Caribbean Coast of Colombia

[Bonaoense]

People from the Caribbean region of Colombia


The Caribbean Region or Caribbean Coast Region is a natural region of Colombia mainly composed of eight Departments located contiguous to the Caribbean.[1] The area covers a total land area of 132,288 km² including the San Andres Island Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina in the Caribbean sea and corresponding to approximately 1/10 of the total territory of Colombia. The Caribbean region of Colombia is home to approximately 9 million people according to the Colombian Census 2005.[1]

The area is characterized for having a massif plain that extends from the Colombian Andean Mountain range, surrounds the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range and covers the Guajira Peninsula to border the Caribbean sea. In the western side of the region there is also a relative low altitude mountain range, the Montes de Maria which are also separate from the Andean mountain range. The Caribbean region is crossed by many rivers and contains one of the largest marshes in Colombia, the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta marsh among many others. The main river is the Magdalena River which is fully navigable in the region and a major path for the flow of shipments from and for inland Colombia. The Madgalena river has numerous sub basins within its basin.

The Caribbean region coast extends from the Gulf of Uraba to the Gulf of Venezuela with the main port cities of Barranquilla and Cartagena bordering it. The administration of the region is covered by eight department governments; Atlántico, Bolívar, Cesar, Sucre, Córdoba, Magdalena, La Guajira and San Andrés y Providencia. These 8 departments also cover approximately 182 municipalities, 1093 corregimientos and 493 caserios according to the 2005 Census by DANE. Most of its inhabitants speak a dialect of Caribbean Spanish with variations within its subregions.


Known for its peacefulness and easygoing demeanor, the inhabitants from the region enjoy a warm climate and a clean and calm seaboard which is the main pillar of their identity. The men and women of the region are festive, easygoing and very peaceful, often choosing to ignore or refuse confrontation whilst keeping a healthy attitude of debate and passionate argumentation without violence. However, the region is known for giving the country its most prominent fighters and also for harboring some communities which pursue human excellence through the academic and physical endeavors and undertakings. The inhabitants are also hard-working and the cities are very festive but also very committed to progress and development in several areas, particularly educational ones as the interest of the latest administrations has been to develop technology and science as a tool for increased productivity and sustenance as well as economical development and progress.

It has been always a basis of the culture the cultivation of intellectual traits and virtues. It is why taxicab drivers are known to be well-versed in many religious and/or philosophical themes and topics and why people can easily start conversations with strangers on a waiting line to debate topics that can range from politics to science, a particular point of interest to the city and especially to the last generations who are avid readers of scientific material which has propelled the social and cultural development through academia and intellectual activities. The city is known to many for this and it is said that "even the poorest man in the city is rich in wisdom in the country" for this cultural trait.

[Bonaoense]

Caribbean Colombians are about 20% of Colombia's population

[jibarodepr]

Very Amerindid.

[Bonaoense]

Some of them seem to look like regular andean mestizos but with a 'caribbean vibe'

[Bonaoense]

People from Barranquilla, the main city of the region

[Doctoris Scientia]

Triracial: African, Amerindian, and European. Very similar to North Brazil imo.

The dominating factor varies from sub-region to sub-region.

[Bohecoa]

Many of them remind me of azuanos.

[Doctoris Scientia]

Zambos can be very beautiful.

Usually very dark but with very straightish hair...

[Bonaoense]

People from the town of Palenque, a historically african enclave and the only place to have developed an afro-spanish creole (Palenquero)


The village of Palenque de San Basilio has a population of about 3,500 inhabitants and is located in the foothills of the Montes de María, southeast of the regional capital, Cartagena.[1] The word "palenque" means "walled city" and the Palenque de San Basilio is only one of many walled communities that were founded by escaped slaves as a refuge in the seventeenth century.[1] Of the many palenques of escaped slaves that existed previously San Basilio is the only one that survives.[1] Many of the oral and musical traditions have roots in Palenque's African past.[1]

The village of San Basilio is inhabited mainly by Afro-Colombians which are direct descendants of African slaves brought by the Spanish during the Colonization of the Americas and have preserved their ancestral traditions and have developed also their own language; Palenquero. In 2005 the Palenque de San Basilio village was proclaimed Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

In the village of Palenque de San Basilio the totality of its inhabitants are black and still preserve customs and language from their African ancestors. The village was established by Benkos Bioho sometime in the 16th century.

The New York Times reported on October 18, 2007 that the language spoken in Palenquero is thought to be the only Spanish-based Creole language in Latin America and the grammar is so different from Spanish, that Spanish speakers cannot understand it.[2] The language Palenquero was influenced by the Kikongo language of Congo and Angola, and also by Portuguese, the language of the slave traders who brought African slaves to South America in the 17th century.[2] Today fewer than half of the community’s 3,000 residents still speak Palenquero.[2]

A linguist born in Palenquero is compiling a lexicon for the language and others are assembling a dictionary of Palenquero.[2] The defenders of Palenquero continue their struggle to keep the language alive.[2] “Our ancestors survived capture in Africa, the passage by ship to Cartagena and were strong enough to escape and live on their own for centuries," said Mr. Salgado, a schoolteacher.

[Macorisano]

Bonao, your first set of photos suprised me because the people in the photos are not predominantly African. If anything, most are predominantly Euro. When I think of Coastal Colombia, I think of people more Afro than even Dominicans.

[Bonaoense]

You're probably thinking about the pacific coast, although there does seem to be some caribbean coastal areas with a very strong african influence.

Caribbean Colombians seem much more euro-indigenous on average than we are

[Maroon King]

The Caribbean coast probably has the most brown skinned tri-racials as I've stated before, and people usually associate my pheno with this region eventhough my heritage is not from there. I'ma costeño but from the Pacific coast; I might be brown like them but I'm Black and that's not the way most Caribbean Colombians identify. What region of Colombia would you guys place my pheno in?