Puerto Berrío is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

and town in the Colombian department of Antioquia.

Geography

Puerto Berrío is located in a region of Antioquia known as the Middle Magdalena (near the

Magdalena River The Magdalena River ( es, Río Magdalena, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of ...

). It is bounded on the north by the municipalities of Yolombó, Remedios and Yondó, on the east by the department of

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

, on the south by the municipalities of Puerto Nare and Caracolí, and on the west by the municipalities of Caracolí and Maceo. It is some 191 km away from the city of Medellín, capital of Antioquia. The municipality has an extension of 1,184 km².

History

Puerto Berrio was founded in 1875 by Colombian General Ricardo Maria Giraldo. It became a

in 1881. In 1801,

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, ...

drew up an official sketch of the place then known as Great Eddy in the region of the today Puerto Berrío. Later, the

Cuban Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a perso ...

engineer Francisco Javier Cisneros, constructor of the Antioquia Railway, selected this same place to construct a port for the department of Antioquia by the

Magdalena river The Magdalena River ( es, Río Magdalena, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of ...

, and also establish it as a railroad station. In 1875, the government of Antioquia ordered by decree the official establishment of the town and named it after former governor of Antioquia and General of Colombia Pedro Justo Berrío. Since then Puerto Berrío's development has been tied to the railroad. When the railways extended to Medellín in 1914 Puerto Berrio became an important port for shipments of products going over the Magdalena river, distributing Antioquia products to other main ports over the river and exports to through the

Caribbean sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

. In 1925, a fire devastated all the population, with the exception of the facilities of the Railroad. The town went through a reconstruction process to quickly recover. Puerto Berrío became epicenter of the regional commerce and site forced for the transit of load, passengers and tourists. This although economic one lasted until 1963, when '' Railroad of Antioquia '' was nationalized. Due to intensification of the

Colombian armed conflict The Colombian conflict ( es, link=no, Conflicto armado interno de Colombia) began on May 27, 1964, and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups, crime syndicates, and far-left guerril ...

the flow of the economy drastically decreased. In 1991 in an effort to recover the government helped establish an association to recover the navigation. This was created, with constitutional rank, '' the Corporation of the Great river of the Magdalena, '' in order to recover the navigability of the river. Nowadays, it is an intermediate city of great commercial movement, and is considered the '' capital of the Antioquian Mid-Magdalena'', with a history related to

and to '' Railroad of Antioquia ''. Its condition of multimodal port, the possibility of connection with Medellín, Bogotá, department of Santander and '' North Coast '' by land, and their airport, has been determining in the development of the region. Majestic '' Hotel Magdalena '' recovered well like witness of more than 125 years of history, and attractive the natural exuberantes, are his more appraised tourist treasures to the date.

Economy

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

: Cacao,

Maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

, Banana,

Yuca ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated ...

Lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

* Cattle ranch:

Milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modula ...

and derivatives *

Mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

* Logging *

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

* Informal commerce * Arts & Crafts: '' Atarrayas'' and '' Chichorros''.

Celebrations

* Celebrations of the Return and Reign of

Ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...

, celebration emblem of the municipality * Celebrations of Virgin of the Carmen *

Festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...

of Cometa * Festival the Night of

Poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

s * Fiestas of Anniversary * Festival of Dance s and Música Folkloric.

Notable residents

* Juan José Florián, para-cyclist and former paramilitary soldier

External links

Tourist Antioquia, Puerto Berrío

Municipal mayorship, Puerto Berrío

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puerto Berrio Municipalities of Antioquia Department