San Sebastián de Urabá was the first settlement established by Spaniards in the area of 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, ...

in Colombia.

Settlement

This fortified settlement was founded on 20 January 1510 by

Alonso de Ojeda Alonso de Ojeda (; c. 1466 – c. 1515) was a Spanish explorer, governor and conquistador. He is famous for having named Venezuela, which he explored during his first two expeditions, for having been the first European to visit Guyana, Curaçao ...

on the eastern coast 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 ...

, in what is today Necoclí in the territory of the department of Antioquia, Colombia. Towards the end of 1509, Alonso de Ojeda arrived in the Darién Gap as governor of the province of New Andalusia which included the Darién Gap. He was commanding an expedition that left

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

, made up of 300 men, with which he founded the settlement of San Sebastián de Urabá, near the present locality of Necoclí, Antioquia. The native inhabitants were hostile to the Spaniards. They refused to trade food with them and frequently attacked them. Eight months after Ojeda left Hispaniola and founded San Sebastián, the situation in the fort was no longer tenable. Of the 300 men who had initially arrived with Ojeda only 42 survivors remained in the settlement.

References

{{reflist Former populated places in Colombia Populated places established in 1510