Tumaco is a port city and municipality in the Nariño Department,

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 ...

, by the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. It is located on the southwestern corner of Colombia, near the border with Ecuador, and experiences a hot tropical climate. Tumaco is inhabited mainly by Afro-Colombians and some

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. Tumaco is accessible by plane from Pasto, the capital city of Nariño Department, as well from

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

and

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

. It can also be reached by land via highway from Pasto and

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

(Ecuador). Tumaco is known for being the hometown of many great Colombian soccer players, including

Willington Ortiz Willington José Ortiz Palacio (born March 26, 1952 in Tumaco) is a Colombian former professional footballer who played as forward or winger. He played 49 times for the Colombia national team scoring 12 goals and is the top Colombian player ...

. Colombian film director Samuel Córdoba released a documentary about the city in 2009. The film, entitled "Tumaco Pacífico", chronicles the stilt-house area of the city, predominantly populated by Afro-Colombians. Córdoba was inspired by a panoramic photo of the stilt houses he saw in a photography book on Tumaco. The film won first place at the ''Festival de Cine Latinoamericano de Bordeaux'', in France, and was presented at the ''Festival Internacional de Cine'', in Santiago, Chile. Other places of interest include ecotourism sites and beaches located near the mouth of the ''Mira'' River, where the river meets the sea. Also, there are the ''Playas de Milagros'' (beaches of Miracles), and ''Bocananueva y Teran'' beaches, where visitors can experience the diversity of flora and fauna first-hand.

Image Gallery

File:Tolita-Tumaco gold figure 1st century BC.jpg, Tumaco gold figure 1st century BC. File:Buque descargando fertilizantes en el puerto de Tumaco.JPG, Potosi Merchant vessel unloading fertilizers at the Tumaco port. File:Playa del Bajito en Tumaco.JPG, ''Bajito'' beach at Tumaco. File:Panoramica de la isla la Viciosa en Tumaco.JPG, Panoramic view of the ''Viciosa'' island at Tumaco.

Climate

Like all of the Colombian Pacific coast, Tumaco has a hot, rainy, overcast and humid

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...

( Köppen ''Af''), although it is less extreme than areas further north, with annual rainfall totalling only around , vis-à-vis at Buenaventura and at Quibdó. The wettest months are from January to June, and there is a rainfall trough in August opposite to northern Colombia.

Economy

Tumaco's location on the coast provides it with a number of maritime-related economic activities. One of the main lines of the region's economy is artisanal fishing. Shrimp farming is one of its strengths. In recent years there has been a development in agricultural holdings; Crops present in the area, such as African palm, dry rice, and cocoa have become mechanised. Other crops of pancoger (small plots of peasant families) are the main source of food for their population. The cultivation of cocoa is widely used among the peasant population; Tagua is also cultivated, known as ivory nut or vegetable ivory, it is the seed of the ''Phytelephas macrocarpa'' palm and its production, although in decline in the municipality, is still high. Another product is the African palm (''Elaeis guineensis'') and the commercial cultivation of crude palm oil. There are about planted with African palm and 7 oil extraction plants, representing an important source of job creation for the region. Tourism has gained important places in the economy of the municipality, the beaches of El Morro, Bocagrande and El Bajito every day attract national and foreign visitors. Tumaco is also the main Colombian oil port on the Pacific Ocean, and the second nationwide, after Coveñas. In recent years, the pipeline and the port have served to transport and export Ecuadorian oil, a situation that is reflected in the movement of its foreign trade.

Transportation

La Florida Airport serves Tumaco with flights from

. Tumaco is the site of Colombia's second most important Pacific port behind Buenaventura. Due to the limited development of roads in the region, the port is the primary way of accessing several villages along the coast. A paved, long highway connects Tumaco with the departmental capital Pasto.

Impact of the armed conflict

Tumaco was highly affected by the Colombian armed conflict as recently as 2011. On 17 August 2011, four soldiers from the Colombian army were killed in Tumaco by

FARC-EP 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 confl ...

guerrillas from the 29th front. On 29 August 2011 five more soldiers were killed by guerrillas in the outskirts of the city, A few weeks earlier, guerrillas from the

Western Bloc of the FARC-EP The Western Bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia was the smallest of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia's (FARC) blocs in size, although not in military capability. It was often held responsible for attacks that occurred in Ca ...

stormed the local prison, freeing roughly fifteen imprisoned FARC members. On 26 September, seven people, including a local politician, were killed by unidentified gunmen in the inner city. The perpetrators also kidnapped one politician. Apart from the FARC-EP, the area was the home turf of paramilitary groups like the right-wing

Los Rastrojos Los Rastrojos is a Colombian drug cartel and paramilitary group engaged in the Colombian armed conflict. The ...

and the

Guevarist Guevarism is a theory of communist revolution and a military strategy of guerrilla warfare associated with Marxist–Leninist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, a leading figure of the Cuban Revolution who believed in the idea of Marxism–Len ...

, left-wing Ejército de Liberación Nacional. Consequently, Tumaco is bound to benefit greatly from the recent peace treaty with the FARC.

References

External links

Tumaco: Tourist guide

Tumaco: Web Portal San Andres de Tumaco - La Perla Del Pacifico
{{Authority control Port cities in Colombia Municipalities of Nariño Department