That August day, Columbus sighted three islands, two of them small, low and arid (the present Coche and Cubagua).

On November 8, 1777, the Royal Decree of Charles III of Spain recognized that the group of Spanish islands near the southeast of the Caribbean Sea would come under the jurisdiction of the Captaincy General of Venezuela.

On August 22, 1871, Venezuelan President Antonio Guzmán Blanco decided to group all the Venezuelan islands, except Coche, Cubagua, Margarita and Isla de Aves, as the Federal Territory of Columbus, which would be controlled by a governor appointed by the President of the Republic.

The United Kingdom wanted the Isla de Patos, but on February 26, 1942, it was resolved by the delimitation of the soil and subsoil of the Gulf of Paria.

Nueva Esparta and the federal dependencies are one of the favorite places for Venezuelans and foreigners to spend their vacations.