{{Infobox settlement , name = La Chorrera , native_name = , nickname = , motto = , settlement_type =

Municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

and town , image_skyline = Banco en el exterior de la Casa Arana.JPG , imagesize = 300px , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_seal = , image_map = Colombia - Amazonas - La Chorrera.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location of the municipality and town of La Chorrera in the Amazonas Department of Colombia , pushpin_map = Colombia , pushpin_mapsize =300 , pushpin_map_caption =Location in Colombia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = {{flag, Colombia , subdivision_type1 = Department , subdivision_name1 =

Amazonas Department Amazonas Department may refer to: * Amazonas (Colombian department), the Colombian department of Amazonas * Amazonas (Peruvian department), the Peruvian department of Amazonas * Department of Amazonas (Peru–Bolivian Confederation), the department ...

, subdivision_type2 = , subdivision_name2 = , leader_title = , leader_name = , established_title = , established_date = , area_magnitude = , area_total_km2 = 12670 , area_total_sq_mi = , area_land_km2 = , area_land_sq_mi = , area_water_km2 = , area_water_sq_mi = , area_water_percent = , area_urban_km2 = , area_urban_sq_mi = , area_metro_km2 = , area_metro_sq_mi = , population_as_of = 2005 , population_note = , population_total = , population_density_km2 = , population_density_sq_mi = , population_metro = , population_density_metro_km2 = , population_density_metro_sq_mi = , population_urban = , coordinates = {{coord, 1, 26, 49, S, 72, 47, 40, W, region:CO, display=inline,title , timezone = , utc_offset = , timezone_DST = , utc_offset_DST = , elevation_m = , elevation_ft = , blank_name =

Climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

, blank_info = Af , website = , footnotes = La Chorrera is a town and municipality in the southern

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 ...

n Department of Amazonas. The population is largely engaged in agricultural production, hunting, fishing, and banana and cassava growing. The municipality was once a notable site for rubber production: exploited by the Peruvian

Julio César Arana Julio César Arana del Águila, (April 12, 1864 – September 7, 1952) was a Peruvian entrepreneur and politician who committed crimes against humanity such as slavery, torture and genocide. A major figure in the rubber industry in the upper ...

, who owned the

Peruvian Amazon Company The Peruvian Amazon Company, also known as the Anglo-Peruvian Amazon Rubber Co., was a rubber boom company that operated in Peru during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Headquartered in Iquitos, it gained notoriety for its harsh treatment of In ...

at the turn of the 20th century, north of the

Putumayo River The Putumayo River or Içá River (, ) is one of the tributaries of the Amazon River, southwest of and parallel to the Japurá River. Course The Putumayo River forms part of Colombia's border with Ecuador, as well as most of the border with Per ...

. The territory has an area of 12,670 km².

History

La Chorrera is located below a steep cataract of the Igaraparaná river. The settlement itself was built on a high bank of the river, and started off as a rubber planation. It was originally founded by Colombians Crisóstomo Hernandez &

Benjamin Larrañaga Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...

around 1898 with the name ‘Colonia India’. Originally the two were cinchona (quina) collectors, but switched their attention to rubber in the Putumayo after the collapse of the

Cinchona boom ''Cinchona'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. All are native to the tropical Andean forests of western South America. A few species are reportedly natu ...

. Julio Arana entered the region in 1896, soon forming a partnership with Benjamin and Rafael Larrañaga, forming Larrañaga, Arana y compañia. For his future endeavors, Arana followed the example of the Colombians who had worked the local natives into a debt bondage system that would become synonymous with slavery. One of the first documented massacres of the

Putumayo genocide The Putumayo genocide () refers to the severe exploitation and subsequent ethnocide of the Indigenous population in the Putumayo region. The booms of raw materials incentivized the exploration and occupation of uncolonised land in the Amazon by ...

happened at La Chorrera in September 1903. During the birthday of his sister in law, Rafael Larrañaga assisted by employees of the company, flogged, shot and killed 25 natives: burning some of the survivors alive. These victims were guilty of not gathering enough rubber to meet a quota. After Benjamin Larrañaga's death on December 21, 1903, Arana bought out Larrañaga's sons share from the company: "taking advantage of their ignorance and stupidity to rob them scandalously." By this time, Julio C. Arana was in control over the Igaraparaná river: and after taking over

El Encanto El Encanto is a town and municipality in the ''Amazonas Department'' of Colombia. It is located in the mouth of the Cara Paraná River, a tributary of the Putumayo River (Içá). El Encanto can be reached by air or river. The local navy base has ...

from the Calderón Hermanos, Arana became the sole master of the Putumayo. All of the rubber collected by Aranas firm along the Igaraparaná was sent to La Chorrera, where it was then sent to

Iquitos Iquitos (; ) is the capital city of Peru's Maynas Province, Peru, Maynas Province and Loreto Region. It is the largest metropolis in the Peruvian Amazon, east of the Andes, as well as the List of cities in Peru, ninth-most populous city in Peru ...

. In 1906, the manager

Victor Macedo Victor Macedo was a Peruvian administrator involved in the operations of the Peruvian Amazon Company during the early 20th century. Between 1903 and 1911, Macedo held a leadership role at La Chorrera, a major rubber station in the Putumayo regi ...

issued an order "to kill all mutilated Indians at once for the following reasons: first, because they consumed food although they could not work; and second, because it looked bad to have these mutilated wretches running about."{{cite book , last1=Hardenburg , first1=Walter , title=The Putumayo, the Devil's Paradise; Travels in the Peruvian Amazon Region and an Account of the Atrocities Committed Upon the Indians Therein , date=1912 , publisher=London: Fischer Unwin , location=Putumayo , isbn=1372293019 , pages=206 , url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45204/45204-h/45204-h.htm , access-date=29 June 2023 Separation of families, slavery, constant flogging, target practice on humans, murders, various methods of torture, and the violation of little girls were common under the rubber company. Carrying materials for construction at La Chorrera

Carrying materials for construction at La Chorrera

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

*{{in lang, es}
Government of Amazonas Department; La Chorrera
{{Municipalities amazonas department {{Treasures of Colombia Municipalities of Amazonas (Colombian department)