Cumanagoto people
group of Native Americans in South America
The Cumanagoto people are an Indigenous people of South America. Their language belongs to the Carib language family (Gildea 1998). Their territory extended originally over the ancient province of Nueva Andalucía (Cumaná and Barcelona) in eastern Venezuela, and their descendants live now in the north of Anzoátegui State, Venezuela.
The Cumanagotos lived in northeastern Venezuela at the time of the Spanish incursion. Since the 17th century they have not existed as a tribal or governmental unit. The Cumanagoto spoke a Cariban language, related to that of the Palenque. Some even say that the Palenque spoke a dialect of Cumanagoto (Mason 1950). They were agricultural, growing maize, manioc, sweet potatoes, and other native crops, as well as coca trees. They also gathered wild foods, and hunting was important. Domesticated animals were uncommon, except for turkeys.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3007508. The Library of Congress control number is sh85034772. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1998 and 1950.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cumanagoto people” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.