TUCUPITA

city, capital of Delta Amacuro state, northeastern Venezuela. It lies along the Mnamo River, which is a main distributary of the Orinoco River. Founded about 1885, Tucupita served as a trading centre for the corn (maize), bananas, cacao, sugarcane, and tobacco grown in the hinterland. The city changed dramatically with the construction in the mid-1960s of a dam across the Mnamo River and the development of the petroleum industry west of the delta of the Orinoco River. A highway built across the top of the dam made the city accessible by road from Maturn, capital of neighbouring Monagas state. Pop. (1990 prelim.) 40,946.