Necoclí is a town and

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' ...

Antioquia Department Antioquia () is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders the Caribbean Sea. Most of its territory is mountainous with some valleys, much of which is part o ...

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 ...

. Located on the eastern shore of the

Gulf of Urabá The Gulf of Urabá is a gulf on the northern coast of Colombia. It is part of the Caribbean Sea. It is a long, wide inlet located on the coast of Colombia, close to the connection of the continent to the Isthmus of Panama. The town of Turbo, Co ...

, it is part of the Urabá Antioquia sub-region. The population is predominantly Afro-Colombian. It was founded as a Spanish city called San Sebastián de Buena Vista. One of Colombia's oldest towns, it was founded in 1509 by

Pedro de Heredia Pedro de Heredia ( – 27 January 1554) 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. Early life Pedro de Heredia was born in in Madrid. He w ...

, who died in 1555. Some early reports of the town can be found in chapter 9 of

Pedro Cieza de León Pedro Cieza de León ( Llerena, Spain c. 1518 or 1520 – Seville, Spain July 2, 1554) was a Spanish conquistador and chronicler of Peru and Popayán. He is known primarily for his extensive work, ''Crónicas del Perú'' (The Chronicle of Peru), ...

's ''Crónica del Perú'' (1553). Necoclí Airport is a

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

airport, without scheduled flights. Buses link the town with Cartagena, the department capital of

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

, and other points. There are scheduled launches to two towns without road access,

Capurganá Capurganá is a town of the municipality of Acandí on the northwestern coast of the Gulf of Urabá in the Colombian department of Chocó Department, Chocó, adjacent to the border between Colombia and Panama. Previously a base site for eco-touri ...

and

Acandí Acandí is a town in Colombia at the northern extremity of the department of Chocó in the northwest of Colombia, bordering Panama and the Caribbean Sea. It is from the department's capital, Quibdó. Its average temperature is . It was founded ar ...

, across the gulf and near the Panamanian border.

2021 deluge of Haitian migrants

The town is as close to Panama as one can get by road from the south, and serves as an impromptu staging ground for migrants attempting to cross the Gulf of Urabá to Capurganá, and from there by hiking through the

Darién Gap The Darién Gap (, , ) is a geographic region that connects the Americas, American continents, stretching across southern Panama's Darién Province and the northern portion of Colombia's Chocó Department. Consisting of a large drainage basin, ...

into

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, en route to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. While the population of Necoclí is about 20,000, about 25,000 migrants, 75% of which were Haitian, passed through Necoclí between January and August, 2021. The number of migrants arriving exceeded the capacity of the ferries across the Gulf of Urabá, causing extended waits for a free seat. In August 2021 there were some 10,000 migrants sleeping in hostels, churches, or on the beach. The town's water system collapsed, unable to handle the increased load. The mayor proclaimed a state of emergency ("calamidad pública").

Demographics

Total population: 42,281 hab. (2018) * Urban Population: 21,995 * Rural Population: 20,326 Literacy: 76.8% (2005) * Urban area: 88.6% * Rural area: 73.1%

Ethnography

According to the figures presented by DANE in the 2005 census, the

ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

composition of the municipality is: * Afro-descendants (59.0%). *

Mestizo ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...

s and

whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

(37.5%). *

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

(3.5%).

Climate

Necoclí has a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Am'') with moderate rainfall from January to March and heavy rainfall in the remaining months.

2021 deluge of Haitian migrants

Demographics

Ethnography

Climate

See also

References

Further reading