La Guajira

Rio Rancheria mouth in Riohacha.

La Guajira (in Wayuunaiki: Wajiira) is one of the thirty-two departments that, together with Bogotá, Capital District, make up the Republic of Colombia. The most accurate translation of its name would be "Beautiful Caribbean" and in Old Wayunaiki Karive Pala "Caribbean Sea" can also mean 'Caribbean Sea'. Its capital is Riohacha. It is located in the extreme northeast of the country, in the Caribbean region, bordered to the north and east by the Caribbean Sea (Atlantic Ocean), to the southeast by the Venezuelan state of Zulia, to the south by the department of Cesar and to the west by the department of Magdalena.

Its territory is made up of the peninsula of La Guajira, in its center by a lowland; and to the south with parts of the Sierra Nevada, the Perijá mountain range and the alluvial plain of the Ranchería and Cesar rivers. It is made up of 15 municipalities. Since the 1970s it has been a point of arrival for population movements and immigration from Middle Eastern countries, a fact that has caused an accelerated population growth that in turn generates demographic wealth. In its territory there are three natural parks, five indigenous towns and a large Arab community that has played a transcendental role in its economy.

In its climatic characteristics, it stands out for having all the thermal floors of the intertropical zone with average temperatures between 22 and 40 °C —lower than a thousand meters of relief height—. In its ecological characteristics it constitutes varieties of terrestrial ecosystems, among the most predominant are the desert (see Guajiro Desert), the dry and humid mountain forest.

In its hydrological characteristics, it has water deposits such as aquifer wells and lagoons or jagüeyes that supply the communities for consumption. The main rivers are the Ranchería and the Cesar, other shorter ones, the Jerez, Ancho and Palomino; Streams also cross its territory, including the Carraipía and Paraguachón.

In its cultural aspects, it stands out for being the cradle of vallenato along with Cesar, it also stands out for being the place of origin of singers and composers of the musical genre. In tourism it holds very attractive exotic places. Economically it is a department that has energy potential in electricity production —which has not been exploited—, in taking advantage of solar radiation, the trade winds from the northeast, thermoelectric and hydroelectric; and natural gas.

Toponymy

The departmental name "La Guajira" It comes from the peninsula with the same name, which covers a third of the territory of this department and the extreme north of the Venezuelan state of Zulia.

In the wayuunaiki language the name Wajiira, Woumain or Wajiiramuin is used in its ethnic context, which translates as "Our Land" and is an approximation to the name in Spanish. In the Arhuaco, Damana, Kabbagga and Kankuamo languages, it is referred to in its ethnic context by the name Shi Mukshi, which translates as "Black Line" or in a rhetorical figure "Margin (border) of Our Territory". In this multi-ethnic context, there were truly no borders that delimited the indigenous territories.

Symbols

Heraldry

It is made up of a coat of arms with four almost unequal quarters, embroidered with pearls. The left section has a green background with a castle that resembles a tower, the right section has a silver background where a double-edged sword appears crossed by two parallel arrows in opposite directions to its tip. In the lower sections on the right side, a sun appears with flashes of light on a green background; on the opposite side is a silver background, a representative landscape, on the left a mountain range and on the right a plain with 2 typical cactus bushes

The coat of arms was adopted on November 29, 1966, and modified twice.

Flag

It is made up of two horizontal stripes of equal distribution, and made up of the colors green (lower strip) and white (upper strip). It is used officially and representatively since September 29, 1877.

Hymn

The hymn to La Guajira comprises three stanzas and highlights the department's main places, natural resources and common characteristics such as hospitality. The lyrics were composed by the teacher and poet Luis Alejandro López and the music by Carlos Espeleta Fince.

In its context, it describes the economic and social situation of the department in the 1970s and 1980s.

Lema

The motto of the department of La Guajira is: "The homeland of honor of La Guajira"; referring to the ancestral Wayuú nation - Wajiira in their own language - made up of the wayú, an ethnic group that preserved its independence from all European colonialism.

Geographical characteristics

SITUATION

La Guajira is a coastal department in the northern end of Colombia and South America, for the Caribbean Sea and with a brief coastline on the western portion of the Gulf of Venezuela. Integrates the group of departments of the Caribbean region of Colombia with 15.10% of its surface and 2% of the national; and with territorial extension of 20,848 km², occupying the 25th position of national surface and number 2.º of the coastline preceded by the department of Chocó. Coordinates: 10 ° 23 ' and 12 ° 28 ' northern latitude, 71 ° 06 ' and 73 ° 39 ' West length. 11 ° 51′00 ″ N 72 ° 02′00 ″ O / 11.85000, -72.03333 </s

Northwest: Caribbean Sea and San Andrés and Providencia	North: Caribbean Sea	Northeast: Gulf of Venezuela, Caribbean Sea and Islands The Monks
West: Caribbean Sea		This: State Zulia
Southwest Magdalena	South: Cesar	Sureste: State Zulia

Northwest: Jamaica and HondurasHonduras	North: HaitiHaiti	Northeast: Venezuela Venezuela
West: NicaraguaNicaragua		This: Venezuela Venezuela
Southwest ColombiaColombia	South: ColombiaColombia	Sureste: Venezuela Venezuela

Orographic aspects

Forms of relief in La Guajira.

The department is made up of the Guajiro Massif to the northeast, an ancient massif that encompasses the La Guajira peninsula and includes the Jarara Cocinas, Carpintero and La Makuira mountain ranges, the latter having the highest elevation reached by Cerro Palúa with 865 m; also the hill LaTeta and Huitpana.

To the southwest is the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a young massif that reaches its maximum height in the Codazzi peak with 5,390 m, becoming the highest elevation in the department. It is made up of the Sierra de Treinta and numerous blades that define the landscape of the Ranchería-Cesar alluvial plain in the western sector.

The Perijá mountain range encompasses a narrow territorial strip to the south of La Guajira, being the Montes de Oca and the Carraipía mountain range the main landforms to the north of this young massif. It defines the department's alluvial plain on the eastern side and its highest elevation is to the south at Cerro Pintao, with 3,000 m becoming the second highest elevation.

There are also independent hills less than 200 m high, which are Cerro Peralta and Anaime. The alluvial plain furrowed by the Ranchería and Cesar rivers is found at an average height of 200 m, unlike the low plain in the center of the department, which has a height of less than 50 m and constitutes the largest territorial portion.

Climatological characteristics

The average temperatures in La Guajira are between 22 and 30 °C, with maximums of up to 42 °C. In the mountainous part the minimum temperature reaches 3 °C. The climate is xerophytic savannah to the south and west and arid or semi-arid steppe to the north and east. There are only rains between September and December. The climate of La Guajira has generated a very typical vegetation, with thorny bushes and cacti. It is the driest area of Colombia.

Political-administrative division

Riohacha

Albania

Barrancas

Dibulla

Distract

The Mill

Fonseca

It's new.

La Jaguadel Pilar

Maicao

Manaure

San Juandel Cesar

Uribia

Urumita

Villanueva

The department is subdivided into four indigenous territories, 14 municipalities and 1 district, administered in its corresponding municipal seats:

JUDICIAL RAMA

It is represented by the Guajira Administrative Court based in the city of Riohacha, with judicial territorial comprehension over the department La Guajira and consisting of four (4) administrative judicial circuits as follows:

• Administrative Judicial Circuit of Maicao: It has as its header in Maicao and comprises the municipalities of Albania, Maicao and Uribia.
• Riohacha Administrative Judicial Circuit: It has as its header in Riohacha and comprises the municipalities of Dibulla, Manaure and Riohacha.
• Administrative Judicial Circuit of San Juan del Cesar: It has as head of San Juan del Cesar and comprises the municipalities of Barrancas, Distración, Fonseca, Hatonuevo and San Juan del Cesar.
• Administrative Judicial Circuit of Villanueva: It has as its header in Villanueva and comprises the municipalities of El Molino, La Jagua de Pilar, Urumita and Villanueva.

Territorial distribution

• Traditionally it has been divided in terms of nature in three regions: Alta (north), Media (center and southwest at times) and Baja (sur). However, this division has become obsolete over time, and academics think it should be replanted considering the ecosystems that are presented (spect that was not taken into account).

These ecosystems that would determine the internal natural regionalization of the department are: The semi-arid desert to the north, the dry savannah and the wet savannah in the center divided by a strip of trophy jungle or dry jungle in the southern part of the river Rancheria, another wet savannah in the valleys of the rivers Cesar and Rancheria, and wet forests and cloudy forests in the snowy mountain range, the bean and

• On the other hand, administrative regionalization divides the department into two provinces: the North, Central and Southwest; and the South, which is the southern central part and the southern end.

Natural parks

Fauna and Flora Sanctuary Los Flemencos

is located in the Camarones and the Tapias river, with an extension of 7000 hectares and an average temperature of 27 ° C. It has innumerable marshes known with the names of: Manzanillo, Laguna Grande, Ciénaga of the broken ship and bacon. Its main attraction is flamenco, birds with beautiful pink plumage whose nests, built in mud reach 6 dm high. It is necessary to take the Caribbean trunk to Riohacha and from there to Camarones.

SERRANÍA DE MACUIRA NATURAL PARK

It is made up of a unique ecosystem due to the presence of mountains and forests that contrast with the desert geography of the area. It has water sources and is the habitat of monkeys, ocelots, the brown cat, deer, guacharacas, blackbirds and bluebirds among other species. Admission is free, after a short walk you will reach the Porcina waterfall and the surrounding wells.

Bahía Portete-Kaurrele National Natural Park

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Natural Park

This national natural park is shared with two other departments, Magdalena and Cesar.

History

Regime of indigenous peoples

The territory of the department was inhabited by the Wiwa, Kogui, Arhuaco and Kankuamo peoples located in the Sierra Nevada. The guajiro in the peninsula of La Guajira and the lowland, together with the kitchen, guanebucán, caquetíos, makuiras, anates, coanaos and eneales —all extinct—; and finally the cariachiles who inhabited the alluvial plain and slopes of the Perijá mountain range before their extinction.

Spanish colonial regime

Map of the Guajira in 1769.

The first foreign expeditions began in 1499 by Américo Vespucio led by Juan de la Cosa together with Alonso de Ojeda who arrived from Venezuela to a cape they called La Vela, thus traveling through the peninsula and they believed that it was an island to which they named Coquivacoa. The latter founded in 1502 the ephemeral Government of Coquivacoa.

In the [[16th century]] it was part of the Spanish colonial province of Santa Marta that disputed its territories with the Province of Maracaibo, although the colonial authorities did not exercise dominance in areas very deep in the Sierra Nevada, the Perijá mountain range, the La Guajira peninsula and the northern part of the low-lying plain in the center of the department. In the 18th century the province of Río del Hacha was created, which covered, in a similar way, the territories of the current department, although without exercise full control over it.

The mentioned colonial province was under the military and commercial regime of Cartagena de Indias and in justice of the Royal Court of Santafé. The territory of the department belonged on two occasions —from 1542-1717 and 1723-1739— to the Viceroyalty of Peru, and formed the Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada from 1717 to 1723 and its restoration in 1739 to 1819.

Contemporary Regime

19th century

In 1820 the department resolved its situation as a colony, becoming independent from the administration of the Spanish monarchy through the definitive Battle of Laguna Salá, led by José Prudencio Padilla; and went on to integrate Bolivarian Colombia as the Province of Padilla —formerly known as Riohacha—, the Granada Confederation unified in the Sovereign State of Magdalena, which changed in 1861 to the United States of Colombia. Subsequently, the peninsular part and the northern zone of the lowland is segregated from said state to become the Territory of La Guajira.

In 1886 Colombia redefined itself as a conservative nation, with concentrated and centralized power, so the rest of the department belonged to that Department of Magdalena; In the year 1891 a dispute was presented for the possession of the peninsula between Colombia and Venezuela that was resolved with the Spanish Arbitration Award of March 16 of that year, while in 1898 the Territory of La Guajira was erected as an intendancy.

20th and 21st centuries

The Thousand Days War made its presence in Guajiro territory with a war that even involved international participation such as that of the Venezuelan army, which was defeated by the Colombian army in the Battle of Carazúa that took place on September 13, 1901. In 1911, the Intendancy of La Guajira was demoted to a police station and was erected again in 1954, almost at the same time that the southern territories were elevated to a Municipality. Meanwhile, Riohacha is annexed to the aforementioned Municipality, and automatically in 1965 it came to form the current Department of La Guajira, which was defended by Senator Nacho Vives and the representative to the Chamber Eduardo Abuchaibe Ochoa.

During the 1930s, La Guajira experienced a population increase due to the arrival of Muslim immigrants from the then extinct Ottoman Empire —or Turk, used at the same time as a name. In the 1970s, there was a third arrival of Muslim immigrants, mostly from Lebanon and Palestine, as well as population movements from Colombia that continue today; at the same time that in that decade preceded by the 1980s, the marimbera bonanza appeared that, among other things, generated a period of sustained violence under impunity.

Currently, the department suffered an internal economic recession between 2004 and 2007 due to the measures taken by the Colombian central government regarding its departmental commerce, which it considered —largely— as contraband. Also in 2004, human rights organizations denounced cases of displacement, murder and threats by paramilitary groups linked to drug trafficking; and since 2009 it has again suffered its second period of violence, characterized by hit men and other criminal actions.

Demographics

The largest population is concentrated in the municipalities of Riohacha, Maicao and Uribia.

Evolution of the population of the department of La Guajira (1912-2023)

Population by census.Population by projection.Source: Statoids. DANE.

The Department has ethnic diversity due to its strategic location on the Caribbean Sea. It is made up of the Wayúu American peoples that extend through the center and north, the Kogi, Ika and Kankuamo that predominate in the Sierra Nevada along with the Wiwa that also comprise the alluvial plain in the south.

The Creole population is made up of Afro-descendant and European communities together with the mass of inhabitants made up of mixtures of the European, African and indigenous type. The city of Maicao is the main center of Muslim presence in Colombia. The Syro-Lebanese, mistakenly called "Turks", because they entered at the end of the XIX century with documents from the Ottoman Empire that then ruled the Middle East, are from Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan.

The first Asians were generally Christians of the Maronite denomination and found it much easier to mix with locals of Catholic profession. Muslims, who entered the country in the 1970s, have jealously preserved their identity, especially in response to a culture governed by a confessional Constitution until 1991. Maicao is home to the third largest mosque in Latin America, the Mosque of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, second only to the King Fahd Islamic Cultural Center in Buenos Aires and the Ibrahim Al Ibrahim Mosque in Caracas, even so Colombian Muslims are a minority compared to other countries on the continent.

The 2005 population census carried out by DANE determined that 51.9% of the inhabitants live in the municipal capitals and 48.1% in the countryside. The fertility rate is 2.3% and the average number of children per woman is 3.54.

Ethnography

The ethnic composition of the department, according to DANE, is as follows:

• Amerindians or Indigenous (44.9 %)
• Mestizos y Blancos (40.3 %)
• Black or Afro-Colombian (14.8 %)
• Gypsies (0.04 %)

Linguistic component

In the Republic of Colombia the official language is Spanish, which in turn is co-official in La Guajira next to the Wayúu —idioma de los Guajiros-through the departmental ordinance of 1992, because this town represents More than 40% of the total population of said department. There are also other native-American languages, these are the Damana of the Wiwa people, Iká del Arhuaco, Koguián del Kogui, Kankuamo of the homonymous ethnic group; and Zenú spoken by the Zenú people originally from the department of Córdoba.

ECONOMIC ASPECTS

Salinas de Manaure, north of the Guajira

The Cerrejón, south of the department

Economic sectors

Primary sector

La Guajira is made up of mining, which represents 70% of the economy in the generation of financial resources due to the exploitation of sea salt and natural gas reserves (production of 500 million cubic feet of gas per day, in Chuchupa and Ballenas stations) in Manaure, lignite coal, peat and coal in the deposits of the Maicao, Albania, Hatonuevo Fonseca and Barrancas municipalities. There are also quarries and gold mining in Dibulla. Much of the mining that takes place in La Guajira is illegal, especially that related to gold and coal in the border area with Venezuela.

Agricultural services

Agricultural activities in third place represented with 11% of the economy made up of cassava, banana and tropical fruit crops; and in livestock the grazing of goats is represented. It has been considered that the aridity and erosion of the land hinders agriculture and livestock, but it is known that the soils are suitable for these activities depending on the plant and animal species suitable for it.

Similarly, technical artisanal fishing is extensive with the practice of sport fishing due to the exuberant hydrobiological resources in fish, crustaceans, mollusks, among others; Aquaculture is a growing sector represented by continental tilapia and cachama aquaculture and in the marine industry by shrimp farming. Shrimp, spiny lobster, rays, and shark are potential aquatic products in the department.

Industry

Industry in fourth place with 4% of the economy made up of wood processing, charcoal production and deforestation; and products derived from metals and concrete for construction. And tourism (read below) is a growing sector that has 3 natural parks for ecotourism, historical ruins such as Puerto López and public spas along the entire coast of the department.

Tertiary sector

In second place is the services and commerce sector, which represents 15% due to the monopoly of mixed companies, generally owned by the Spanish multinational Gas Natural Fenosa, which provide residential and business public services, and a diversity of service providers. health, logistics, banking, among others.

Furthermore, commerce is the main job-generating activity (together with the urban and interurban land transport sector) in the department and involves the importation through the free ports of Maicao, Manaure and Uribia of household appliances, food, and liquor mainly beer and whiskey, becoming the largest importer of the latter in Colombia and Venezuela.

Transportation

ECONOMIC GENERAL

The education sector is controlled in more than half by state institutions in secondary and higher education. Puerto Bolívar is the main coal export port in the country and South America, it is located in Bahía Portete. The energy potential is highlighted that is partially exploited by natural gas and the generation of electrical energy by thermoelectric (paralyzed) and wind that are not achieved.

CULTURAL ASPECTS

Festivities

The traditional carnival are held in La Guajira, also festivals in different municipalities, the most prominent being the Francisco man in Riohacha, Cradle Festival of accordions in Villanueva, Festival and National and International Reign of the Divi Divi in Riohacha, the Wayúu Culture Festival in Uribia, the National Festival of Composers in San Juan del Cesar, Festival of the singer in El Molino, Festival de la Frontera in Maicao, Festival del Reto in Fonseca, Friendship Festival in Hatonuevo and Barrancas Festival and national reign of coal; In all of them the Vallenato musical genre is highlighted. Popular, religious and official festivals are celebrated throughout the year.

Gastronomy

The typical guajira dishes are, friche, corn, mountain and fried fish, seafood

In literature

The novel An asylum in the Goajira , written by Priscila Herrera de Núñez in 1879, is the first written by a woman in the Magdalena Grande region. It takes place in Riohacha and a Wayú ranchería of the time. Four years aboard myself, the novel by Eduardo Zalamea Borda published in 1934, takes place in Manaure and Riohacha. In both literary works, the relationship between the indigenous perspective (the Wayú) and the " Western " (The Alijuna), giving rise to the narrated events.

Riohacha is appointed many times in one hundred years of solitude by Gabriel García Márquez; From there they left the ancestors of Úrsula Iguarán after the pirate assault of Francis Drake, and is eventually harassed by the men of Colonel Aureliano Buendía. Love also appears in the times of cholera , being the city in which Fermina Daza is established - oblined by his father - before meeting Florentino Ariza. From that city part of the protagonist of the story seventeen English poisoned , which is part of twelve pilgrim stories . On the other hand, the desert of the Peninsula of La Guajira is the space in which the events narrated in The incredible and sad story of the Cándida Eréndira and its heartless grandmother . In the aspect of the novelistic of authors Guajiros, the works of the writer of San Juan del Cesar, Ketty Cuello de Lizarazo, with her work: Eternal San Tropel (1985), afinalista of the National Contest of the novel Plaza and Janés; by the writer José Soto Berardinelly, with his novel Jepira (1989)..., by the novelist Wayuu, Delia Bolaños and the newly published Marga Palacio (Riohacha), resident in Italy; In the genre of stories, names of Professor Abel Medina Sierra (Maicao), Polaco Rosado (Riohacha), Eden Vizcaíno (Uribia), Alejandro Rutto (Maicao), Antonio Parodi (Fonseca), Euclides Moscote (Dibulla) and the authors Wayuu, internationally recognized, Vicenta Siosi Pino (... " that horrible habit of moving away from you ") and Esthecilia Simanca Pushaina (... " I manifest not knowing how to sign "); In poetics there are contemporary names, such as those of Víctor Bravo Mendoza (distraction), Gustavo Macea (... of the El Solar workshop), Lindantonella Solano and Betsy Barros (Riohacha)... and the poet of origin Wayuu Miguelángel Epeeyüi, Better known with the heteronym of Vito Apüshana, winner of the Latin American Award Casa de las Américas, with his poems: " Encounters on the paths of Abya Yala " (Havana, 2000), whose work of poetry gathered was published with the title " old newcomers " (Silaba Editores, 2019), his poetic work already celebrates the 30 years of national and international recognition; In the field of essay and chronicle they are projected with their own light Fredy González Zubiría (Maicao) Amilcar Acosta Medina (Riohacha) and the outstanding anthropologist Wayuu Wilder Guerra Curvelo (... " the dispute and the word ").