CARTAGENA CITY

Introduction

After a personal visit to Cartagena Colombia, I was deeply impressed with the long and exciting history of this colonial city.  Although I am Colombian by birth, born and raised in the north coast of this country, I was totally ignorant of certain aspects of the history of this wonderful city.  A city packed with valuable history, especially the narrative surrounding its survival strategies in the face of countless attacks from foreign foes which have invaded the city taking away its treasures.  An outstanding military strategy was the building of a seawall which would close the entry between Bocagrande and the island of Tierra Bomba which offers an open entrance to the city bay.  This entrance was used by pirates and enemy´ ships to invade and attack the city and its closure was strategic for its defense.     

However, this particular aspect of the history of the city goes unnoticed to the young generation today in Cartagena. Although the seawall is still standing and contributing to the protection of the city, little is known of its history. Today there are no foreign foes attacking the city  but it stands as a great protection from the severe and strong winds and  waves approaching the coast even today.

Objective

The purpose of this project is to contribute to the educational process in Cartagena and Colombia in general by creating awareness of historical sites in Colombia, and specifically the Bocagrande seawall in Cartagena, in order to preserve the historical memory of significant event which have impacted the development of the city; as a new generation flourished in Colombia, little is known of many important aspects of the past and how these events have impacted the life of the country and the city in particular.  Therefore, this project will create awareness of the struggle and warfare that took place in the past so that the present can better be appreciated.

Background

The city was founded by Pedro de Heredia on June 1, 1533. Since its foundation Cartagena presented various challenges that the settlers had to confront, among them enemy attacks and natural disasters due to the geographical location of the bay and the role it will play between the Indians Region and Spain Kingdom.

It wasn't long after the foundation of the city that means of communication with EL Nuevo Reino de Granada were established primarily through fluvial communication. Due to port and easy access provided on the island of Calamari, Cartagena began to experience some prosperity. The majority of commercial activity between the interior of the Nueva Granada and Spain would pass through Cartagena. The city became the crossroad between Spain and Nueva Granada  Granada.

At the beginning Cartagena looked like any other city recently established, it became the center of trade, commerce and economic activities, which contributed to its rapid prosperity.  It was a situation  that caused it to suffer the horror of invasion numerous times.

So, the Spanish kingdom had to design a defense system that would protect the city not only from these enemy attacks, but also from the attacks of nature.  That’s why all this fortification system was built, and is still in the city, according with UNESCO is the largest in Latin America.

Military strategy

The military strategywas to build the fortifications on land, but also to build a Seawall in Bocagrande that closed off the entry, since this was where the city was most exposed. With this wall, the enemy fleets would shipwreck when trying to enter. This would only leave the Bocachica entrance available, but there they built two forts, from where they bombarded the enemy ships, in addition to that, they crossed a chain from side to side to close the entry.