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Archipelago of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina
Archipelago of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina or colloquially San Andres y Providencia is one of the departments of Colombia. It consists of two island groups about 775 km (480 miles) northwest of Colombia and 220 km (140 miles) from the coast of Nicaragua, and eight outlying banks and reefs. Its capital is San Andres.
History
In 1630, Providence Island was settled by English Puritans, under the aegis of the Providence Island Company. They found this tropical island more promising than the cold, rocky shores of New England. However they never succeeded in building a community similar to that of New England. They established slave-worked plantations and engaged in privateering.
This ended with the extinction of the colony by the Spanish in 1641. Providence Island, 16301641, The Other Puritan Colony - by Karen Ordahl Kupperman, University of Connecticut In the 1640s, the Puritan-controlled Commonwealth government of England tried to regain the island, but without success. In 1670, English buccaneers led by Henry Morgan took over the islands. The buccaneers controlled the islands until 1689.
In 1803, Spain assigned the islands and the province of Veraguas (western Panama and the east coast of Nicaragua) to the Viceroyalty of New Granada. The territory was administered from the province of Cartagena.
After the Spanish colonies became independent, the Republic of Gran Colombia occupied the islands in 1822, placing them in Magdalena Department. The United Provinces of Central America (UPCA) also claimed the islands. Gran Colombia in turn protested the UPCA's occupation of the eastern coast of Nicaragua. The UPCA broke up in 1838–1840, but Nicaragua carried on the dispute, as did Gran Colombia's successors, New Granada and Colombia. Colombia established a local administration (intendencia) in the islands in 1912.
In 1928, Colombia and Nicaragua signed the Esguerra-Barcenas treaty, which gave control of the islands to Colombia. However, when the Sandinista government assumed power in the 1980s, Nicaragua repudiated the treaty. Nicaragua claims that the treaty was signed under United States pressure and military occupation and thus does not constitute a sovereign decision. Colombia argues that the treaty's final ratification in 1930 (when U.S. forces were already on their way out) confirms its validity. Colombia and Honduras signed a maritime boundary treaty in 1999 which implicitly accepts Colombian sovereignty over the islands.
In 2001 Nicaragua filed claims with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the disputed maritime boundary, claiming 50,000 km in the Caribbean, including the San Andres and Providencia archipelagoes. Colombia responded that the ICJ has no jurisdiction over the matter, and increased its naval and police presence in the islands. Colombia also defended its claim in the ICJ. On December 13 2007 the ICJ ruled that the islands were Colombian territory, but left the maritime border dispute unresolved. Colombia and Nicaragua will go through another trial to resolve these claims.
The island of Providencia was hit by Hurricane Beta on October 29 2005, inflicting minor to moderate damage.
U.S. claims
In the 1800s, the U.S. claimed several uninhabited locations in the area under the Guano Island Act, including several now claimed by Colombia. In 1981, the U.S. ceded its claims to Quita Sueno Bank, Serrana Bank, and Roncador Bank to Colombia. Serranilla Bank and Bajo Nuevo Bank remain U.S.-claimed.
Separatism
In 1903 the local Raizal population rejected an offer from the USA to separate from Colombia, in the wake of Panama. However, the policy followed by successive Colombian governments, trying to modify the ethnic composition through extensive migration of Spanish-speaking mainland Colombians, resulted in heightening discontent, even more when the assimilation policy was led by Catholic missions in 1947 .
Local government and representation
2007 elections
A member of the departmental assembly for 15 years, Pedro Gallardo Forbes, of the Regional Integration Movement (MIR), won the governor election at the October 28 2007 election, with support from the Colombian Conservative Party and the Radical Change party. He succeeds a governor from the Colombian Liberal Party. He got 8,187 votes (38.93 %), Aury Guerrero Bowie 8,160 votes (38.8 %) and Jack Housni Jaller (Social National Unity Party) 4,063 votes (19.3%). Only 21,991 out of 41,197 potential electors voted in the gubernatorial election .
At the departmental assembly, elected the same day, the 9 seats were distributed among 6 parties: 3 Liberals , 2 MIR (Jorge Mendez and Freddy Herazo) 2 Democratic Colombia Party (former MP Maria Teresa Uribe Bent and former Interior Secretary Rafael Gomez Redondo), 2 SNUP (Fernando Canon Florez and Maria Said Darwich), 1 Radical Change (Heber Esquivel Benitez) and 1 Conservative (Julio Cesar Gallardo Martinez) .
The new mayor of Providence, Janeth Archbold (Team Colombia party), a political ally of the new governor, was elected with 1,013 votes against Liberal Mark Taylor (515 votes), SNUP Arturo Robinson (514 votes) and Conservative Peter Bent .
Geography
Besides the San Andres and Providencia island groups, there are eight atolls that belong to the Department, including submerged Alicia Shoal.
Municipality of San Andres, Colombia
San Andres Island
This is the main island of the San Andres group, and the largest of the Departament. It is located at . It measures 12 km in length with a width of 3 km and covers an area of 26 km. There is a tiny lagoon in the center of the island called Big Pond. The principal town is San Andres in the north of the island. Another town is San Luis on the east coast. Cayo Johnny (Cayo Sucre) lies 1.5 km ENE of German Point (Punta Norte), the island's northern tip, and Haynes Cay about the same distance east of the island. Cotton Cay is less than 1 km south of San Andres town, on the northeastern coast.
Cayos de Albuquerque
This atoll is southwest of San Andres at . It is the westernmost point of Colombia. The fringing reef is about 7 km across. In the southern part are Cayo del Norte and Cayo del Sur. Cayo del Norte, the larger of the two, is up to 2 m high and overgrown with palm trees and bushes. Cayo del Sur, a few hundred metres further South, reaches a height of a little more than 1 m and is vegetated with a few bushes, and in the South with mangroves. There is a lighthouse on Cayo del Norte, at , operating since 1980. It is maintained by the Colombian Navy.
Cayos del Este Sudeste
This atoll is 22 km east-south-east of San Andres Island and 35 km northeast of Cayos de Alburquerque, at . It is 14 km long and 4 km wide. There are a few sand cays in the southeast. The largest ones are Cayo del Este, Cayo Bolivar, West Cay, and Cayo Arena, none of which are higher than 2 metres. All cays are overgrown with palm trees and bushes, and surrounded by mangroves. There is a Colombian Navy lighthouse on Cayo Bolivar. The cays are regularly visited by fishermen from the Colombian mainland and San Andres. There are two concrete buildings on Cayo Bolivar, and a few wooden huts on the other cays.
Municipality of Providencia y Santa Catalina (Providencia Archipelago)
Providencia Island (with Santa Catalina Island)
This is the main island of the Providencia group, and the second largest of the department. It is located at . Providencia and Santa Catalina Island (a small satellite island close off its northern end) extend 7.2 km in a north-south direction. The land area of Providencia Island measures 17 km. The mountainous center of Providencia Island rises to three peaks of about the same elevation: roughly 363 meters. The island consists of sedimentary rocks laid down on a former volcano. The chief settlement is Isabel Village in the north, near Santa Catalina Island. Other villages are San Felipe on the west coast, and La Paz in the southeast.
Low Cay, a very small islet, lies more than 10 km further north, at .
Banks and Shoals
Colombia also claims sovereignty over six additional outlying banks and shoals: Alice Shoal, Bajo Nuevo Bank, Serranilla Bank, Quita Sueno Bank, Serrana Bank, and Roncador Bank.
Demographics
Before 1960, the population of the islands was almost entirely Raizals, who are an Afro-Caribbean group, Protestant in religion, and speak San Andres-Providencia Creole. Colombia has promoted the migration of Spanish-speaking mainlanders, with Catholic missions participating since 1947.
By 2005, Raizals were only 57% of the 60,000 inhabitants of the islands, with the rest being Hispanic..
External links
Government Tourism website with small map
San Andres information (Spanish)
Tour Operator in the island, website with satellite map (Spanish)
Scuba diving information about San Andres (Spanish)
Information on some Atolls (German)
Information on Colombian lighthouses (German)
New York Times article on independence movement
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Archipelago of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina
