaná, a town of the Venezuelan state of Bermudez, on the Manzanares, a mile above its mouth, where the port of Puerto Sucre lies on the Gulf of Cariaco. It has a national college, and some export trade, but is chiefly of interest as the oldest European town on the South American mainland, having been founded by Christopher Columbus's son Diego as New Toledo in 1521. It has suffered much from earthquakes, and was almost entirely destroyed in 1853. Population, 10,000.