Barranquilla

City of Barranquilla
Industrial, Portuary, and Special District

City flag

City coat of arms

City nicknames: "The Sandy One," "Curramba," "Curramba, The Beautiful," "Golden Gate of Colombia"

Location in the Atlantico Deparment

Area
- Total

00,000 km² (0,000 mi)

Population
- Total (2006)
- Density

1,700,000 aprox.
00 per km²

Time zone

UTC–5

Location

Mayor

Guillermo Hoenigsberg Bornacelly

City official website

Barranquilla, an Industrial, Portuary, and Special District, is a city and municipality located in northern Colombia. Capital of the Atlantico Department, it is the largest industrial city and port on the Colombian Caribbean region and the fourth largest city of Colombia. It lies strategically by the delta of the Magdalena River, serving as port for fluvial and maritime transportation. It is also known as the cradle of Colombian aviation and as home to a very picturesque carnival.

History

It is known as Colombia's Golden Gate (Spanish: La Puerta de Oro de Colombia). Its settlement or foundation can be traced back to at least 1629, but its is one of very few cities in the world that bears no established record of its foundation. However, its residents traditionally have come to commemorate the city's "birthday" as the date when Barranquilla was legally established as a village, April 7 1813. As Barranquilla became an important port, it also served as a haven for immigrants from Europe during World War I and World War II, and for different waves of immigrants from the Middle East and Asia.

Barranquilla was Colombia's first port and is proud of its level of industrialization and modernity, which earned it the name of Colombia's Golden Gate. The first airport in South America was also built in Barranquilla, and the world's second oldest commercial airline doing business today was founded there, SCADTA (now known as Avianca). The Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport, the first airport built in South America (1919), is served by domestic and international flights.

In the 1940s, Barranquilla was the second largest city in Colombia and one of the most modern cities on the Caribbean, but later local administrations, given to widespread corruption, brought about a decline in the standard of living. As government investment increased in other Colombian cities, Barranquilla's national stature was surpassed.

Climate and Geography

The climate is hot and very humid. Daytime temperature usually remains around 30°C. Nevertheless, from late November to early April, the trade winds cool it to a more comfortable temperature during the day. The rainy seasons are from April to June and from August to November, when some streets flood producing "arroyos" (streams), given the lack of appropriate rain drainage in some sectors of town.

Barranquilla is a modern, industrial city, with more than 1,700,000 inhabitants (2.2 million within a metropolitan area including nearby Soledad).

The city's topograhical layout is simple: to the east, it's bordered by the Magdalena river; to the west, it's bordered by a bypass called Circunvalación. The city grid is divided in the typical Colombian way: calles (streets, going from north to south) and carreras (avenues, going from east to west). Downtown is located near the river, on the eastern edge of town. The two main axes of the city are Olaya Herrera Avenue, which goes from downtown to the western edge of town, becoming the highway to nearby Cartagena de Indias, and Murillo Street, which goes from the southern, working-class neighborhoods to the city's downtown. Upper-class and middle-class neighborhoods are to the west and north of the city.

Culture

View of Barranquilla from space

Barranquilla's Carnival (Spanish: Carnaval de Barranquilla), which is celebrated four days before Ash Wednesday, is broadly recognized as one of the world's largest carnivals; residents claim it is second only to the carnival of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In November of 2003, UNESCO proclaimed it as one of 28 different "masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity"(1).

As a result of the city's lengthy tradition as a port of entry, Barranquilla's culture is marked by a cosmopolitan streak, only comparable in the national context to Colombia's capital, Bogotá. The city is home to numerous immigrant groups: Lebanese, Italian, Catalonian, Jewish, and Chinese. From its gastronomy to the local Spanish accent, Barranquilla's culture is markedly different from the rest of the regions in the country.

Barranquilla was home to Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez during his early years as journalist and bears substantial weight on his literary production. García Márquez's old bohemian hangout, La Cueva, has been restored and is open to the public as an artsy bar.

The Teatro Municipal Amira de la Rosa is the city's main cultural scenario. Barranquilla is also home to the Cinemateca del Caribe, the Alliance Française, the Centro Cultural Avianca, and the Centro Colombo Americano.

Nicknames
Barranquilla is lovingly known as Curramba La bella (Curramba The Beautiful) and those hailing from Barranquilla, like international recording artist Shakira and Atlanta Braves shortstop Edgar Rentería, are known as "curramberos" (curramberos literally means party people, hinting at the locals' gregarious temperament). The adjective for a woman from Barranquilla is barranquillera, while a man is a barranquillero.

The city is also known as "La Arenosa" (The Sandy One), alluding to the fine sand occasionally present in the air, due to its proximity to the Caribbean beaches.

Education

View of the Parque de los Fundadores near the Romantic Museum

Barranquilla is home to a number of universities, like the Universidad del Norte,Universidad del Atlántico, the Universidad Metropolitana, the Universidad Autónoma del Caribe, the Universidad Simón Bolívar, and the Corporación Universitaria de la Costa. There are also many bilingual schools, such as Marymount, Karl C. Parrish, Lyndon B. Johnson, and the British International School, generally accessible only to the city's elite. Barranquilla is also home to a number of more traditional Catholic schools like the Liceo de Cervantes, Colegio Sagrado Corazón, and the Jesuits' Colegio San José. Other schools include the Colegio Hebreo, the Colegio Alemán, and Colegio Altamira. The city is also remarkable for having one of highest literacy rates in the country: 96.4 percent [1].

Economy

Barranquilla is home to a thriving free zone, as well as to a number of staples of the Colombian economy, such as Cervecería Águila, Olímpica S.A., Comisariato Vivero, Monómeros, and Cementos del Caribe. The city is the birthplace of the Grupo Santo Domingo, one of the main business conglomerates in Colombia.

Media

The city's two main newspapers are El Heraldo and La Libertad. Other dailies include newspapers of nationwide distribution, such as Bogotá's El Tiempo. The local TV channel is Colombia's Caribbean regional network, Telecaribe.Local radio includes the customary assortment of tropical music and news. The two main highbrow alternatives, Radiodifusora Nacional de Colombia and Uninorte FM Estéreo, broadcast on 640 AM and 103.1 FM, respectively.

Sports

Though baseball is popular, the locals fervently follow Barranquilla's soccer team, Atlético Junior. The team plays at the Estadio Metropolitano, one of the largest soccer stadiums in the Americas.

Transportation

The Barranquilla skyline from across the Magdalena river

Land Transportation
Public transportation in Barranquilla mainly consists of buses and taxis. The main bus terminal is located near the southern edge of town, at the end of Murillo Street. A bus rapid transit system called Transmetro, similar to Bogota's TransMilenio, will begin operating by late 2007.

Recently, a new illegal form of transportation developed in the city denominated mototaxismo, similar to an auto rickshaw but more informal and unsafe, using a regular motorcycle to carry a passenger for a lower fare than a bus or taxi. This unfair practice led to protests by the legally operating transportation companies and drove many of them into bankruptcy.

Air Transportation
The city's airport, the Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport, receives domestic and international flights. Domestic flights are mainly operated by Avianca.

Fluvial and Maritime Transportation
The port of Barranquilla is located by the Magdalena River, and accessible to ships coming from the sea thanks to dredge ships, that constantly make way for the ship canals, named Canal de Acceso (Access Canal) and Canal del Dique (Dam Canal).