Providencia (Colombia)

Providencia
Climate diagram
	Temperature in ° C , precipitation in mm
	Source: IDEAM

Providencia
	Providencia coast
Waters	Caribbean Sea
Archipelago	San Andrés and Providencia
Geographical location	13 ° 20 ′ 56 " N , 81 ° 22 ′ 29" W Coordinates: 13 ° 20 ′ 56 " N , 81 ° 22 ′ 29" W
length	7 km
width	4 km
surface	17 km²
Highest elevation	El Pico ; 360 m
Residents	5210 ; 306 inhabitants / km²
main place	Santa Isabel
	map

Providencia ( Spanish for "Providence") is a Colombian island in the Caribbean Sea . It is the second largest within the archipelago and province of San Andrés and Providencia and is located about 90 km north of the island of San Andrés . Providencia is 7 km long, 4 km wide and has an area of 17 km².

Providencia is also a municipality ( municipio ) to which the neighboring island of Santa Catalina also belongs. The main town (cabecera municipal) is Santa Isabel.

Lately, the number of tourists on the island has increased significantly as its reputation for being a diving and snorkeling paradise continues to spread.

Acting mayor is Bernardo Benito Bent Williams (2016–2019).

Providencia was hit by Hurricane Beta on October 29, 2005 , which, however, had already weakened into a tropical storm . According to official information, around 50% of the dwellings were badly damaged. The inhabitants fled to the higher places. The storm reached speeds of over 100 km / h.

geography

Providencia Natural Park

In the north of the island is the Providencia Natural Park with an area of 995 hectares , 905 of which are in the sea. The park consists of protected coral banks , mangroves , the Mac Bean lake and the small offshore atolls Tres Hermanos (Spanish Three Brothers) and Cangrejo (Spanish Cancer).

geology

Providencia is made up of volcanic rock . The island is crossed from north to south by a mountain range that reaches a height of 360 meters. This highest point is called El Pico (Spanish for the summit). On its slopes there are some important fresh water sources for the population .

population

The municipality of Providencia has 5210 inhabitants, of which 2339 live in the main town of Santa Isabel (as of 2019). The island has seen many demographic changes , according to studies by the Institute of Human Genetics at the Universidad Javeriana . The two censuses of Cabrera in 1980 and DANE in 1993 showed an average age of 30 in the population. The population consists mainly of Afroantillans .

history

Discovered between 1498 and 1502, the island was settled by English Puritans in 1630 , making it one of the first English colonies in the New World . The settlers came from England and the Bermuda Islands and had been sent there by the Providence Island Company . The island gained importance not so much because of the plantations established there and managed by slaves , but because it was ideally suited as a base for privateers who came from here due to its proximity to the Spanish-ruled American mainland and the excellent natural protection provided by a surrounding reef carried out raids on Spanish ships and ports.

In order to deprive the English freebooters of this base, the Spaniards undertook - after two failed attempts in 1635 and 1640–1641 again a fleet expedition to recapture the island. Its English and Dutch defenders could not hold their ground for long against the clearly superior Spanish invasion force, which was landed on the island in May 1641. After they surrendered, the Spanish eventually evacuated them from the island and set up a Spanish garrison . The constant neglect of the garrison and the island fortifications in the following decades finally allowed the privateer captain Edward Mansfeldt (also Mansveldt or English Mansfield ; † 1667) to conquer the island in May 1666 in a coup . Mansfeldt, who had acted on his own initiative and with this action, above all, wanted to bring a previously unsuccessful pirate expedition to a successful conclusion, brought the majority of the Spanish inhabitants away from the island, set up a small garrison and then left it again towards Jamaica .

The island was only to remain in British possession for only 83 days. Before their garrison could be strengthened by the governor of Jamaica, Thomas Modyford († 1679), who had legalized their conquest, it was recaptured in August 1666 by a Spanish force sent from mainland Central America. In 1670 the island changed hands again when privateers commanded by Henry Morgan († 1688) took it into their possession to use it as a base for their raid on Panama . Providencia was the seat of the first independent state in Central America, founded in 1818. This state existed until around 1821, before Greater Colombia took control of these islands and placed them under the Magdalena province. Colombia introduced self-administration in 1912, and San Andrés and Providencia has been a Colombian department since then ( Departamento de San Andrés y Providencia ).

Infrastructure

Most of Providencia's residents live in the Santa Isabel area. Santa Isabel is connected to the towns of Puebloviejo, Buenavista, Aguadulce, Aguamansa, Sur Oeste, Casa Baja, Punta Rocosa, La Montaña, Pueblo Libre and San Felipe by a road that runs around the whole island.

economy

Providencia's economy consists primarily of ecotourism, food growing, fishing and livestock farming. Surplus is brought to the island of San Andrés.

To celebrate

Carnaval de la Vieja Providencia (Carnival of Ancient Providencia) and Fiestas de Navidad (Christmas).

literature

Aspectos demográficos, MENDOZA, Roberto, Ignacio M. Zarante y Gustavo Valbuena, Instituto de Genética Humana, Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá

Web links

Commons : Providencia - collection of images, videos and audio files

Página Oficial del Municipio de Providencia. Alcaldía del Municipio de Providencia - San Andrés, accessed on April 16, 2019 (Spanish, website of the municipality).

Individual evidence

↑ Map of the Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi , Archipiélago de San Andrés y Providencia (online) ( Memento of the original from December 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.9 MB) @1@ 2

↑ ESTIMACIONES DE POBLACIÓN 1985 - 2005 Y PROYECCIONES DE POBLACIÓN 2005 - 2020 TOTAL DEPARTAMENTAL POR ÁREA. (Excel; 1.72 MB) DANE, May 11, 2011, accessed on April 11, 2019 (Spanish, extrapolation of the population of Colombia).

↑ ^a ^b ^c see Peter Earle: The Sack of Panamá. Captain Morgan and the battle for the Caribbean. Thomas Dunne Books, New York 2007 (Orig .: 1981), ISBN 978-0-312-36142-6 , pp. 1–28.

↑ Christian Diemer, Amalija Šeparović: Territorial Questions and Maritime Delimitation with Regard to Nicaragua's claims to the San Andrés Archipelago. In: ZaöRV 66 (2006), pp. 167–186.

[1] Map of the Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi , Archipiélago de San Andrés y Providencia (online) ( Memento of the original from December 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.9 MB) @1@ 2

[2] ESTIMACIONES DE POBLACIÓN 1985 - 2005 Y PROYECCIONES DE POBLACIÓN 2005 - 2020 TOTAL DEPARTAMENTAL POR ÁREA. (Excel; 1.72 MB) DANE, May 11, 2011, accessed on April 11, 2019 (Spanish, extrapolation of the population of Colombia).

[Earle-3] see Peter Earle: The Sack of Panamá. Captain Morgan and the battle for the Caribbean. Thomas Dunne Books, New York 2007 (Orig .: 1981), ISBN 978-0-312-36142-6 , pp. 1–28.

[4] Christian Diemer, Amalija Šeparović: Territorial Questions and Maritime Delimitation with Regard to Nicaragua's claims to the San Andrés Archipelago. In: ZaöRV 66 (2006), pp. 167–186.