Riohacha

Riohacha , Rio Chopped or Rio of Hacha (“ river of the Axe ”), is a town of Colombia, on the Caribbean Sea.

Located at the mouth of the flauve Ranchería, it is the chief town of the department of Guajira.

History

The territory of Riohacha was populated Indians Wayuu, one of the people Arawaks, when he was discovered since the sea in 1498 by Alonso de Ojeda. A few years later, Juan of Cosa unloaded in Cabo of Vela (“course of the candle”). The city was finally founded by the Conquistador Nikolaus Federmann in 1535, which named it Nuestra Señora Santa Maria of los Remedios del Cabo of Vela (“Notre-Dame holy Marie of the Helps of the course of the Candle”).

The area being fertile in Pearl S, the city was a target of choice for the pirates, and, after being destroyed following a raid, it was rebuilt with the mouth of Rio Rancheria. This new city, called Nuestra Señora of los Remedios del Río of Chopped (“Notre-Dame of the Helps of the river of the Axe”), was again the prey of the pirates, the principal attack having been that of Francis Drake, which plundered it in 1596 in the search of gold and pearls.

To the 18th century, Riohacha was attached to the province of Santa Marta, in the viceroyalty of the News-Grenade.

During the fight for independence, the port of Riohacha sheltered many vessels combatant the Spaniards for the release of the Colombia and the Venezuela, and the revolutionary admiral Jose Prudencio Padilla, hero of the revolutions of these two countries, is native of this city.

In 1954, Riohacha acquired the statute of municipality, and became chief town of Guajira in 1964.

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