Riohacha

Riohacha (Spanish pronunciation: [rjoˈa.tʃa]), Rio Hacha or Rio de la Hacha (English: River of the Axe or Axeshore - Wayuu: Süchiimma, "Süchii" means river, and "mma" means land, Riverland), is a city in the Riohacha Municipality in the northern Caribbean Region of Colombia by the mouth of the Ranchería River and the Caribbean Sea. It is the capital city of the La Guajira Department. It has a sandy beach waterfront.

Riohacha
City and municipality
View of Riohacha beachfront
Flag
Seal
Location of Riohacha in the Department of La Guajira. Municipality (red), city (black dot).
Riohacha
Location of Riohacha in the Department of La Guajira. Municipality (red), city (black dot).
Coordinates: 11°32′39″N 72°54′25″W
Country Colombia
RegionCaribbean
DepartmentLa Guajira
Foundation1535
Founded byNikolaus Federmann
Government
 • MayorRafael Ceballos Sierra (L)[1]
Area
 • City and municipality3,120 km2 (1,200 sq mi)
Elevation
5 m (16 ft)
Population
 (2018 Census)[2]
 • City and municipality188,014
 • Density60/km2 (160/sq mi)
 • Urban
126,103
Time zoneUTC-05 (Eastern Time Zone)
Postal code
440001
Area code(s)57 + 5
ClimateBSh
WebsiteOfficial website (in Spanish)
*Riohacha metropolitan area is yet to be determined.

Founded by conquistador Nikolaus Federmann in 1535, Riohacha was named after a local legend, "The legend of the Axe". Because of the powerful rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the area is mostly desertic. It is inhabited primarily by Amerindians, predominantly the Wayuu ethnic group. During colonial times, Riohacha was a very important port, as divers could retrieve vast numbers of pearls from the harbor.

In the second half of the 20th century, the city developed as one of Colombia's medium important, maritime commercial ports. It is also a multicultural center for La Guajira Department. The city is mentioned several times in novels written by Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his important works are One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera, and Chronicle of a Death Foretold.

History
Cathedral of Riohacha

The Riohacha area was long inhabited by American Indians of the Wayuu culture, part of the larger Arawak group. The first European to visit the area was the Spanish sailor Alonso de Ojeda in 1498, though he never landed. A short time later, Juan de la Cosa, another Spanish explorer, landed on what is today called Cabo de la Vela (Cape of the Sail, so called because of its shape). In 1535, the German explorer Nikolaus Federmann founded a city with the name Nuestra Señora Santa Maria de los Remedios del Cabo de la Vela (Our Lady Saint Mary of the Remedies of the Cape of the Sail) at the place where de la Cosa had landed.

The Spanish discovered a vast amount of pearls in the city's area This treasure frequently attracted raids by pirates. After the city was destroyed by a pirate raid, the city government relocated the city to the mouth of the Ranchería River, in order to confuse the pirates, and to give the city time to rebuild before the next attack. The new city, named Nuestra Señora de los Remedios del Río de la Hacha (Our Lady of the Remedies), expanded peacefully for a short time in its new location. Pirate attacks soon resumed. The next major attack, led by the famous English pirate Francis Drake, took place in 1569, when Drake pillaged the city searching for gold and pearls.

In the 18th century, Riohacha was incorporated to the Viceroyalty of New Granada as part of the province of Santa Marta. During the battles for independence from Spain, the port of Riohacha served many vessels fighting for Colombian and Venezuelan independence. Many Riohachans also served in the revolutionary navy, most notably Admiral José Prudencio Padilla, who would come to be considered a hero in the revolutions of Colombia and Venezuela.

In 1954, Riohacha City acquired municipality status, and in 1964 was declared capital of the new La Guajira Department.

  • The Almirante Padilla Plaza in downtown Riohacha.
  • Riohacha Beach.

Culture

Transportation

Riohacha has one airport, the Almirante Padilla Airport. It serves airlines covering the route to and from the Colombian capital city Bogotá, the near cities of Valledupar and Santa Marta, and the Caribbean resort island of Aruba. In September 2016 the low-cost carrier Easy Fly initiated service between Riohacha and Barranquilla.[4]

Climate

Riohacha, owing to the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, has a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh), which owing to the extremely torrid temperatures is not that far above an arid climate despite receiving as much as 546 millimetres (21 in) of rainfall per year. This rain falls almost exclusively in May and between August and November, and for the rest of the year there are a mere thirteen wet days out of 212 in an average year. Despite the lack of rainfall, humidity is high year round and adds to the uncomfortable heat.

Climate data for Aeropuerto de Riohacha
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 39.2
(102.6)		 36.7
(98.1)		 39.8
(103.6)		 38.4
(101.1)		 38.0
(100.4)		 38.6
(101.5)		 38.1
(100.6)		 38.8
(101.8)		 39.4
(102.9)		 36.6
(97.9)		 35.8
(96.4)		 38.6
(101.5)		 39.4
(102.9)
Average high °C (°F) 32.4
(90.3)		 32.5
(90.5)		 32.5
(90.5)		 32.6
(90.7)		 33.2
(91.8)		 34.2
(93.6)		 34.8
(94.6)		 34.8
(94.6)		 33.4
(92.1)		 32.4
(90.3)		 32.1
(89.8)		 32.3
(90.1)		 33.1
(91.6)
Average low °C (°F) 21.8
(71.2)		 21.9
(71.4)		 22.9
(73.2)		 24.2
(75.6)		 24.8
(76.6)		 25.3
(77.5)		 25.2
(77.4)		 25.0
(77.0)		 24.4
(75.9)		 23.7
(74.7)		 23.3
(73.9)		 22.5
(72.5)		 23.8
(74.7)
Record low °C (°F) 17.2
(63.0)		 17.0
(62.6)		 17.0
(62.6)		 17.2
(63.0)		 20.8
(69.4)		 20.0
(68.0)		 17.2
(63.0)		 19.8
(67.6)		 19.2
(66.6)		 20.0
(68.0)		 18.8
(65.8)		 16.8
(62.2)		 16.8
(62.2)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 0.5
(0.02)		 0.8
(0.03)		 2.6
(0.10)		 25.8
(1.02)		 75.5
(2.97)		 37.1
(1.46)		 16.2
(0.64)		 52.3
(2.06)		 115.9
(4.56)		 142.8
(5.62)		 59.2
(2.33)		 17.3
(0.68)		 546
(21.49)
Average rainy days 1 1 1 3 7 3 2 5 9 10 5 2 49
Average relative humidity (%) 70 70 71 74 75 68 66 71 76 79 79 74 73
Mean monthly sunshine hours 259.3 229.8 235.4 195.0 193.5 230.3 249.4 236.5 198.1 211.7 217.5 238.2 2,694.7
Source: INSTITUTO DE HIDROLOGIA METEOROLOGIA Y ESTUDIOS AMBIENTALES[5]

Notable People
  • View of the beachfront
  • Malecon Beach
  • Typical building
  • Colombian Wayuu craft on Avenida Primera (1st Ave.)
  • Riohacha's Touristic Dock
  • Riohacha's Sunrise at a house roof
  • Ranchería River empties into Riohacha
  • Cañones Park
  • One of the areas of the historic center of the city
  • Identidad Monument, eriged in 2010
  • Departmental Cultural Center seen from the beach
  • Late Nineteen Century Building in Riohacha
  • House where Gabriel García Márquez was conceived, according to his autobiography Living to Tell the Tale (2002)
  • La Guajira University, located in Riohacha
  • Fishing between Alijuna and Wayú Caribbean coast, Riohacha
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gollark: It is, at least, not used as part of some commercially sold remote management product like Intel's ME is, as far as I know.
gollark: Does it? I thought it ran with basically the same "literally everything" perms as the Intel ME.
gollark: Bad?
gollark: Apparently Intel might have to outsource some of their GPU stuff, since their 7nm node is seemingly very behind schedule and they had contracts for providing some to a supercomputer project.

References
  1. (in Spanish) Colombian Registry of the Civil State: 2007 election results
  2. https://www.dane.gov.co/files/varios/informacion-capital-DANE-2019.pdf
  3. (in Spanish) National System for Cultural Information: National Festival of the Dividivi
  5. Clima: Climatografía de la principales ciudades
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