Guajira Peninsula

Geographical location

The Guajira Peninsula (Spanish Península de La Guajira ) is located on the border between Venezuela and Colombia. The bulk of the peninsula is part of the Colombian province of La Guajira, while the Venezuelan stripe in the state of Zulia is very narrow.

The peninsula situated at the Punta Gallinas the northernmost mainland point of South America; they will be surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Venezuela. The landscape is very dry, drinking water is scarce on the Guajira.

Due to its exposed position to rule on the Guajira Peninsula strong winds, the north of the peninsula is extremely dry.

On both sides of the border live the indigenous people of the Wayúu, in whose language the peninsula is named Wajiira. This name is probably inspired by the Spanish name of this region, which in turn could have come from " guajiros ", the Spanish name of the people. The Wayúu have proved against the colonizers as a very well-fortified and even today are afraid tend to be from the mainland population.

Due to boundary layer and the tendency proceeds from the illicit trade in cocaine under declared by imports, for example, electrical consumer goods, to transfer back to Colombia, plays the smuggling, especially in the northern parts of the Guajira a relatively important role. The places north of Riohacha deemed unsafe for Ortfremde.

On the Guajira is immense deposits of coal are to be surface mined similar to lignite in Germany. For this purpose, a separate railway line was built, on which the coal is transported to the port and is mostly shipped to the U.S.. The local population benefits as good as not of this wealth.

• Geography (Colombia )
• Peninsula (Venezuela )
• Peninsula (South America)
• Peninsula ( Caribbean Sea )
• La Guajira
• Zulia