Aguachica

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Region	Caribbean Region (Colombia)
Aguachica
The San Roque Park in Aguachica.
Location in the Department of Cesar. Municipality (dark gray), City (red).
Department	Department of Cesar^*
Foundation	August 16, 1748
Government
- Mayor	Luz Irina Perez Sanchez
Area
- City	876.26 km² (Municipality) km² (Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "[" sq mi)
Elevation	200 m (656.2 ft)
Website: www.alcaldiadeaguachica.gov.co

Aguachica, is a small city and municipality in the southern region of the Department of Cesar, Colombia. It was officially founded in August 16, 1748 by José Lázaro de Rivera.

1 History
2 Geography
- 2.1 Administrative Divisions
3 References

[edit] History

The territory of present day Aguachica was inhabited by amerindian Chimila tribes, before the Spanish conquerors arrived. This tribe was later brutally decimated by the Spanish.

During the first decades of the 18th Century, the area was established as the Hacienda de San Roque by the Spanish and was owned by Don Anton Garica de Bonilla, but due to pests and illnesses the settlement was moved a few hundred meters to the south. By 1722 the settlement had grown in the middle of an hacienda predominantly owned by Don Casimiro Ramos de Barahoja. The settlement was serving now as a rest area for merchants traveling to and from the nearby fluvial port town of Gamarra and Ocana in the neighboring Norte de Santander Department.

In August 17, 1748 the settlement was officially founded by Jose Lazaro de Rivera.