La Guajira () is a department of Colombia. It occupies most of its namesake peninsula, the Guajira Peninsula in the northeast region of the country, facing the Caribbean Sea and Venezuela in the northern most part of South America. The department capital city is Riohacha.
Various indigenous tribes populated the vast arid plains, such as the Wayuu, Guajiros, Macuiros, Anates, Wayunaiki, Cuanaos and Eneales among others prior to the Spanish arrival to the Americas. In 1498 Alonso de Ojeda navigated around the peninsula of La Guajira, but the one who disembarked in what today is La Guajira was Juan de la Cosa. During the colonial era the territory was disputed by the governors of Santa Marta and Venezuela due to deposits of pearls. English pirates, French, Germans also disputed the territory. Martin Fernandez de Enciso found the city of Nuestra Señora Santa Maria de los Remedios del Cabo de la Vela, first village in the territory but due to constant attacks, in 1535 Don Nicolas de Federman had to refounded as the village of Riohacha and in 1544 was moved present-day Riohacha. In 1871 the region is separated from the Department of Magdalena and is created La Guajira as part of the national territories. In 1898 was created the Intendance of La Guajira.
In 1911 the Colombian government created the Commissary of la Guajira, followed by a wave of Middle Eastern immigrants (Christians and Maronites) from Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan, countries under the Ottoman Empire arrived to La Guajira in the c. 1930s and establishing mostly in Maicao. In 1954 was once again created the Intendance of la Guajira and Riohacha was declared a municipality. Finally in 1964 the Department of La Guajira was created.
Geography
The northern part of the department is arid plains, the Guajira-Barranquilla xeric scrub, in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta which rise to 5,775 meters in the south. The Sinú Valley dry forests lie in between. In the far south are the headwaters of the Cesar River which turns south towards the Magdalena River.
Serranía de Macuira
The Serrania de Macuira mountain range is located to the northwest of the Guajira Peninsula occupying an are of 35,000 ha, 25,000 of which pertain to the Macuira National Park. The mountain range is an isolated ecosystem in the middle of the La Guajira Desert, near the Caribbean sea between the villages of Nazareth, Ichipa and Tawara. The mountain range works as a barrier to the trade winds which hit from the northeast charged with humidity.
Cerro Pintao
The
Cerro Pintao ("Painted Hill") which also covers the municipalities of San Juan del Cesar, El Molino, Villanueva and Urumita and in the Department of Cesar the municipalities of
Manaure,
La Paz,
San Diego and
Codazzi covering an area of 25,000 ha and with an altitude ranging from 1600 to 3,688 m (
Paramo) giving birth to some 13 rivers in Colombia.
Flamingos Fauna and Flora Sanctuary
The
Santuario de Flora y Fauna los Flamencos (
Flamingos Fauna and Flora Sanctuary) is located on the coastline of the municipality of Riohacha, between the village of Camarones and the
Tapias River, covering 7,000 ha. The area has four
lagoons (Manzanillo, Navío Quebrado, Tocoromanes and Laguna Grande) and numerous streams which serve as habitat to the
Flamingos and numerous other endemic species.
Flamingos Protection Area
Located in the village of
Musichi, the Flamingos Protection Area is within the municipality of Manaure and presents numerous lagoons which are also used by locals for the artisan exploitation of salt.
Climate
History
Pre-Colombian
was one of the first sites that Spanish explorers first sighted upon their arrival to the continental
Americas.]]
The area of present-day La Guajira was inhabited predominantly during the Pre Colombian era by indigenous tribes pertaining mostly to the Wayuu (Guajiros, Macuiros, Anates, Caquetios, Wayunaiki, Cuanaos, Onotos and Eneales) and Cocinas in the northern lower and drier areas; in the south, Koguis, Arhuacos, Guanebucanes and Chimilas ethnic groups, among others. Archaeological findings have shown the presence of fishing communities with pottery on the central eastern side of the Guajira Peninsula dating to 10 BC, which also determined that these practiced pottery for the exploitation of marine resources.
These groups coexisted the Guajira Peninsula. the upper indigenous peoples were nomads traveling across the peninsula practiced hunting, fishing and collection of fruits, while the indigenous groups in the south were semi-sedentary, practiced agricultural techniques and exploited coastal resources. The first Spanish expedition to disembark went in 1502 led by Juan de la Cosa at Cabo de la Vela. La Guajira was one of the territories in Colombia that endured a periods of isolation during the Spanish colonization of the Americas due to the resistance of the indigenous peoples, predominantly the Wayuu. It was until the 18th century that the Spanish monarchy ordered capitulations to conquest and pacify the indigenous in the region. This did not improve after the independence and the conflict between colonizers and indigenous prevailed throughout the 19th century.
In 1524 Bastidas had created the Government of Santa Marta which covered an area from Cabo de la Vela to the mouth of the Magdalena River.
The foundation of the first settlements in the area was made by Martín Fernández de Enciso who founded a village near the Cabo de la Vela with the name Nuestra Señora Santa María de los Remedios del Cabo de la Vela in 1535, the first settlement in La Guajira. Due to constant attacks from the indigenous and other Spanish conquerors from neighboring Captaincy of Venezuela due to large deposits of pearls, the village was moved to present-day Riohacha in 1544 and refounded by Nikolaus Federmann.
Between 1609 and 1640, the Spanish colonizers imported some 800 or more African slaves. Most of these later escaped and formed Palenques. In 1679 the Government of Santa Marta offered these palenques their freedom in exchange of protecting the territory from English pirates and the Government of Venezuela who pretended the Guajira Peninsula due to large reserves of pearls in the area.
, Viceroy of the Viceroyalty of New Granada.]]
In 1769 the Spanish took 22 Wayuus captive, in order to put them to work building the fortifications of Cartagena. The reaction of the Indians was unexpected. On May 2, 1769 at El Rincón, near Río de la Hacha, they set their village afire, burning the church and two Spaniards who had taken refuge in it. They also captured the priest. The Spanish immediately dispatched an expedition from El Rincón to capture the Indians. At the head of this force was José Antonio de Sierra, a mestizo who had also headed the party that had taken the 22 Guajiro captives. The Guajiros recognized him and forced his party to take refuge in the house of the curate, which they then set afire. Sierra and eight of his men were killed.
and arrow. 1928.]]
The friars the created the orphanages for Wayuu children beginning with the La Sierrita orphanage built in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in 1903; followed by the San Antonio orphanage in 1910 located by the Calancala River, Nazareth orphanage in the Serrania de Macuira mountains in 1913 creating a direct influence over the Rancherias of Guarrachal, El Pájaro, Carazúa, Guaraguao, Murumana, Garra patamana and Karraipía. While Nazareth had some control over the rancherías of Taroa, Maguaipa, Guaseipá and Alpanapause. The friars constantly visited the settlements inviting to attend mass. Wayuu children in the orphanage were educated with traditional European customs. Conflicts between the Wayuu people and the Colombian government decreased since then. In 1942 Uribia celebrated for the first time Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Colombian armed conflict
The Department of La Guajira was influenced by the Colombian armed conflict since the 1970s initially by the two main guerrilla groups; the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) mostly in the southern Guajira between the mountain of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serrania del Perija bordering Venezuela. The influence in the northern Guajira was disputed with the indigenous Wayuu who since the 1970s controlled contraband in the area; mainly narcotics. In the southern Guajira the FARC operates its Caribbean Bloc's 59th Front and influences from the 19th and 41st fronts. The ELN structure in the area is called the Gustavo Palmesano Front.
During the 1990s paramilitary groups surged, mainly the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) and the Wayuu Resistance Front led by the Northern Bloc of the AUC and its commander alias "Jorge 40". The paramilitaries led a cleansing campaign in the early 2000s against rival communist guerrillas and rival drug trafficking groups, preventing the guerrillas from acquiring provisions, ammunitions, weapons and the cut on the illegal drug trade. Paramilitaries pertaining to the AUC demobilized in 2006, but new drug trafficking organizations arose, such as the Aguilas Negras. Between 2000 and 2005 the FARC and the AUC perpetrated two massacres each while the ELN perpetrated one.
Municipalities
# Albania
# Barrancas
# Dibulla
# Distracción
# El Molino
# Fonseca
# Hatonuevo
# La Jagua del Pilar
# Maicao
# Manaure
# Riohacha
# San Juan del Cesar
# Uribia
# Urumita
# Villanueva
Defense
The
Colombian National Police has a regional command post in the Department of La Guajira, usually under the command of a colonel and based in the capital of the department, Riohacha. The
Colombian National Army has two major units in the department, part of the
1st Division; the
2nd Mechanized Cavalry Battalion (based in
Distracción) and the
6th Mechanized Battalion (Based in Riohacha). The
Colombian Air Force division Comando Aéreo de Combate No. 3 (CACOM-3), in
Barranquilla, Atlantico, covers the Department of La Guajira using as airstrip the
Almirante Padilla Airport.
Demographics
ethnic group in
Venezuela. Wayuus are nomads and travel between Colombia and Venezuela from time to time, usually during rain seasons.]]
According to the DANE (Colombian statistics bureau) 2005 Census, the Department of La Guajira; 44.9% of the population was indigenous pertaining to the Arhuaco, Koguis, Wiwa and Wayuu primarily; 7.5% of Afro-Colombian descent, while the remaining 47,6% of the population did not consider itself part of a particular ethnic group, except for the Middle Eastern descendants who have migrated throughout the 20th century.
The Department of La Guajira contains the largest population of indigenous peoples in Colombia with 20.2% of the total and followed by the departments of Cauca and Narino with 18% and 11,2% of the total indigenous population of Colombia. The municipalities with the largest indigenous populations are those in which the Wayuu people are present Uribia (95.9%), Manaure (88.2%), and Maicao (40.1%).
Education
Economy
at the
Cerrejon coal mine.]]
salt mine. Manaure provides approximately 80% of the Colombian market with salt.]]
The Economy of the Department of La Guajira is mainly based on the exploitation of mineral resources, such as coal in the Cerrejon mines, natural gas, salt mines in Manaure constituting 53.48% of the total revenues in 2005.
The service industry follows including electricity, gas, potable water, transport and communications, accounting for 11.06% of the total revenue. Education, health, community service and domestic services account for 9.60% of the total. There is also a great influence from Venezuela, as the Wayuu traditional territory is shared by the two nations.
Language
There are three main languages in La Guajira, the most spoken in terms of population is the
Spanish language followed by the
Wayuu language. The growing population of Middle Eastern immigrants has contributed with the
Arabic language in the region. Koguis and Wiwas are more associated with the
Chibchan languages speaking also in their own variation.
Spanish in La Guajira has developed also its own dialect by taking words from mostly the Wayuu language. The Wayuus and other indigenous grooups are also being introduced to bilingual education from their native language to Spanish. Numerous software companies such as Microsoft and Ubuntu have developed products in Wayuu language.
s by the Caribbean Sea. The Chinchorros hammocks are one of the most traditional items in the culture of La Guajira]]
Literature
Literature in La Guajira has been both written in Spanish and Wayuunaiki, most of it describing the myths, the sacred, the tragic, the epics, the legends, heroism, the magic, the comedy and romanticism autochthonous to the region and directly influenced by the
Costumbrismo, including physiology and sexuality.
Wayuu tribes feature prominently in Papillon by Henri Charriere, about an escaped convict who takes refuge with one such tribe. La Guajira has been subject to numerous writings describing the culture.
Music
Music is the Department of La Guajira has been directly associated to the indigenous peoples, as well as the influence from the Afro-Colombians and the European cultural influences. Such is the case of the vallenato music, which was allegedly originated in the region formed between Riohacha and Valledupar, some considering it larger and reaching from Riohacha to the central region of the Department of Cesar. Accordions and guitar first used for vallenato music were allegedly acquired in La Guajira as contraband arriving from the nearby island of Aruba, in the Caribbean sea.
The Wayuu has contributed with their own traditional music and instrument. Their culture directly associates economy and social life with music; such as in the case of raising cattle, in which the indigenous sang to their animals. They also used music for meetings and celebrations, as well as mourning in funerals. The Yonna is the traditional dance of the Wayuu and is used to honor guests. cooked in a similar way; deers and Capybaras.
References
External links
Government of La Guajira official website
Violence in La Guajira
Colombian ministry of Education: Education in La Guajira
Bank of the Republic - Colombia: Education in the Caribbean region of Colombia
Bank of the Republic - La Guajira y el mito de las regalías redentoras by Adolfo Meisel Roca No. 86 Febrero, 2007
UNESCO: indigenous peoples in la Guajira
Category:Departments of Colombia
Category:Caribbean region of Colombia
Category:States and territories established in 1965
![Ugur Project - La Guajira (Original Mix) [Frabon Recordings]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110827065601im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dmWNuewriS0/0.jpg "Ugur Project - La Guajira (Original Mix) [Frabon Recordings]")
