Santa Marta, Hispanic Caribbean Culture
A History That's Alive and Important

Santa Marta
Capital of the Magdalena Department.

Magdalena seat of Government

Hispanic History

July 29, 1525
The city was founded by Rodrigo de Bastidas and is now the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in South America.

1530
Tayrona Museum, Casa de la Aduana (Gold Museum) was built.

From the mid 1500's to the early 1700's Santa Marta was a target for pirate attacks.

1766
The Cathedral is built, probably the oldest church in Colombia.

July 20, 1810
Independence of Colombia

December 17, 1830
El Libertador Simón Bolívar died of tuberculosis at Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino on the outskirts of Santa Marta.

1871
The University of Magdalena was founded.
Law and medicine.

1886
Constitution of Colombia

December 6, 1928
United Fruit Company
The Banana Massacre
A massacre of workers for the United Fruit Company in the main square of Cienaga located just outside of Santa Marta on the road to Barranquilla. Estimates of the number killed range from 47 to over 2000. The government decided to send the military forces to end a month-long strike organized by the workers' union in order to secure better working conditions, The Hispanic strikers were thought to be subversive and a threat. The troops opened fire on protesters from the rooftops in the town square in Cienaga using machine guns. The strike was written about by Gabriel García Márquez in One Hundred Years of Solitude

(1946-1948) to 1958
La Violencia
A revolt in the countryside by self defense and guerrilla groups organized by the Colombian Liberal Party and the Colombian Communist Party mostly composed of peasants. Frustration by the lack of economic change by the government is believed to be the main cause.
This period began with the assination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in Bogota and riot that followed which killed 2000 people and destroyed a good part of the downtown area. Over the following 18 years this period of violence claimed the lives of over 200,000 people.

1989
Santa Marta now Special District of Tourism, Cultural and History

1991
The Political Constitution of Colombia

March 14, 2007
Chiquita Bananas who took over United Fruit Company Headquarters: Downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Fined $25 million for paying a terrorist organization for help in doing business in Colombia and also for the supply of weapons and ammunition to the UAC, labeled a terrorist organization.A Banadex ship owned by Chiquita was used for the transport and unloading of 3,000 rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition for paramilitaries to push leftist rebels (FARC) out of an area in northern Colombia where Chiquita had its banana plantations. Chiquita Brands International admitted to a US federal court to having payed US$2 million to Colombia's top paramilitary group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia. Extradition of Chiquita executives by Colombia is in process for supporting the death squads who committed these crimes.

April 14, 2010
The plaintiffs say Chiquita bananas helped paramilitary militias in the South American country of Colombia. provided Marxist rebels with resources, allegedly enabling the murders and kidnappings of hundreds of Colombian victims.
Chiquitas Lawsuit

Drummond out of Alabama, USA, another multinational is facing a criminal investigation concerning the murder of three union leaders in Colombia.

In the 20th century Santa Marta was a main port for exports of bananas United Fruit Company/Chiquita Bananas and coal being Drummond.
Latin America in general and the Hispanic people in particular have suffered greatly over the past many hundreds of years. Exploitation from the untouchables, of course still continues but perhaps the future will be better now that more people have access to information concerning issues of injustice that affect people everywhere.

Today Santa Marta is an important shipping port and center for tourism, history and culture. The country has a strong tradition of democracy and will continue to move towards a better future for its people.