Cartagena de Indias
(Cartagena of Indies or Cartagena of West
Indies, in Spanish) ( , ),
is a city on the northern coast of Colombia
and capital
of Bolívar
Department. The metropolitan area has a population of
1,240,000, and the city proper 1,090,000 (2005 census). It is the
fifth largest urban area in Colombia.
Today the
city is a centre of economic activity in the Caribbean
region and a popular tourist
destination.
Cartagena's colonial walled city and fortress were designated a
UNESCO World Heritage
Site in 1984.
History
Precolombian era: 7000 BC - 1500 AD
The Caribbean region, particularly in the area from the
Sinú River delta to the Cartagena de Indias
bay, appears to be the first documented human community in today's
Colombia: the
Puerto Hormiga
Culture.
Until the
Spanish colonization
many cultures derived from the
Karib,
Malibu and
Arawak
language families lived along the
Caribbean Colombian coast.
In the late pre-Columbian era, the Sierra Nevada de
Santa Marta
, was home to the Tayrona
people, closely related with the Chibcha
family language.
Archaeologists estimate that around 7000 BC,
the settlement of the formative Puerto Hormiga Culture, located
near the limits between the departments of Bolívar and Sucre
was
established. In this area archaeologists have found the most
ancient ceramic objects in the Americas, dating from around 4000
BC. The primary reason for the proliferation of primitive societies
in this area is the relative mildness of climate and the abundance
of wildlife which through continuous hunting allowed the
inhabitants a comfortable life.
In today's
villages of Maria La
Baja
, Sincerín, El Viso
and Mahates
and Rotinet, there have also been discoveries of the
remains of culturally organized societies through the excavation of
maloka type buildings, which are directly
related to the early Puerto Hormiga settlements.
This is how a woman from the Karib
Culture may have dressed
Archaeological investigations date the decline of the Puerto
Hormiga culture and its related settlements to around 3000 BC. The
rise of a much more developed culture, the Monsú, who lived at the
end of the Dique Canal, near today's Cartagena neighborhoods
Pasacaballos and Ciénaga Honda at the northernmost part of Barú
Island. The Monsú culture inherited the Puerto Hormiga culture´s
use of the art of pottery but also developed a mixed economy of
agriculture and basic manufacture. the Monsú people's diet was
based mostly on seashells, sweet- and salt-water fish.
The development of the Sinú society in today's department of
Cordoba and Sucre, eclipsed these first developments around the
Cartagena Bay area. Around 1500 the area was inhabited by different
tribes of the Karib language family, more precisely the Mocanae
sub-family. These were:
- In the downtown island: Kalamarí Tribe
- In the Tierrabomba island: Carex
Tribe
- In the
Barú
island, then
peninsula: Bahaire Tribe
- In the eastern coast of the exterior bay: Cospique Tribe
- In the
suburban area of Turbaco
: Yurbaco
Tribe
Some subsidiary tribes of the Kalamari lived in today's
neighborhood of Pie de la Popa, and other subsidiaries from the
Cospique lived in the
Membrillal and
Pasacaballos areas. Among these,
according to the first chronicles the
Kalamari Tribe had preeminence.
These tribes, though physically and administratively separated,
shared common architecture, such as hut structures consisting of
circular rooms with tall roofs inside wooden palisades.
First sightings: 1500-1533
Since the
failed foundation of Antigua del
Darién in 1506 by Alonso de
Ojeda, and the subsequent failed city of San Sebastian de Urabá in 1517
by Diego de Nicuesa, the southern
Caribbean coast became a bit unattractive to colonizers, which
preferred the more known Hispaniola
and Cuba
.
Though, the
Casa de
Contratación gave permission to
Rodrigo de Bastidas, (1460 - 1527), to
again, conduct an expedition as
adelantado to this areas.
Bastidas, explored the
coast and discovered the Magdalena River
delta in his first journey from Guajira to the south in 1527, trip that ended in the
Urabá gulf, seat of the failed first
settlements. De Nicuesa and De Ojeda noted the existence
of a big bay on the way from Santo Domingo
to Urabá and Panama isthmus, encouraging De Bastidas to
investigate.
Colonial era: 1533-1717
Cartagena
de Indias was founded on 1 June 1533 by Spanish commander Pedro de Heredia, in the former seat of the
indigenous Caribbean Calamarí
village. The town was named after Cartagena,
Spain
, where most of Heredia's sailors were
from.
Initially, life in the city was bucolic, with fewer than 2000
inhabitants and only one church. A few months after the disaster of
the invasion of Cote (see below), a fire destroyed the city and
forced the creation of a Firefighting Squad, the first in the
Americas.
The dramatically increasing fame and wealth of the prosperous city
turned it an attractive plunder site for pirates and
corsairs (French privateers, licensed by their
king). Just 30 years after its founding, the city was pillaged by
the French nobleman
Jean-François Roberval. The city
then set about strengthening its defences and surrounding itself
with walled compounds and castles.
Martin
Cote, a
Basque from
Biscay, attacked years later.
Sunset over Cartagena Harbor as seen
from La Popa
Many pirates intended the same on Cartagena who was more and more
notorious in the thieves' guilds in Europe:
- Sir John Hawkins (England): Tried
to trick Gov. Martín de las
Alas in 1568 to open (against the Spanish Law) a foreign fair
in the city to sell its goods for then ravaging the port. The
Governor declined and Hawkins tried to siege but failed.
- Sir Francis Drake (England):
Nephew of Hawkins, the famed pirate came with a strong fleet and
quickly took the city. The Governor circa 1574 Pedro Fernández de Busto and
the Archbishop fled to the neighboring town of Turbaco and from
there negotiated the costly ransom for the city: 107,000 Spanish Eight Reales of the time
(Around 200 mill. of today's USD), in any case, Drake destroyed 1/4
of the city, the developing Palace of the Township and the recently
finished cathedral. After this disaster Spain poured millions every
year to the city for its protection, beginning with Gov. Francisco de Murga's planning of the
walls and forts; this practice was called "Situado". The magnitude of this subsidy is shown by
comparison: between 1751 and 1810, the city received the sum of
20,912,677 Spanish reales, the equivalent of some 2 trillion
dollars today.
- Sir [[Bernard Desjean, Baron de Pointis], Jean du Casse 1697. Raid on Cartagena The city
recovered quickly from the horrible takeover by Drake and kept
growing. The port, by then the seat of the Inquisition in the Caribbean (with
Lima's and Mexico's the only 3 seats in America), with many public
buildings and servants, its importance was confirmed. Desjean's
plans were far more than pillage: it was an all-out invasion. There
being no male sucessor to the Spanish Habsburg throne, King
Louis XIV desired that his
grandson Felipe V assert the right of
sucession. Cartagena de Indias could help significantly.
The political vision behind this invasion was shadowed by the
governor of
Saint-Domingue (today's
Haiti)
Jean Baptiste Ducasse
who brought his soldiers just to steal, the original plan ending
with pirates and thieves again destroying the city. In any case,
the entry wasn't easy, because of the recently finished first stage
of walls and forts which slowed the victory and made it costly.
While Desjean only asked for 250,000
Spanish reales in ransom,
Jean du Casse stayed a few months later and
dishonored the Baron promise to respect the churches and holy
places and left them with nothing. The city again, lost
everything.
150 px
The prosperous city turned it into the plunder site for pirates and
thieves; the legions for the country’s defence soon became
insufficient, explaining why the kings of Spain decided to approve
the construction of castles, forts, and walls that surrounded the
city.
During the 17th century, the
Spanish
Crown hired the services of prominent European military
engineers to carry out the construction of the fortresses which are
today one of Cartagena's clearest signs of identity. Engineering
works took well over 208 years, and ended with some eleven
kilometres of walls surrounding the city, including the
Castillo San Felipe de
Barajas,
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castillo_San_Felipe_de_Barajas, named
in honor of Spain's King
Philip
IV. It was built during the Governorship of
Pedro Zapata de
Mendoza, Marquis of Barajas, and was constructed to repel land
attacks, equipped with sentry boxes, buildings for food and weapons
storage, underground tunnels.
A part of the XVI and XVII Century
Fortress of San Felipe de Barajas, Cartagena de Indias, now a town
of Colombia
Crates and crates of these Spanish
reales dwelled in Cartagena de Indias to be distributed throughout
the empire.
When the defenses were finished in 1756, the city was considered
impregnable. There is a legend concerning
Charles III of Spain. It is said to
have occurred while reviewing the Spanish defense expenditures
incurred in Havana and Cartagena de Indias, and in an effort to
reform the chronic spending of his predecessors.
While at Madrid
, Spain
, after
taking a look through his spyglass, he is said to have declared in
his famed ironical style, "This is outrageous! For this
price those castles should be seen from here!"
Cartagena was a major trading port, specially for precious metals.
Gold and
silver from the mines in New
Granada and Peru were
loaded in Cartagena on the galleons bound for Spain via Havana
.
Cartagena
was also a slave port;
Cartagena and Veracruz
(Mexico) were the only cities authorized to trade
with black people. The first slaves arrived with
Pedro de Heredia and they worked as cane
cutters to open roads, in the desecration of tombs of the
aboriginal population of
Sinú, and in the
construction of buildings and fortresses.
The agents of the
Portuguese company Cacheu distributed human 'cargos' from Cartagena
for mine exploitation in Venezuela
, the West
Indies
, the Nuevo Reino
de Granada and the Viceroyalty of Perú.
On 5 February 1610, the
Catholic
Monarchs established from Spain the
Inquisition Holy Office Court in
Cartagena de Indias by a Royal Decree issued by King
Philip II. The Inquisition Palace,
finished in 1770, is still there with its original features of
colonial times. When Cartagena declared its complete independence
from Spain on November 11, 1811, the inquisitors were urged to
leave the city. The Inquisition operated again after the Reconquest
in 1815, but it disappeared definitely when Spain surrendered six
years later before the patriotic troops led by
Simón Bolívar.
Viceregal era: 1717-1810
Although the eighteenth century began very badly for the city, soon
the downward tendency was curbed.
The pro-trade economic policies of the
new dynasty in Madrid bolstered
the economic performance of Cartagena de Indias and the
establishment of the Viceroyalty of the New
Granada in 1717 had the city as the greatest beneficiary of the
colony.
The reconstruction after the
Raid on Cartagena was initially
slow, but with the ending of the
War of the Spanish Succession
around 1711 and the competent administration of
D. Juan Diaz de
Torrezar Pimienta the walls were rebuilt, the forts reorganized
and restored and the public services and buildings reopened. By
1710, the city was fully recovered. At the same time, the slow but
steady reforms of the restricted trade policies in the
Spanish Empire encouraged the establishment
of new trade houses and private projects. During the reign of
Philip V of Spain the city had
many new public works starting or ending like the new fort of San
Fernando, the Hospital of the Obra Pía and the full paving of all
the streets and the opening of new roads.
Admiral Edward Vernon failed expedition to conquer Cartagena de
Indias in 1741
In March 1741 the city endured a large-scale attack by British and
American colonial troops led by admiral
Edward Vernon, (1684 - 1757), who arrived at
Cartagena with a massive fleet of 186 ships and 23,600 men,
including 12,000 infantry, against only 6 Spanish ships and less
than 6,000 men, in an action known as the
Battle of Cartagena de Indias.
The siege
was broken off due to the start of the tropical rainy season, after
weeks of intense fighting in which the British landing party was
successfully repelled by the Spanish and native forces led by
commander General Blas de Lezo y
Olavarrieta, (1689 - aftermaths of the Cartagena battle, 1741), a
Basque from the Gipuzkoa
lands , (Spain).
Heavy British casualties were compounded by diseases such as yellow
fever. This victory prolonged Spain's control of the Caribbean
waters, which helped secure its large
Empire until the 19th century.
Admiral Vernon was
accompanied by American Colonial troops, including George Washington brother, Lawrence Washington , who was so
impressed with Vernon he named his Mount Vernon
agriculturasl estate after him.
Bogota and Cartagena, the Athenas of America
After Vernon began what is called the 'Silver Age' of the city
(1750-1808). This time was of permanent expansion of the existing
buildings, massive inmigration from all the other cities of the
Viceroyalty, the increase of the
economic and political power of the city and a population spur that
hasn't been seen yet again.
For these events, the political power that
was already shifting from Bogotá
to the
coast, definitely did and the Viceroys decided to reside in the
city for good. The inhabitants of the city were the richest
of the colony, the
aristocracy formed
noble houses with their land estates, libraries and prints were
opened, and even the first café in New Granada was established.
These good times of steady progress and advance of the second half
of the eighteenth century came into an abrupt end in 1808, with the
general crisis of the Spanish Empire, embodied in the Mutiny of
Aranjuez, with all its consequences.
For more than 275 years, Cartagena was part of the Spanish Crown.
On November 11, 1811, Cartagena declared its independence.
Peninsular War, revolution, crisis, independence and the
nineteenth century: 1810-1900
If there is a word to describe the Cartagena in the nineteenth
century, is by far: decadence. Followed by instability, revolution,
impoverishment and depopulation. The chaos brought by the Mutiny of
Aranjuez to the Empire and the French invasion of the peninsula put
the stability of the Spanish ancient regime in shambles. Although
there were two years of grace for the city to prepare itself for
what was coming
Geography
Location
Cartagena faces the Caribbean Sea to the west. To the south is the
Cartagena Bay, which has two
entrances: Bocachica (Small Mouth) in the south, and Bocagrande
(Big Mouth) in the north. Cartagena is located at 10°25' North,
75°32' West (10.41667, -75.5333).
1
Climate
Cartagena de Indias averages around 90%
humidity, with rainy seasons typically in April-May
and October-November.
Graph of 1951 - 2008 air average
temperaturas
The climate tends to be hot and windy. The months of November to
February tend to be more windy months, giving an extra cooling to
the otherwise high tropical temperatures.
Cartagena
de Indias, is rarely touched by the hurricanes that decimate other Caribbean capitals
like Havana, Santo Domingo, Kingston
or San Juan
. Although the city is in the Caribbean, the
mainland is quite far south, isolating it from the wind currents
that feed the hurricanes.
The last hurricane to arrive the city was
the strange arrival Hurricane Santa
in 1988, and was debilitated after passing Phillipines
.
Demography
The City began with only 200 people in 1533 and during the 16th
century showed incredible growth, boosted principally for the gold
tombs of the
Sinú Culture.
After those tombs were fully ravaged, the population began to
scatter to the countryside and decided to establish as farmers,
thus the total numbers of the city decreased.
Though the silver age of the city was to come, trade began to boom
in the city and never stopped during the 1600s . The city reached
its peak of steady growth in 1698 before the arrival of the
Baron de Pointis.
The census made by the Mayor's office in 1712 reflects the damage
made by
Jean Baptiste Ducasse
and his
brigands: an important part of the
population of the city emigrated.
| Year |
Total
City |
| 1939 |
87,504 |
| 1952 |
123,439 |
| 1967 |
299,493 |
| 1976 |
312,520 |
| 1985 |
442,323 |
| 1993 |
654,302 |
| 1999 |
993,302 |
| 2005 |
1,012,234 |
| 2006 |
1,090,349 |
| 2011 |
1,230,443 Projected |
| 2021 |
2,029,212 Projected |
| 2033 |
2,849,202 Projected |
| Year |
Total
City |
| 1811 |
29,320 |
| 1821 |
5,392 |
| 1832 |
8,001 |
| 1842 |
4,221 |
| 1853 |
6,403 |
| 1867 |
8,320 |
| 1870 |
7,680 |
| 1882 |
13,994 |
| 1890 |
17,392 |
| 1900 |
21,220 |
| 1912 |
29,922 |
| 1918 |
34,203 |
| 1926 |
64,322 |
| Year |
Total
City |
| 1533 |
200 |
| 1564 |
2,400 |
| 1593 |
3,543 |
| 1612 |
5,302 |
| 1634 |
8,390 |
| 1643 |
12,302 |
| 1698 |
14,223 |
| 1701 |
10,230 |
| 1732 |
12,932 |
| 1762 |
14,203 |
| 1778 |
16,940 |
| 1792 |
19,380 |
| 1803 |
23,402 |
|
The eighteenth century though, with the
Bourbon dynasty and its pro-trade policies
benefited the city and made it prosper again. During this period of
time, the city passed the psychological barrier of 18.000
inhabitants, which was at the time the population cap of the
Viceroyalty of New
Granada.
Between the Censuses of the eighteenth century , the Census of
1778, was made by the governor at that time, D.
Juan de Torrezar Diaz
Pimienta - later
Viceroy of
New Granada-, by order from the
Marquis of Ensenada, Minister of Finance
in order to present his proyect of the
Catastro tax, a universal property tax that he
believed to be the way to liberate the economy while increasing
dramatically the Royal revenues.
Though the census was made in the most important cities of the
Spanish Empire, enemies of Ensenada
in the court made bad publicity of the plan with the King
Charles III also busy with the ongoing
war with Britain. This census of 1778, besides its economical
history importance, its also interesting because in order to
quantify the import of the hypothetical tax, the house had to be
described thoroughly, with its occupants, making this census an
important tool for restoration architects in Cartagena de Indias's
city centre still used today.
The original of the census is preserved in
the Museum of History of the city while a copy rests in the
Archivo de
Indias
in Seville
.
This condition of biggest city of the Viceroyalty standed until
1811, when the
Peninsular War then
converted in
Wars of
Independence and the Piñeres's Revolts, marked the beginning of
a dramatic decline of the virtual capital of New Granada in all
areas.
In 1815 the city was almost destroyed. No census information exists
of this time, only accounts of how the city literally was a
ghost town. Only around 500 impoverished
freed slaves dwelled the city whose palaces and public buildings
turned into ruins and many walls collapsed.
Recuperation, but slow, began after, but stopped with the general
economic and political instability of the country at that time.
Also, an isolationist economic policy from the andean elites doomed
to poverty the export potential areas.
Several famines and outbursts of
cholera in
the mid-1800s like in the rest of the world, decimated the city and
also threatened it, again, to disappear.
Since the 1880s the city began to recover from its crisis, and
continued a bit slower after the 1929 crash but still vigorous.
There was an entrance of Syrian, Palestinian, Lebanese, Chinese and
other imnmigrant communities in this period of time.
Between 1930 and 1970 the city showed great population growth at
rates higher than the national average and higher than the Bogota
town, which boomed predominantly because of internal displacement
and the hope of work opportunities in the verge of increasing
centralization. By 1970, the population spur stopped.
But stopped to increase even faster. The population growth has been
dramatic since the 1980s with a mixture of the
privatization of the port infrastructure, the
decentralization of tourism funds and also the sad fact that
proportionally to its population it's the city that has received
the most displaced people from the countryside with the escalation
of the civil war in the 1990s in the Andean regions and looking for
safety in the Caribbean capital.
Today the city shows a continuing tendency of the population
enlargement that began in the mid-80s. Birth rate and relatively
normal death rates feed the ongoing economic expansion.
Government
Administrative divisions
The Metropolitan area of Cartagena is formed by:
Northern area
In this
area is the Rafael Núñez International
Airport
, located in the neighborhood of Crespo, only ten
minutes drive from downtown or the old part of the city and fifteen
minutes away from the modern area. Zona Norte, the area
located immediately north the airport, is widely recognized as the
district with the greatest prospective long-term urban development.
It current contains the majestic Hotel Las Americas, the urban
development Barcelona de Indias, and several educational
institutions.
Colonial architecture in the old
town
The Castillo de San felipe de
Barajas
Walls and canons of the old city
Downtown
The Downtown area of Cartagena has a varied architecture, mainly of
a colonial style, but there are also republican and Italian style
buildings, such as the Cathedral's bell tower.
The official entrance to downtown is through Puerta del Reloj
(Clock Gate), which comes out onto
Plaza de los Coches
(Square of the Carriages). A few steps from there there is the
Plaza de la Aduana (Customs Square), next to the mayor's
office. Nearby is
San Pedro
Claver Square, and his namesake's church, as well as the Museum
of Modern Art.
Nearby is the Plaza de Bolívar (Bolívar's Square) and the Palace of
the
Inquisition to one side. Nearby is
the Plaza de Bolívar (Bolívar's Square) and the Palace of the
Inquisition to one side. Plaza de Bolivar (formerly known as Plaza
de Inquisicion) is more like a small park with a statue of Simon
Bolivar in the center. This plaza is surrounded by some of the
city's most elegant, balconied colonial buildings. Under shady
terraces outdoor cafes line the street.Not too far is the office of
Historical Archives which holds Cartagena's history. Next to the
archives is the Government Palace, the office building of the
Governor of the Department of Bolivar. Across from the palace is
the
Cathedral of Cartagena
which dates back to the 16th century.
There is another religious temple that you should take time to
admire: The restored
Santo Domingo
Church, in front of Plaza Santo Domingo (Santo Domingo Square).
The square was decorated with the sculpture
Mujer
Reclinada ("Reclining Woman"), a gift from the renowned
Colombian artist
Fernando
Botero.
A little bit further on is Augustinian Fathers Convent is the
University of Cartagena.
This university is a higher education center, opened to the public
in the late 19th century. The
Claustro de Santa Teresa
(Saint Theresa Cloister), which has been remodeled into a hotel,
operated by Charleston Hotels became an upscale Colombian hotel
chain. It has its own square, protected by the San Francisco
Bastion.
A twenty minute walk from the downtown is the Castillo de San
Felipe de Barajas. This is the greatest fortress ever to be built
by the Spaniards in their colonies. The original fort was
constructed between 1639 and 1657 on top of the San Lazaro hill. In
1762 and extensive enlargement was undertaken and the result is the
current powerful bastion. Numerous attempts were taken to storm the
fort, though it was never overtaken. An extensive system of tunnels
are connected underground to distribute provisions and facilitate
evacuation. The tunnels were all constructed in such as way as to
make it possible to hear the footsteps of an approaching enemy's
feet. Some of the tunnels are open today and available to view with
or without a guide.
San Diego
It was named after
San Diego Convent, nowadays the
Beaux Arts School Building. In front of it you will find Convent of
the Nuns of the Order of Saint Claire, now the beautiful Hotel
Santa Clara. In the surrounding area you will find Santo Toribio
Church, the last church built in the Walled City, and next to it,
Fernández de Madrid Square, in honor of Cartagena's hero José
Fernández de Madrid, whose statue can be seen here.
Inside the Old City, you have to go to Las Bóvedas (The Vaults), a
construction attached to the walls in the Santa Catalina Bastion.
From the top of this construction you will be able to view the
Caribbean Sea.
Getsemaní neighborhood
This is one of the most representative neighborhoods in Cartagena.
African people who were brought as slaves used to live here. Parque
Centenario (Centenary Park) is the most prominent place in this
area; built in 1911, it commemorates a century of independence.
Inside, often obscured, are found some interesting monuments,
including one dedicated to the military. Parque Centenario also
serves as a local police station and a mid-afternoon pulpit for
aspiring evangelists. Over the years, the park has acquired,
through various means, a sloth, two Gila Monsters and a few
monkeys. Cartagena's Convention Center, Third Order Church and San
Francisco Cloister are all located in Cartagena. Note that the
entirety of the Old City has the same architectural styles as the
area surrounded by The Walls.
Bocagrande
Bocagrande, (Big Mouth), is a much sought after area with many
hotels, shops, restaurants, nightclubs and art galleries. It is
located between
Cartagena Bay to the
east and the Caribbean Sea to the west, to include El Laguito (The
Little Lake) and Castillogrande (Big Castle), two renowned
neighborhoods. Its particular appeal are the beaches and nightlife,
namely around Avenida San Martín (Saint Martin Avenue), the
backbone of the area.
The beaches of Bocagrande, lying along the northern shore, are
muddy affairs. There are breakwaters about every two hundred yards
and the desired azure of the Caribbean is lost by the almost sea
level rise of the beach and the lack of proper waste disposal in
the city. It takes about seven minutes worth of a boat ride out to
sea to see the color that is desired of the Caribbean.
On the bay side of the peninsula of Boca Grande is a spectacular
seawalk. The centre of the bay holds a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Contestants of the Miss Colombia Pageant meet there to be seen
during that festival.
Originally constructed for foreign oil workers, the majority of the
land which makes up Bocagrande was established through land
reclamation. Bocagrande is now considered the city's most popular
area for tourists.
Cartagena walls
Further information
To know more about the city's government history see:
Touristic sites and attractions
Architecture
Cartagena boasted "modern" urban development in recent years, with
the construction of new skyscrapers. As of October 2007, there were
42 high-rises under construction, including an effort to create
Colombia's tallest, the
Torre de
la Escollera, expected to be completed in early 2007, planned
to stand at and having 58 floors. However, real development of the
project, assisted by the strong Caribbean winds, led to its
dismantling. A new, twenty-story building has been planned
instead.
Transportation
As the commercial and touristic hub of the country the city has
many transportation facilities, particularly in the seaport, air,
and fluvial areas.
Land transportation
The city is linked to the northern part of the Caribbean Region
through roads 90 and 90A, more commonly called Central Caribbean
Road.
This Road passes through Barranquilla
, Santa
Marta
and Riohacha
ending in Paraguachón, Venezuela and continues with Venezuelan numeration all the
way to Caracas
.
To the southeast the city has more entrances:
Road 25:
Going through Turbaco and Arjona
, and through
the Montes de María when a fork divides it continuing to Sincelejo
as National 25 and finally ending in Medellín
, and to the east to Valledupar
as number 80.
Road 25
A: Going also to Sincelejo
, but avoiding the mountains, finally connects with
25 in the forementioned city.
Air transportation
The
Rafael Núñez International
Airport, is the biggest and busiest airport in the region
and the second in passenger traffic in the country.
The code
of the airport is CTG, having flights to almost all the airports in
the country and many connections to Eldorado
International Airport
in Bogotá.
Excesive
operational costs and easier connections and better prices had been
shifting the gross international connection passengers to the
nearer Tocumen International Airport
in Panama
and
Queen Beatrix International
Airport
in Aruba
while also
more companies prefer to serve the Colombian market from Cartagena
de Indias, due to better geographical and atmospherical
conditions.
Because of this growing general air traffic shift fIt is thought
may be finished by 2020, the project favored by many in the
regionrom the interior to these coastal airports, studies had been
made to build a bigger new airport in the area of Barbacoas Bay in
the southern city limits. This airport, if approved, could be seen
as a challenge to Bogota Airport and it is plausible to think on
some people pressurizing for a standstill.
Railroad transportation
The city used to have a railroad station near today's "La Matuna"
neighborhood, but in the late 50s there was a general trend towards
dismounting the railroad system and replace it with paved roads.In
general, it looks as if Colombia lacks today a consistent railroad
infrastructure.
Sea transportation
As the busiest container port in the country, and third in grain
transportation, the city is well connected with the ports of the
Caribbean main, and the rest of the world. The city is served with
three open ports, and more than 40 private ports.
Sociedad Portuaria de Cartagena de
Indias main wharves, 2008.
The open ports of the City are:
Its important to note, that the first have acquired the assets of
the last to develop a new port in the external bay that intends to
duplicate the container capacity of the port in general by 2011 and
triplicate it in 2015.
Of the private ports of the city we can mention:
Fluvial transportation
Since the
seventeenth century the bay is connected to the Magdalena
River by the Dique Canal, built by the governor Pedro
Zapata de Mendoza. After Colombian independence the canal
was abandonned and growing
centralization left the city without
resources to fund the vital artery, the last important maintenance
works being made in the 50s during
Laureano Gomez's administration. Some
improvements were made by local authorities in the 1980s but they
were insuficcient because of technical impediments from central
government that said that the "maintenance" of the canal wasn't the
local administration
jurisdiction. From
then on, maintenance of the canal was more or less delayed though
it still works.
Many Caribbean and Cartagenian political leaders argue that this
state of affairs may change with a return to the pre-independence
funding and tax system schemes and the canal would be maintained
properly and even expanded, benefiting in general the national
economy.
Culture
Libraries
The city has many public and private libraries:
- The Universidad de
Cartagena José
Fernández Madrid Library: Started in 1821 when the university
opened as the "University of Magdalena and Ithsmus". Serves mainly
the students and faculty of this university but anyone can use its
services.
Divided in buildings across the city being assigned to the
Faculties it serves accordingly each area. The main building is in
C. de la Universidad 64 and the second biggest section is located
in Av. Jose Vicente Mogollón 2839.
- The Bartolomé Calvo
Library: Founded in 1843 and established in its current place in
1900 is one of the main libraries of the Caribbean Coast and the
biggest of the city. Its address is: C. de la Inquisición, 23.
- The History Academy of Cartagena de Indias Library: Opened in
1903, many of its books date from more than a century before from
donations of members and benefactors. Its entrance is more
restricted due to secure handling procedure reasons as ancient
books require, but it can be requested in the Academy office in
Plaza de Bolivar 112.
- The Technological University of Bolívar Library: Opened in 1985
Although small in general size, its sections on engineering and electronics are immense and its
demand is mostly on this area, being located in Camino de
Arroyohondo 1829.
- The American Hispanic Culture Library: Opened in 1999, it
already existed a smaller version without Spanish funding in the
Casa de España since the early 1940s but in 1999 was enlarged to
serve Latin America and the Caribbean in the old convent of Santo
Domingo.
It specializes on Hispanic Culture and History and is a continental
epicenter of seminaries on history and restoration of buildings,
the restoration of the convent and the enlargement of the library
was and still is a personal proyect of
Juan Carlos I of Spain who visits it
regularly. Its located in Plaza Santo Domingo 30, but its entrance
is in C. Gastelbondo 52.
A city library.
- Jorge Artel Library: Opened in 1997, serves the area of the
southwest districts of the city, it is mostly for children. It is
located in Camino del Socorro 222
- Balbino Carreazo Library: Located in Pasacaballos, a suburban
neighborhood of the southeastern part of the city, serves mostly
the suburbs of Pasacaballos, Ararca, Leticia del Dique and
Matunilla. It is located in Plaza de Pasacaballos 321
- District Libraries: Although small, this system goes grassroots
to neighborhoods circulating books, generally each district library
has around 5000 books.
Theatres and concert halls
Performing arts have always been a big part of Cartagena's cultural
life. The first carnivals and western theaters that served in New
Granada operated here, more precisely on today's Calle del Coliseo.
This was an activity patronized by the Viceroy
Manuel de Guirior and
Antonio Caballero y Góngora
who like their predecessors spent most of the time of their mandate
ruling in Cartagena de Indias.
- Universidad de Cartagena Aula Maxima: Although in existence
since the early 1800s, it is use mainly for debates began in the
late 1920s and it still has that use today.
- The city has registered more than 100 companies of theater,
traditional or contemporary dancing and its regularly visited by
ballet and opera
companies. Many of these local theater and traditional companies
have their own auditoriums. To name some of them: Reculá del Ovejo
House, Teatro Contemporaneo Cartagenero, Ekobios and Colegio del
Cuerpo.
Museums and galleries
- City Museum Palace of the Inquisition, opened in the
1970s.
World Heritage site
The Port,
Fortresses and Group of Monuments of Cartagena were selected in
1984 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization
(UNESCO
) for being
located in a bay by the Caribbean Sea, having the most extensive
fortifications in South America. A system of zones that
divides the city into three neighborhoods: San Sebastian and Santa
Catalina with the cathedral and many palaces where the wealthy
lived and the main government buildings functioned; San Diego or
Santo Toribio, where merchants and the middle class lived; and
Getsemani, the suburban popular quarters.
In popular culture
- Cartagena gained modern notoriety in the 1984 hit movie,
Romancing the Stone
when romance novelist Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) travels to Cartagena to
deliver a treasure map in an effort to ransom her kidnapped sister.
The Cartagena scenes were actually filmed in Mexico, and it doesn't
reflect the real Cartagena. In the Family
Guy episode "Barely
Legal", the mayor, thinking the film to be real, sends all the
police officers to Cartagena.
- In that movie, Michael Douglas' character refers to it as
Cartage(ny)a. This has largely been adopted by tourists and is a
constant thorn in the sides of locals. The "N" in Cartagena is
solid. You will find only one business in the entire city that
refers to this film.
- Gabriel García
Marquez's novel Love
in the Time of Cholera although is set in an unnamed city,
it is obviously Cartagena. Also in Cartagena, partially or totally
are set other novels of his, like The General in his
Labyrinth and Strange
Pilgrims.
- The first chapter of Brian
Jacques' novel The Angel's
Command takes place in 1628 Cartagena.
- The movie Love in the Time of
Cholera released on November 16, 2007 in the USA, is
filmed in Cartagena.
- La Queimada, "Burn!" with Marlon Brando was filmed in Cartagena and
released in 1969.
- The movie The
Mission released in 1986 with Robert De Niro was filmed in Cartagena and
Brazil. The interpreter for the director was a Colombian who had
recently moved to Canada.
- The poem “Románc” by Sándor Kányádi is talking
about the beauty of Cartagena.
- Cartagena is referred to by Tom Cruise's character, Vincent, in
a scene in the film Collateral short before he terminates
the blues trumpet player.
- Cartagena is featured as the backdrop for the NCIS episode "Agent Afloat" as NCIS Special Agent
Anthony
DiNozzo tracks down the murderer of a Navy Communications
Officer found dead near the Banana Moon bar.
- A fictionalized version of the raid on Cartagena is chronicled in
Chapter 27 in the novel Captain Blood.
- In the famous Colombian novela "Yo Soy Betty La Fea", the main
character, Betty, travels to Cartagena for a while.
- The second story in Nam Le's award winning book of short
fictions, the Boat 2008 is called Cartagena and set in Colombia.
Cartagena in the story is more idea than place.
Famous People
Nearby towns and cities
Sister cities
References
- "X Cátedra de Historia Ernesto Restrepo Tirado - "El Caribe en
la Nación Colombiana" Guerra, Langbaek et al. Ed. Aguilar, Bogotá,
2007. ISBN 958-8250-31-5.
- Allaire, Louis (1997). "The Caribs of the Lesser Antilles". In
Samuel M. Wilson, The Indigenous People of the Caribbean, pp.
180–185. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida. ISBN
0-8130-1531-6.
- Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango
-
http://pwp.supercabletv.net.co/garcru/colombia/Colombia/indios.html
-
http://www.uninorte.edu.co/divisiones/humanidades/arqueologia/proyectos/pro_pag_13-06.html
-
http://www.lablaa.org/blaavirtual/publicacionesbanrep/boletin/boleti3/bol12/debate.htm
- Lemaitre, Eduardo; Historia Extensa de
Cartagena de Indias, Ed. Aguilar 1976. Edited before the ISBN
system was enforced in Colombia, no reedition.
-
http://www.bruceruiz.net/PanamaHistory/diego_de_nicuesa.htm
-
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/55612/Rodrigo-de-Bastidas
-
http://www.bruceruiz.net/PanamaHistory/rodrigo_de_bastidas.htm
- Lemaitre, Eduardo; Historia Extensa de Cartagena de Indias, Ed.
Aguilar 1976.
- Corrales, Manuel Ezequiel; Documentos para la historia de la
Provincia de Cartagena, Tomo II, Imp. M. Rivas, Cartagena de
Indias, 1883.
-
http://www.lablaa.org/blaavirtual/revistas/credencial/marzo1992/marzo3.htm
- De Castellanos, Juan; Historia de Cartagena, Bogotá,
Biblioteca de Cultura Popular de Colombia, 1942.
- http://ageofpirates.com/article.php?Port_of_Cartagena
-
http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/05816284255727262232268/index.htm
- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUDhawkinsJ.htm
-
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article677647.ece
-
http://www.banrep.gov.co/docum/Pdf-econom-region/Cuadernos/CHEE09.pdf
-
http://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/catalog/drake/drake-6-caribraid.html
- http://www.puertocartagena.com/
- http://www.elbosque.com/
- Lemaitre, Eduardo; Historia Extensa de Cartagena de Indias, Ed.
Aguilar 1976
- "El Porvenir", Year CXVII, Issue 29.399, Page 4, column 2.
Cartagena de Indias, 1999.
- http://www.unicartagena.edu.co/biblioteca.htm
- http://www.ipcc.gov.co/bibliotecas.html
- http://www.cartagenatravel.com/espanol/teatroheredia.htm
- UNESCO: Cartagena, Colombia
External links
.jpg/200px-Don_Pedro_de_Heredia_-_SLAVE_Market_-_Casco_Antiquo_-_Cartagena_de_las_Indias,_COLOMBIA_(156022450).jpg)
Oil
Refinery
Colombia
cement
port.
of Havana
Teatro Heredia was opened in 1911 and
restored in 1989
, Philippines
(1986)
, Spain
, United States
(1986)
, Lebanon
, Guatemala
(1986)
, El
Salvador
, United
States
, Antigua Unión
Soviética
summary on Cartagena de Indias]
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