Isla de Providencia

Providencia is a Colombian island in the Caribbean Sea. It is the second largest in the archipelago of San Andrés and Providence Province and situated 90 km north of the island of San Andrés. Providencia is 7 km long, 4 km wide and has an area of ​​17 km ².

Lately, the number of tourists on the island has increased significantly since their reputation of being a diver and snorkeling paradise, becoming more widespread.

Acting Mayor is César Hames ( 2005).

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

Geography

Nature Park Providencia

In the north of the island of Providencia Nature Park is 995 hectares, of which 905 in the sea. The park consists of protected coral reefs, mangroves, the Mac Bean Lake and the small offshore atolls Tres Hermanos (Spanish Three Brothers ) and Cangrejo (Spanish cancer).

Geology

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

History

The island discovered 1498-1502 was settled by English Puritans in 1630 and was one of the first English colonies in the New World. The settlers came from England and from Bermuda and had been sent by the Providence Company Iceland there. Gained in importance but the island is not so much because of there scale and managed by slave plantations, but because they carried a she excellently suited due to their proximity to the Spanish dominated American mainland and the outstanding natural protection surrounding reef as a base for buccaneers who here of from raids conducted on Spanish ships and ports.

To escape the English freebooters this basis, under the Spaniards took - after two failed attempts in 1635 and 1640 to 1641 again a naval expedition to reconquer the island. Against the clearly superior Spanish invasion force, which was landed in May 1641 on the island, their English and Dutch defenders could not maintain long. After they had surrendered, they were eventually taken away by the Spaniards from the island and established a Spanish garrison. The constant neglect of the garrison and the island fortifications in the following decades, it finally allowed the buccaneer Captain Edward Mansfeldt (also Mansveldt or English Mansfield, . † 1667) in May 1666 to conquer the island in the coup. Mansfeldt, who had acted on their own initiative and above all wanted to bring a previously unsuccessful runny privateering to a still successful completion of this action, brought away the bulk of the Spanish inhabitants of the island, set up a small garrison, and left it in again towards Jamaica.

The island should stay but only 83 days in renewed English possession. Even before its garrison by the Governor of Jamaica, Thomas Modyford († 1679 ), who had their conquest legalized quasi subsequently, could be strengthened, she was recaptured in August 1666 of an emitted by the Central American mainland Spanish army. 1670 changed the island but several owners, as commanded by Henry Morgan ( † 1688) privateers they brought into their possession in order to use it as a base for their invasion of Panama.

Demography

The island has many demographic changes behind them, according to studies by the Institute for Human Genetics at the Universidad Javeriana. The last two censuses ( Cabrera, 1980, DANE 1993) yielded a mean age of 30 years in the population, which counts 3,836 inhabitants. The population consists mainly of Afroantillanern.

Infrastructure

Providencias inhabitants live mostly in the area of ​​Santa Isabel. Santa Isabel is connected with the communities of Pueblo Viejo, Buena Vista, Aguadulce, Aguamansa, Sur Oeste, Casa Baja, Punta Rocosa, La Montaña, Pueblo Libre and San Felipe on a road that runs once around the whole island.

Economy

Mainly, there is the economy of Providencia from ecotourism, the cultivation of food, fisheries and livestock. Surpluses are placed on the island of San Andrés

Celebrate

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