For more than fifteen years, much of my research into the history of natural pearls has led me repeatedly to a small island off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. Cubagua, today a largely uninhabited island in the Caribbean Sea, was once the center of one of the earliest and most extraordinary chapters in the European exploitation of the Americas. Its pearl fisheries attracted adventurers, merchants, and the Spanish Crown, transforming a remote stretch of coastline into a thriving center of commerce and laying the foundations for an industry whose influence would extend far beyond the Caribbean.
When Christopher Columbus reached the coast of present-day Venezuela in 1498, near the Paria Peninsula, he encountered a world in which pearls were already known and valued by its Indigenous inhabitants. Within a few decades, the waters surrounding Cubagua had become the center of an extraordinary pearl boom. The settlement of Nueva Cádiz emerged on the island, and the wealth extracted from its oyster beds helped fuel Spain's growing ambitions in the New World.
For years I had studied this history through archaeological reports, contemporary chronicles, museum collections, and historical documents. Yet there is an enormous difference between reading about a place and finally standing on the shores where those events unfolded.
In October 2026, I had the opportunity to return to Margarita Island, the largest of the three islands that constitute the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, alongside Coche and Cubagua. I had visited Margarita several times some forty years earlier, but this journey was entirely different. This time, I was returning not simply as a visitor, but as someone who had spent a considerable part of his life trying to understand the history of the pearls that once made these waters famous.
The Archaeological Legacy of Nueva Cádiz
One of my first destinations was La Asunción, the historic capital of Nueva Esparta, where I visited the Museo de Nueva Cádiz. For anyone interested in the early colonial history of Venezuela, this small museum offers a remarkable window into the past.
Its exhibits include photographs documenting the archaeological investigations carried out during the 1950s by Venezuelan and American researchers, alongside artifacts recovered from the ruins of Nueva Cádiz. Architectural fragments, columns, carved stonework, Indigenous objects, shells, and pearls help reconstruct the story of a settlement that flourished briefly before disappearing from the economic landscape of the Spanish Empire.
Archaeological Excavations in the 1950's Nueva Cadiz - Cubagua
Having studied the archaeological expeditions for so many years, seeing these historical photographs displayed in the region where the discoveries were made was particularly meaningful to me. They were no longer simply illustrations in a research publication. They belonged to the very landscape I had come to explore.
Ruins of Nueva Cadiz Cubagua Island
Equally impressive was my visit to the Museo Marino de Margarita, on the Macanao Peninsula. I was astonished by the sheer scale of its collections, which include thousands of marine specimens, from mollusks and gastropods to an extraordinary variety of shells and other creatures inhabiting the surrounding waters.
Reconstruction of Nueva Cadiz (1521 to 1540s) Museo Marítimo de Margarita - Venezuela - 2026
Of particular interest was a large reconstruction of Nueva Cádiz as it appeared during the sixteenth century. Together with historical photographs, videos, fishing equipment, and explanations of traditional pearl extraction, the exhibition offers visitors an opportunity to imagine the daily life and maritime activities of the region five centuries ago.
Museo Marítimo de Margarita
Oyster Fishing Drag Net
Among the Fishermen of Margarita
Yet perhaps the most memorable part of my journey took place outside the museums, along the shores of Margarita, where fishing communities continue traditions that reach back through generations.
In one coastal settlement, I came upon some twenty or thirty rancherías, simple shelters constructed along the beach, many covered with palm leaves. Fishing boats lay anchored just offshore, while men and women went about their daily work.
I asked whether I might speak with the person in charge, and several fishermen pointed toward a gentleman they called Moncho.
Moncho welcomed me into his modest shelter, where coolers filled with freshly caught fish stood nearby. His wife sat beneath the palm roof with a notebook and pen, carefully recording the catches brought in by the other fishermen. Behind us, the fishing boats moved gently in the water.
Moncho, the Author and Women shucking Oysters
We talked at length about Cubagua, Nueva Cádiz, and the history of the Pearl Coast. Our conversation wandered from the ancient fisheries to Cumaná and the Manzanares River, whose freshwater supplies had been essential to the survival of the early settlement on Cubagua.
Moncho spoke about the traditions of his community, the daily rhythm of fishing, and the peaceful life that he and his family continued to enjoy. There was a quiet satisfaction in the way he described his surroundings, a genuine happiness that left a lasting impression on me.
These communities preserve a connection to the maritime world of their Guaiquerí ancestors, who inhabited the region long before the arrival of the Spaniards. Their history also carries painful memories of the colonial pearl fisheries, when Indigenous divers were forced into dangerous labor to satisfy Europe's growing appetite for pearls.
Standing there, surrounded by fishing boats, palm-covered shelters, and the Caribbean Sea, I found myself reflecting on how much history had passed through these waters, and how much of the region's traditional way of life remained recognizable.
Pearls from the Same Waters
Naturally, I could not resist asking whether anyone still occasionally found natural pearls.
Moncho directed me toward another ranchería, where I eventually met a fisherman who disappeared into his shelter and returned carrying a small container. Inside were several natural pearls, recently recovered from the surrounding waters.
For someone who has spent so many years studying pearls recovered from archaeological contexts, the experience was unexpectedly exciting. Here were pearls from the same general marine environment that had supplied the famous fisheries of Cubagua five centuries earlier, but these had been found by contemporary fishermen.
The following Wednesday marked the beginning of the local mussel-harvesting season, and I returned to the fishing settlement, where several women were busy opening shellfish and extracting the meat.
They worked with remarkable speed, chatting and laughing as they passed the shells across their tables. Children were nearby, participating in the activity, while the entire scene unfolded with an ease that spoke of long familiarity with the work.
When I asked whether they sometimes discovered pearls, the women smiled and explained that, yes, occasionally a pearl would appear among the shellfish.
Pinctada Shell with staged Pearls
They generously allowed me to remain and observe. Watching their hands move rapidly from shell to shell, I could not help imagining similar scenes along these shores centuries earlier, before the arrival of European ships transformed the pearl fisheries into an industry of enormous wealth and human suffering.
Pinctada Species Pearls and Shells
A Journey That Has Only Begun
Throughout my visit, Cubagua remained tantalizingly close, visible across the water. I also encountered the enormous accumulations of discarded shells that appear so frequently in the historical and archaeological literature, physical reminders of the extraordinary scale of shellfish harvesting that shaped this region.
Fortification of Pampatar - Margarita Island - 2026
My time on Margarita was far too short. There are still fishing communities to visit, archaeological sites to examine, and stories to hear from the people whose families have lived beside these waters for generations.
What made this journey particularly meaningful was not simply seeing the places I had researched for so long, but discovering that the relationship between the people, the sea, and its natural treasures continues today.
Pampatar Bay - Margarita Island - 2026
Five centuries after the great pearl boom of Cubagua, the fishermen of Margarita still venture into the Caribbean, the shellfish are still gathered, and occasionally, hidden within an oyster, a natural pearl still waits to be discovered.
I intend to return. There is much more to explore on Margarita and Cubagua, and I look forward to sharing those discoveries in future.
Peter Von Perle
