María La Baja is a town and municipality located in the Bolívar Department, northern

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

History

María La Baja was founded by

Alonso de Heredia Alonso is a Spanish name of Germanic origin that is a Castilian variant of ''Adalfuns''. Geographical distribution As of 2014, 36.6% of all known bearers of the surname ''Alonso'' were residents of Spain (frequency 1:222), 26.1% of Mexico (1:83 ...

(brother of

Pedro de Heredia Pedro de Heredia (c. 1505 in Madrid – January 27, 1554 in Zahara de los Atunes, Cádiz) was a Spanish conquistador, founder of the city of Cartagena de Indias and explorer of the northern coast and the interior of present-day Colombia. Earl ...

) on December 8, 1535.

Geography and climate

The municipality of María La Baja has a total area of 547 km², bordering to the north with the municipality of

Arjona Arjona may refer to: * Arjona, Bolívar, Colombia * Arjona, Spain * Taifa of Arjona, a medieval taifa kingdom in Spain * ''Arjona'' (plant), genus of plants in the family Schoepfiaceae People with the surname * Adria Arjona (born 1992), Puerto Ri ...

, to the east with the municipalities of

Mahates Mahates is a river town and municipality located in the Bolívar Department, northern Colombia. The town of Mahates was founded on April 17, 1533 by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Heredia. The municipality of Mahates also covers the village of ...

and San Juan Nepomuceno, south with the municipalities of

El Carmen de Bolívar El Carmen de Bolívar is a municipality in the department of Bolívar, Colombia, 114 km southeast of Cartagena de Indias. It is located in the orographic system of the Montes de María, being the largest population, as well as the one t ...

and San Jacinto and to the west with the municipality of San Onofre,

Sucre Sucre () is the Capital city, capital of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the List of cities in Bolivia, 6th most populated city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . T ...

. The town of María La Baja has an area of approximately 150 km² and it is some 72 km away from the Department's capital Cartagena. A warm climate prevails throughout the year at an average temperature of 28 °C.

Involvement in armed conflict

María La Baja has grown substantially in recent years as some 7000 people have moved into the town from the surrounding countryside, since 2000 when the

FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army ( es, link=no, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de ColombiaEjército del Pueblo, FARC–EP or FARC) is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflic ...

guerrilla group arrived in the hills nearby. According to reports the FARC militants stole cattle. The situation deteriorated further when AUC paramilitaries began to battle FARC, catching civilians in the crossfire. However the security situation has improved more recently with the AUC bloc ''Heroes de los Montes de María'' giving up their weapons on July 14, 2005, under a national demobilization plan speared by the government of

Álvaro Uribe Álvaro Uribe Vélez (born 4 July 1952) is a Colombian politician who served as the 31st President of Colombia from 7 August 2002 to 7 August 2010. Uribe started his political career in his home department of Antioquia. He held offices in t ...

. Marines have set up a base on the edge of the town.

References

María la Baja official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria La Baja Municipalities of Bolívar Department Populated places established in 1535 1535 establishments in New Spain