Ciénaga () is a municipality and city in the

Magdalena Department Magdalena () is a Departments of Colombia, department of Colombia, located in the north of the country by the Caribbean Sea, with more than 1.3 million people. The capital of the Magdalena Department is Santa Marta and was named after the Mag ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, the second largest population center in this department, after the city of

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially the Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta (), is a port List of cities in Colombia, city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena Department and the fou ...

. It is situated at 11° 00' North, 74° 15' West, between the

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: ''Snow-Covered Mountain Range of Saint Martha'') is an isolated mountain range in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range that runs through the north of the country. Reaching an elevation of ...

, the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

and the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta marsh in northern Colombia. The city is situated in the northern part of Magdalena, 35 km from Santa Marta. According to estimations in 2020, the city had a population of 110,303. The mean annual temperature is 34 °C.

History

Prior to the arrival of the Spanish colonizers the area was vastly populated by Chimila indigenous people and a village known as ''Pongueyca''. The foundation of Ciénaga has always been a matter of dispute due to many different historical theories and the lack of documented sources. It is believed to be founded first in what is now a small village known as Pueblo Viejo and the site of a former Chimila tribe. In 1529 monk Fray Tomás Ortiz established a parish that would later burn in a fire. It was then refounded as a city by Fernando de Mier y Guerra under the name of ''Villa de San Juan Bautista de la Ciénaga'' but also was known with the names of ''San Juan del Córdoba'', ''Aldea Grande'', ''Córdoba'', ''Pueblo de la Ciénaga'' and simply ''Ciénaga''. Plaza Cienaga Panorama 2

During the Venezuelan War of Independence from Spain, Ciénaga became a battle ground on November 10, 1820, between loyalists and independentists of what became known as the Battle of Ciénaga. On December 6, 1928, the Banana Massacre (in Spanish, ''matanza de las bananeras'') occurred in the town. It was a

massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...

of 100 to 2,000 people during a month-long strike of workers for the

United Fruit Company The United Fruit Company (later the United Brands Company) was an American multinational corporation that traded in tropical fruit (primarily bananas) grown on Latin American plantations and sold in the United States and Europe. The company was ...

; an unknown number of workers died after the government decided to send the military forces. In 2012, the Colombian government named Ciénaga a '' Pueblo Patrimonio'' (heritage town) of Colombia, making it the first town in Magdalena department to earn the distinction. As of March 2021, Ciénaga is Colombia's northernmost ''Pueblo Patrimonio''.

Culture

Ciénaga has been the place of birth and home to numerous notable people, including native

Thousand Days' War The Thousand Days' War () was a civil war fought in Colombia from 17 October 1899 to 21 November 1902, at first between the Colombian Liberal Party, Liberal Party and the government led by the National Party (Colombia), National Party, and lat ...

hero, musician and farmer

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Clemente Escalona, father and teacher of

vallenato Vallenato () is a popular folk music genre from Colombia. It primarily comes from its Caribbean region. ''Vallenato'' literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the ''Sierra Nevada de Santa Mar ...

composer Rafael Escalona. Guillermo Buitrago, who died very young - 29 years old - became a very important figure of the 20th century's

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

in Colombia. The city pays annual homage to him in the Guillermo de Jesús Buitrago Guitar Festival. It was also the birthplace of Andrés Paz Barrosthe,

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...

cienaguera founder and musical composer. Ciénaga celebrates every year on January 20 the ''Fiesta del Caimán'' (Feast of the

Caiman A caiman ( (also spelled cayman) from Taíno language, Taíno ''kaiman'') is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family (biology), family, the other being alligators. ...

) honoring a local legend known as ''La Historia de Tomasita''. The impact of the banana industry on Ciénaga and the surrounding region is depicted in several stories by

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...

in '' 100 Years of Solitude'' and ''The Leaf Storm''. Important to note this town was also the principal port of Colombia during the late 19th century and was where the largest immigrant groups entered Colombia, mainly from Lebanon and Europe.

Climate

Gallery

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References

External links