Cúcuta, officially San José de Cúcuta is a Colombian municipality, capital of the department of Norte de Santander and nucleus of the Metropolitan Area of Cúcuta. The city is located in the homonymous valley, at the foot of the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, on the border with Venezuela. It comprises an area of approximately 1119 km², with an urban area of 64 km² and a rural area of 1055 km².
The municipality houses 777,106 inhabitants, which makes it the most populous municipality in the department and the sixth most populous municipality in the country. Similarly, its metropolitan area has an approximate population of 1,046,347.
The city was founded as a parish on June 17, 1733, by Juana Rangel de Cuéllar, resident of Pamplona in the area under the name of San José de Guasimales, as part of an initiative of the white and mestizo locals to separate themselves from the Indian Village of Cúcuta. Later, the name was changed to Cúcuta, castellanization of «Kuku-ta», in honor of the indigenous people of the region.