La Guajira () is a department of Colombia. It occupies most of the Guajira Peninsula in the northeast region of the country, on the Caribbean Sea and bordering Venezuela, at the northernmost tip of South America. The capital city of the department is Riohacha.

Various indigenous tribes have populated the arid plains of the region long before the Spanish expeditions reached the Americas. In 1498, Alonso de Ojeda sailed around the peninsula of La Guajira, but the first European to set foot in what is known today as La Guajira was the Spanish explorer Juan de la Cosa in 1499. During the colonial era, the territory of La Guajira was disputed by the governors of Santa Marta and Venezuela, owing to deposits of pearls. English pirates, Frenchmen, and Germans also fought for control of the territory.

Martin Fernandez de Enciso founded Nuestra Señora Santa María de los Remedios del Cabo de la Vela, the first colonial village in the territory. In 1535, Nicolás de Federmán refounded the settlement as the village of Riohacha, as a result of constant attacks by the Wayuu people. In 1544, it was moved to the site of the present-day city. In 1871, the region was separated from the Department of Magdalena, and La Guajira became a national territory in its own right. The Intendance of La Guajira was created in 1898.Colombian Air Force: Guajira

In 1911, the Colombian government created the Commissary of la Guajira. In the 1930s, numerous immigrants came to the area from the Middle East (Christian Arabs, Maronites in particular, and Shi'i Muslims) from Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan. They generally settled in the city of Maicao. In 1954, the Intendance of la Guajira was created again and Riohacha was declared a municipality. Finally, in 1964, the Department of La Guajira was created.

The economy of the department depends on royalties from the coal mining at Cerrejón (producing 24.9 million tons of export coal in 2004), natural gas exploitation, and salt mines. A popular ecotourist destination is Cabo de la Vela, a small fishing village located on the headland of the peninsula in the Guajira desert.

Etymology The name Guajira comes from the Cariban languages; it is the Spanish pronunciation of Wajiira or Wahiira. According to Picon, the word Guajiros was first used in the year 1600 to designate some 200 indigenous families inhabiting the region of Riohacha.Picon, François-René. 1996: p. 313 They were known for having large herds of goats. The Spanish applied the term to all the indigenous in the peninsula who were goat herders. According to Oliver, the term Guajiro did not appear on Spanish records until the year 1626, in a document by a friar named Pedro Simón.Oliver, José. Reflexiones sobre los posibles orígenes del Wayuu (Guajiro), 1990: p. 84 Government of La Guajira: Guajira Development Plan - Etymology

Geography

The northern part of the department consists of arid plains called the Guajira-Barranquilla xeric scrub, whose dryness is caused by the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. These mountains rise to in the south. The Sinú Valley dry forests lie in between. In the far south are the headwaters of the Cesar River, which flow south towards the Magdalena River.

The Ranchería River, which also rises in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, crosses the Guajira Peninsula from south to north and flows through the Valley of Upar and into the Caribbean Sea. The Serranía del Perijá and the Montes de Oca lie in the southeastern part of the department, bordering Venezuela.

The department was divided into three subregions based on geographical characteristics: Upper, Middle, and Southern Guajira. The Upper Guajira covers the northernmost part of the peninsula, with mostly scarce semi-desertic vegetation. It has only an isolated, low-altitude mountain range, the Serranía de Macuira (865 m above sea level). The Middle Guajira region is mostly flat, with hills in some areas, presenting also an arid environment. The Southern Guajira covers the region of the Montes de Oca and the Serranía del Perijá mountain ranges on the border with Venezuela, and the valley formed with the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range. Southern Guajira has more green vegetation, wetlands and rivers.

Ecoregions

The Department of La Guajira is within the Colombian Caribbean region, one of the five natural regions of Colombia. Government of La Guajira: Development Plan - subregions

Serranía de Macuira

The Serranía de Macuira mountain range is located to the northwest of the Guajira Peninsula occupying an area of , of which are contained within the Macuira National Park. The mountain range is an isolated ecosystem in the middle of the La Guajira Desert, near the Caribbean Sea, between the villages of Nazareth, Ichipa and Tawara. The mountain range works as a barrier to humid trade winds, which blow from the northeast.

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range is located on the Caribbean Sea and is shared with the departments of Magdalena and Cesar. Most of the hydrographic reserves in the Department of La Guajira originate in this mountain range, including the Ranchería River which flows through most of the department from south to north. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta was declared by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve. UNESCO: Buritaca 200 - Ciudad Perdida - Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

Cerro Pintao The Cerro Pintao ("Painted Hill")—on the slopes of which sit the municipalities of San Juan del Cesar, El Molino, Villanueva, and Urumita and, in the Department of Cesar, the municipalities of Manaure, La Paz, San Diego, and Codazzi—covers an area of , with altitudes ranging from , forming a Páramo ecosystem, and gives birth to some 13 rivers of Colombia. Government of La Guajira: Guajira Development Plan - Cerro Pintao

Flamingos Fauna and Flora Sanctuary The Santuario de Flora y Fauna los Flamencos (Flamingos Fauna and Flora Sanctuary) is located on the coastline of the municipality of Riohacha, between the village of Camarones and the Tapias River, and covers The sanctuary has four lagoons (Manzanillo, Navío Quebrado, Tocoromanes, and Laguna Grande) and numerous streams which serve as habitat for the flamingos and numerous other endemic species. Government of La Guajira: Guajira Development Plan - Flamingos Fauna and Flora Sanctuary

Flamingos Protection Area Located in the village of Musichi, the Flamingos Protection Area is within the municipality of Manaure and contains numerous lagoons that are used by locals for the artisanal making of salt. Government of La Guajira: Guajira Development Plan - Flamingos Protection Area

Climate

History

Pre-Columbian

During the pre-Columbian era, present-day La Guajira was inhabited predominantly by indigenous tribes belonging, in the dry northern lowlands, mostly to the Wayuu (Guajiros, Macuiros, Anates, Caquetios, Wayunaiki, Cuanaos, Onotos and Eneales) and Cocina people, and, in the south, to the Kogui, Arhuaco, Guanebucan, and Chimila ethnic groups, among others. Government of La Guajira: Guajira Development Plan - History Archaeological digs have uncovered the sites of fishing communities that used pottery on the central eastern side of the Guajira Peninsula, dating to the 10th century BC.

These groups coexisted on the Guajira Peninsula. The northern indigenous peoples were nomads traveling the peninsula, hunting, fishing, and collecting fruit. The indigenous groups in the south were semi-sedentary, practicing agriculture and exploiting coastal resources.

Spanish conquest and colonization

In 1498, the Guajira Peninsula was first seen by Spanish explorers led by Alonso de Ojeda, who sailed the coast, but didn't land. Dibuya: History In 1502, a Spanish expedition led by Juan de la Cosa was the first to disembark at Cabo de la Vela. Government of Riohacha: History

In 1524, Rodrigo de Bastidas created the government of Santa Marta which encompassed an area from Cabo de la Vela to the mouth of the Magdalena River. Juan Friede, "La conquista del territorio y el poblamiento", Manual de Historia de Colombia, 3 Vols., Vol. 1, Bogotá, Instituto Colombiano de Cultura, 1982, pp.116-222, p.131.

In 1535, Martín Fernández de Enciso founded the first settlement in La Guajira, a village, near present-day Cabo de la Vela, called Nuestra Señora Santa María de los Remedios del Cabo de la Vela. In 1544, due to constant attacks from the indigenous, and from Spanish from the neighboring Captaincy of Venezuela who were after the large deposits of pearls, the village was moved to present-day Riohacha and refounded by Nikolaus Federmann.

Between 1609 and 1640, the Spanish colonizers imported some 800 or more African slaves. Most of these later escaped and formed palenques. In 1679, the Government of Santa Marta offered these palenques their freedom in exchange for their helping to protect the territory from English pirates and the government of Venezuela who coveted the Guajira Peninsula because of its pearls.

La Guajira was one of the territories in Colombia that endured a period of isolation during the Spanish colonization of the Americas, due to the resistance of the indigenous peoples, predominantly the Wayuu. It was not until the 18th century that the Spanish monarchy ordered the complete conquest of the region, and the conflict between colonizers and indigenous prevailed throughout the 19th century. La guerra de los Cárdenas y los Valdeblánquez (1970-1989) Estudio de un conflicto mestizo en La Guajira by Simón Uribe Martínez and Nicolás Cárdenas Angel

The Guajira rebellion

The Wayuu were never subjugated by the Spanish, and the two groups were in a more or less permanent state of war. There were rebellions in 1701 (when the Wayuu destroyed a Capuchin mission), 1727 (when more than 2,000 Indians attacked the Spanish), 1741, 1757, 1761, and 1768. In 1718, Governor Soto de Herrera called the Wayuu, "barbarians, horse thieves, worthy of death, without God, without law and without a king". Of all the Indians in the territory of Colombia, they were unique in having learned the use of firearms and horses. Luis Angel Arango Library: The Guajira rebellion

In 1769, the Spanish took 22 Wayuu captive, in order to put them to work building the fortifications of Cartagena. The reaction of their fellow Indians was unexpected. On May 2, 1769, at El Rincón, near Río de la Hacha, they set the village afire, burning the church and two Spaniards who had taken refuge in it, and capturing the priest. The Spanish immediately dispatched an expedition from El Rincón to capture the Indians. At the head of this force was José Antonio de Sierra, a mestizo who had also headed the party that had taken the 22 Guajiro captives. The Guajiros recognized him and forced his party to take refuge in the house of the curate, which they then set afire. Sierra and eight of his men were killed.

This success was soon known in other Guajiro areas, and more men joined the revolt. According to Messía, at its peak there were 20,000 Indians under arms. Many had firearms acquired from English and Dutch smugglers, sometimes even from the Spanish. These enabled the rebels to capture nearly all the settlements of the region, which they burned. According to the authorities, more than 100 Spaniards were killed and many others taken prisoner. Many cattle were also taken by the rebels. The Spaniards who could took refuge in Río de la Hacha and sent urgent messages to Maracaibo, Valle de Upar, Santa Marta, and Cartagena. Cartagena sent 100 troops. The rebels themselves were not unified. Sierra's relatives among the Indians took up arms against the rebels to avenge his death, a battle between them being fought at La Soledad. That and the arrival of the Spanish reinforcements quelled the rebellion, but not before the Guajiro had regained much territory.

Republican era