But in 1879, Monagas was annexed to the and, from 1891 to 1898, it belonged to the .

In 1904, Maturín became the capital of the Monagas district of Bermúdez State, whose capital was Cumaná. For a long time, Monagas was an extremely poor state. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the people of the plains and swamps north of the Orinoco, under the rule of the Caribs, made alliances with the French and Dutch as a policy of tenacious resistance against Spanish domination. On ancient maps these lands are called Caribana, kingdom of the