Editing Cartagena, Colombia

{{Short description|City in coastal northern Colombia}}{{Other uses|Cartagena (disambiguation){{!}}Cartagena}}{{for|the Spanish city|Cartagena, Spain}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                     = Cartagena
| official_name            = ''Cartagena de Indias''
| type                     = [[Districts of Colombia|District]] and city
| nicknames                = ''La ciudad mágica'' (The Magic City)<br /> ''La ciudad cosmopolita'' (The Cosmopolitan City)<br /> ''La heroica'' (The Heroic)<br /> ''El corralito de piedra'' (The Rock Corral)<br /> ''La fantástica'' (The Fantastic)
| named_for                = [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]], Spain
| motto                    = "Por Cartagena"
| image_skyline            = Montaje Cartagena, Colombia.jpg
| imagesize                = 290
| image_caption            = '''Top:''' Bocagrande Harbor. '''Second row:''' View of Santa Cruz Manga Island, Heredia Theatre. '''Third row:''' ClockTower (Torre del Reloj), Cloister of San Agustín ([[University of Cartagena]]), San Felipe Barajas Castle ([[Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas]]) (above), Charleston Hotel (below). '''Bottom:''' City Skyline.
| image_flag               = Flag of Cartagena.svg
| image_seal               = Escudo de Cartagena de Indias.svg
| image_map                = Colombia - Bolívar - Cartagena de Indias.svg
| mapsize                  = 200px
| map_caption              = 
| pushpin_map              = Colombia#South America
| subdivision_type         = Country
| subdivision_name         = [[Colombia]]
| subdivision_type1        = [[Departments of Colombia|Department]]
| subdivision_type2        = [[Regions of Colombia|Region]]
| subdivision_name1        = [[Bolívar Department|Bolívar]]
| subdivision_name2        = [[Caribbean Region (Colombia)|Caribbean]]
| leader_title             = Mayor
| leader_name              = William Jorge Dau Chamat<ref>{{cite news |last=Batista |first=Lia Miranda |title=William Dau Chamatt se posesionó como nuevo alcalde de Cartagena |trans-title=William Dau Chamatt Takes Office As the New Mayor of Cartagena |url=https://www.eluniversal.com.co/politica/william-dau-chamatt-se-posesiono-como-nuevo-alcalde-de-cartagena-FN2197403 |date=1 January 2020 |newspaper=[[El Universal (Cartagena)|El Universal]] |language=es |access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref>
| established_title        = Foundation
| established_date         = 1 June 1533
| founder                  = [[Pedro de Heredia]]
| area_magnitude           = 
| area_total_km2           = 83.2
| area_land_km2            = 
| area_water_km2           = 
| area_water_percent       = 
| area_urban_km2           = 
| area_metro_km2           = 597.7
| population_as_of         = 2020<ref name="DANE2020">{{cite report |title=Proyecciones de Población 2018–2020, total municipal por área |url=https://www.dane.gov.co/files/censo2018/proyecciones-de-poblacion/anexos-proyecciones-poblacion-desagregacion-2018-2020.xls |year=2020 |website=[[National Administrative Department of Statistics|DANE]] |language=es |access-date=23 February 2020 |archive-date=23 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223182602/https://www.dane.gov.co/files/censo2018/proyecciones-de-poblacion/anexos-proyecciones-poblacion-desagregacion-2018-2020.xls }}</ref>
| population_note          = 
| population_total         = 914,552
| population_rank          = [[List of Colombian municipalities by population|Ranked 5th]]
| population_metro         = 1,028,736<ref name="Largest cities or towns">{{Cite web|url= https://www.dane.gov.co/files/censo2018/proyecciones-de-poblacion/anexos-proyecciones-poblacion-desagregacion-2018-2020.xls|title= Proyecciones de Población 2018–2020, total municipal por área (estimate)|publisher= [[National Administrative Department of Statistics (Colombia)|DANE]]|access-date= 23 February 2020|archive-date= 23 February 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200223182602/https://www.dane.gov.co/files/censo2018/proyecciones-de-poblacion/anexos-proyecciones-poblacion-desagregacion-2018-2020.xls}}</ref>
| population_density_km2   = auto
| population_density_metro_km2   = 1721
| population_demonym       = Cartagenero(s) {{in lang|es}}
| demographics_type1       = [[GDP|GDP (PPP, constant 2015 values)]]
| demographics1_footnotes  = 
| demographics1_title1     = Year
| demographics1_info1      = 2023
| demographics1_title2     = Total
| demographics1_info2      = $17.1&nbsp;billion<ref name="TelluBase">{{cite web|url=https://tellusant.com/repo/tb/tellubase_factsheet_col.pdf|publisher=Tellusant|title=TelluBase—Colombia Fact Sheet (Tellusant Public Service Series)| access-date = 11 January 2024}}</ref>
| demographics1_title3     = Per capita
| demographics1_info3      = $15,600
| timezone                 = [[Colombia Time|COT]]
| utc_offset               = -5
| timezone_DST             = 
| utc_offset_DST           = 
| coordinates              = {{coord|10|24|N|75|30|W|region:CO_type:city(892545)|display=inline,title}}
| postal_code_type         = Postal code
| postal_code              = 130000
| area_code                = 57 + 5
| elevation_m              = 2
| blank2_name              = Patron saints
| blank2_info              = [[Catherine of Alexandria|Saint Catherine]] and [[Saint Sebastian]]
| blank3_name              = Average temperature
| blank3_info              = {{convert|30|C|F|abbr=on}}
| blank4_name              = City tree
| blank4_info              = [[Arecaceae]]
| blank5_name              = City bird
| blank6_info              = [[Maria mulata]]
| website                  = {{URL|www.cartagena.gov.co}} {{in lang|es}}
| footnotes                = {{designation list | embed=yes
   | designation1          = WHS
   | designation1_offname  = Port, Fortresses and Group of Monuments, Cartagena
   | designation1_date       = 1984 (8th [[World Heritage Committee|session]])
   | designation1_type       = Cultural
   | designation1_criteria   = iv, vi
   | designation1_number     = [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/285 285]
   | designation1_free1name  = Region
   | designation1_free1value = [[List of World Heritage Sites in South America|Latin America and Caribbean]]
  }}
}}

'''Cartagena''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|k|ɑːr|t|ə|ˈ|h|eɪ|n|ə}} {{respell|KAR|tə|HAY|nə}}), known since the colonial era as '''Cartagena de Indias''' ({{IPA|es|kaɾtaˈxena ðe ˈindjas|lang|Es-Cartagena de Indias.oga}}), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of [[Colombia]] in the [[Caribbean Region of Colombia|Caribbean Coast Region]], along the [[Caribbean Sea]].  Cartagena's past role as a link in the route to the West Indies provides it with important historical value for world exploration and preservation of heritage from the great commercial maritime routes.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Centre |first1=UNESCO World Heritage |title=Port, Fortresses and Group of Monuments, Cartagena |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/285/ |website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |language=en}}</ref> As a former Spanish colony, it was a key port for the export of Bolivian silver to Spain and for the [[Slavery in Cartagena|import of enslaved Africans]] under the [[asiento]] system. It was defensible against [[Piracy in the Caribbean|pirate]] attacks in the Caribbean.<ref>Lance R. Grahn, "Cartagena" in ''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture'', vol. 1, p 581. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.</ref> The city's strategic location between the [[Magdalena River|Magdalena]] and [[Sinú River|Sinú]] rivers also gave it easy access to the interior of [[New Kingdom of Granada|New Granada]] and made it a main port for trade between Spain and its overseas empire, establishing its importance by the early 1540s.

Modern Cartagena is the capital of the [[Bolívar Department]], and had a population of 876,885 according to the 2018 census,<ref>[http://www.citypopulation.de/en/colombia/bolivar/cartagena_de_indias/13001000__cartagena_de_indias/ Citypopulation.de]</ref> making it the second-largest city in the [[Caribbean region of Colombia|Caribbean region]], after [[Barranquilla]], and the [[List of cities in Colombia|fifth-largest]] city in Colombia. The [[metropolitan area]] of Cartagena is the sixth-largest urban area in the country, after [[metropolitan area]] of [[Bucaramanga]]. Economic activities include the [[maritime industry|maritime]] and [[petrochemical]] industries, as well as tourism.

The present city{{em dash}}named after [[Cartagena, Spain]] and by extension, the historic city of [[Carthage]]{{em dash}}was founded on 1 June 1533, making it one of South America's oldest colonial cities;<ref>{{cite news |title=Big on Charm: Colonial Cartagena |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/big-on-charm-colonial-cartagena |work=Travel |date=17 November 2015 |language=en}}</ref> but settlement by various indigenous people in the region around Cartagena Bay dates from 4000 BC. During the Spanish colonial period Cartagena had a key role in administration and expansion of the [[Spanish Empire]]. It was a center of political, ecclesiastical, and economic activity.<ref>Grahn, "Cartagena" p. 582.</ref> In 1984, Cartagena's colonial walled city and fortress were designated a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]].

It was also the site of the [[Battle of Cartagena de Indias]] in 1741 during the [[War of Jenkins' Ear]] between [[Spanish Empire|Spain]] and [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]].

==History==
{{Main|History of Cartagena, Colombia|Timeline of Cartagena, Colombia}}
[[File:Reconstruction of Taino village, Cuba.JPG|thumb|According to descriptions that survive, the homes of the [[prehistoric]] inhabitants of the city may have looked very similar to these [[Taíno people|Taíno]] culture huts in [[Baconao]]]]

===Pre-Columbian<!-- spelled correctly as "Columbian", as in pre–European colonization (before 1492) not pre-independence (before 1819) --> era: 4000 BC – AD 1500===

The [[Puerto Hormiga Culture]], founded in the Arjona Municipality of the Bolívar Department in the Caribbean coast region, particularly in the area from the [[Sinú River]] Delta to the Cartagena Bay, appears to be the first documented human community in what is now Colombia.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Carvajal Contreras |first=Diana Rocío |last2=Iizuka |first2=Fumie |title=Un análisis visual de técnicas de manufactura y tecnología de la cerámica del sitio Puerto Hormiga, Colombia: reconsideraciones sobre las observaciones de Reichel-Dolmatoff |trans-title=A Visual Analysis of Manufacturing Techniques and Ceramic Technology from Puerto Hormiga, Colombia: Re-evaluations of Observations by Reichel-Dolmatoff |url=https://revistas.icanh.gov.co/index.php/ap/article/download/2623/2020 |journal=Arqueología y Patrimonio}}</ref> [[Archaeologists|Archeologists]] estimate that around 4000 BC, the formative culture was located near the boundary between the current departments of [[Bolívar Department|Bolívar]] and [[Sucre Department|Sucre]]. In this area, archeologists have found the most ancient ceramic objects of the Americas, dating from around 4000 BC. The primary reason for the proliferation of primitive societies in this area is thought to have been the relatively mild climate and the abundance of wildlife, which allowed the hunting inhabitants a comfortable life.<ref name="Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango">{{cite web |url=http://www.lablaa.org/blaavirtual/arqueologia/arqueolo/cap4.1.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923164704/http://www.lablaa.org/blaavirtual/arqueologia/arqueolo/cap4.1.htm |archive-date=23 September 2006 |title=Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango |publisher=Lablaa.org |access-date=26 March 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://pwp.supercabletv.net.co/garcru/colombia/Colombia/indios.html |title=Colombia Pais Maravilloso |publisher=Pwp.supercabletv.net.co |access-date=24 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130425081104/http://pwp.supercabletv.net.co/garcru/colombia/Colombia/indios.html |archive-date=25 April 2013 }}</ref><ref name="uninorte.edu.co">{{cite web |url=http://www.uninorte.edu.co/divisiones/humanidades/arqueologia/proyectos/pro_pag_13-06.html |title=Universidad del Norte |publisher=Uninorte.edu.co |access-date=24 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101220195301/http://uninorte.edu.co/divisiones/Humanidades/arqueologia/proyectos/pro_pag_13-06.html |archive-date=20 December 2010 }}</ref>

Archeological investigations date the decline of the Puerto Hormiga culture and its related settlements to be ~3000 BC. The rise of a much more developed culture, the Monsú, who lived at the end of the [[Canal del Dique|Dique Canal]] near today's Cartagena neighborhoods Pasacaballos and Ciénaga Honda at the northernmost part of Barú Island, has been hypothesized. The Monsú culture appears to have inherited the Puerto Hormiga culture's use of the art of pottery and also to have developed a mixed economy of agriculture and basic manufacture. The Monsú people's diet was based mostly on shellfish and fresh and salt-water fish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lablaa.org/blaavirtual/publicacionesbanrep/boletin/boleti3/bol12/debate.htm |title=Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango |publisher=Lablaa.org |date=4 June 2005 |access-date=24 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201091431/http://www.lablaa.org/blaavirtual/publicacionesbanrep/boletin/boleti3/bol12/debate.htm |archive-date=1 December 2008 }}</ref>

The development of the Sinú society in what is today the departments of Córdoba and Sucre, eclipsed these first developments around the Cartagena Bay area. Until the [[Spanish colonization]], many cultures derived from the [[Kalina people|Karib]], [[Malibu languages|Malibu]] and [[Arawakan languages|Arawak]] [[language families]] lived along the Colombian Caribbean coast. In the late pre-Columbian era, the [[Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta]] was home to the [[Tayrona]] people, whose language was closely related to the [[Chibcha]] language family.<ref>"X Cátedra de Historia Ernesto Restrepo Tirado – El Caribe en la Nación Colombiana" Guerra, Langbaek et al. Ed. Aguilar, Bogotá, 2007. {{ISBN|958-8250-31-5}}.</ref><ref>Allaire, Louis (1997). "The Caribs of the Lesser Antilles". In Samuel M. Wilson, ''The Indigenous People of the Caribbean,'' pp. 180–85. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida. {{ISBN|0-8130-1531-6}}.</ref>

Around AD 1500, the area was inhabited by different tribes of the [[Carib language]] family, more precisely the Mocanae sub-family.

Mocana villages of the [[Kalina people|Carib people]] around the Bay of Cartagena included:<ref name="Lemaitre">{{cite book|last1=Lemaitre|first1=Eduardo|title=A Brief History of Cartagena|date=1994|publisher=Compania Litografica Nacional S.A.|location=Medellin|isbn=978-958-638-092-8|page=13}}</ref>
:*on a sandy island facing the ocean in what is present-day downtown: Kalamarí (Calamari)
:*on the [[Tierra Bomba Island|island of Tierrabomba]]: Carex
:*on [[Isla Barú]], then a peninsula: Bahaire
:*on present-day Mamonal, the eastern coast of the exterior bay: Cospique
:*in the suburban area of [[Turbaco]]: Yurbaco Tribe

Heredia found these settlements "...largely surrounded with the heads of dead men placed on stakes."<ref name=Parry/>{{rp|481}}

Some subsidiary tribes of the Kalamari lived in today's neighborhood of Pie de la Popa, and other subsidiaries from the Cospique lived in the [[Membrillal]] and [[Pasacaballos]] areas. Among these, according to the earliest documents available, the [[Calamari people|Kalamari]] had preeminence. These tribes, though physically and administratively separated, shared a common architecture, such as hut structures consisting of circular rooms with tall roofs, which were surrounded by defensive wooden palisades.<ref>[[Eduardo Lemaitre|Lemaitre, Eduardo]]; ''Historia Extensa de Cartagena de Indias,'' Ed. Aguilar 1976. Edited before the ISBN system was enforced in Colombia, no reedition.</ref>

===First sightings by Europeans: 1500–1533===
[[File:Statue of Pedro de Heredia, Cartagena 02.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Pedro de Heredia]], founder of the city and explorer of its [[hinterland]]]]
[[Rodrigo de Bastidas]] traveled to the Pearl Coast and the Gulf of Uraba in 1500–01. On 14 February 1504, [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|Ferdinand V]] contracted [[Juan de la Cosa]]'s voyage to Uraba. However, Juan de la Cosa died in 1510 along with 300 of Alonso de Ojeda's men, after an armed confrontation with indigenous people, and before Juan de la Cosa could get possession of the [[Gulf of Urabá]] area. Similar contracts were signed in 1508 with Diego de Nicuesa for the settlement of [[Veragua]] and with Alonso de Ojeda for the settlement of Uraba, "where gold had already been obtained on earlier voyages," according to Floyd.<ref name="Floyd">{{cite book|last1=Floyd|first1=Troy|title=The Columbus Dynasty in the Caribbean, 1492–1526|date=1973|publisher=University of New Mexico Press|location=Albuquerque|pages=49, 89, 95, 135}}</ref><ref name=Parry>{{cite book|last1=Parry|first1=John|last2=Keith|first2=Robert|title=New Iberian World: A Documentary History of the Discovery and Settlement of Latin America to the Early 17th Century, Vol. II|date=1984|publisher=Times Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8129-1070-4|page=454}}</ref>

After the failed effort to found [[Antigua del Darién]] in 1506 by [[Alonso de Ojeda]] and the subsequent unsuccessful founding of [[San Sebastián de Urabá]] in 1510 by [[Diego de Nicuesa]], the southern Caribbean coast became unattractive to colonizers. They preferred the better known [[Hispaniola]] and [[Cuba]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bruceruiz.net/PanamaHistory/diego_de_nicuesa.htm |title=Diego de Nicuesa |publisher=Bruceruiz.net |date=22 April 2002 |access-date=24 June 2010}}</ref>

Although the royal control point for trade, the [[Casa de Contratación]] gave permission to [[Rodrigo de Bastidas]] (1460–1527) to again conduct an expedition as [[adelantado]] to this area, Bastidas explored the coast and sighted the [[Magdalena River]] Delta in his first journey from [[Department of La Guajira|Guajira]] to the south in 1527, a trip that ended in the [[Gulf of Urabá]], the location of the failed first settlements. De Nicuesa and De Ojeda noted the existence of a big bay on the way from [[Santo Domingo]] to [[Gulf of Urabá|Urabá]] and the [[Panama isthmus]], and that encouraged Bastidas to investigate.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Related Articles |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/55612/Rodrigo-de-Bastidas |title=Rodrigo de Bastidas (Colombian explorer) – Britannica Online Encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Britannica.com |access-date=24 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bruceruiz.net/PanamaHistory/rodrigo_de_bastidas.htm |title=Rodrigo de Bastidas |publisher=Bruceruiz.net |date=3 July 2002 |access-date=24 June 2010}}</ref><ref>Lemaitre, Eduardo; Historia Extensa de Cartagena de Indias, Ed. Aguilar 1976.</ref><ref>Corrales, Manuel Ezequiel; Documentos para la historia de la Provincia de Cartagena, Tomo II, Imp. M. Rivas, Cartagena de Indias, 1883.</ref>

===Colonial era: 1533–1717===
{{multiple image
| align         = right
| caption_align = center
| image1        = Boazio-Sir Francis Drake in Cartagena.jpg
| width1        = 220
| caption1      = Map of the city recently established and without walls (c.1550)
| image2        = Cartagena Colombia ca 1600.jpg
| width2        = 220
| caption2      =  Cartagena de Indias published in 1671 by [[Arnoldus Montanus]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rbkb&fileName=0003//rbkb0003.db&recNum=397&itemLink=r%3Fintldl%2Fawkbbib%3A@field%28NUMBER%2B@od1%28rbkb%2B0003%29%29&linkText=0|title=The Atlantic World: America and the Netherlands (Cartagena)|website=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref>
}}
[[File:Baluarte de Santo Domingo, Cartagena 01.jpg|thumb|The historic center is surrounded by 11 kilometers of defensive walls. These were complemented by fortifications along the coast, making Cartagena a militarily impregnable city. The walls, made in several stages, were designed to protect the city from continual pirate attacks, was built between 1614 and 1796.]]
[[File:Iglesia y Convento de Santo Domingo 3.JPG|thumb|upright|The [[Convento de Santo Domingo, Cartagena|Convento de Santo Domingo]], built between 1565 and 1630, is the oldest church of Cartagena de Indias.]]
[[File:Iglesia de San Pedro Claver, Cartagena, Colombia (4980511743).jpg|thumb|right|[[Iglesia de San Pedro Claver, Cartagena|Iglesia de San Pedro Claver]] built between 1580 and 1654. The body of Saint [[Peter Claver]] is located in its main altar.]]

Under contract to Queen [[Joanna of Castile]], [[Pedro de Heredia]] entered the Bay of Cartagena with three ships, a [[lighter (barge)|lighter]], 150 men, and 22 horses, on 14 January 1533. He soon found the village of Calamari abandoned. Proceeding onwards to Turbaco, where Juan de la Cosa had been mortally wounded 13 years earlier, Heredia fought an all-day battle before claiming victory. Using [[India Catalina]] as a guide, Heredia embarked on a three-month exploration expedition. He returned to Calamari in April 1533 with gold pieces, including a solid gold porcupine weighing 132 pounds. In later expeditions, Heredia raided the [[Zenú|Sinú]] tombs and temples of gold. His rule as governor of Cartagena lasted 22 years, before perishing on his return to Spain in 1544.<ref name=Lemaitre/>{{rp|14–17}}<ref name=Parry/>{{rp|479–85}}

Cartagena was founded on 1 June 1533 by the Spanish commander, [[Pedro de Heredia]], in the former location of the indigenous Caribbean [[Calamarí]] village. The town was named after the port city of [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]], in [[Region of Murcia|Murcia]] in southeast Spain, where most of Heredia's sailors had resided.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lablaa.org/blaavirtual/revistas/credencial/marzo1992/marzo3.htm |title=Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango |publisher=Lablaa.org |date=1 June 2005 |access-date=24 June 2010 |archive-date=19 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019045321/http://www.lablaa.org/blaavirtual/revistas/credencial/marzo1992/marzo3.htm }}</ref> King [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]] gave Cartagena the title of "city" (''ciudad'') in 1574, adding "most noble and loyal" in 1575.<ref name=Lemaitre/>{{rp|23}}

The city's increasing importance as a port for the export of Bolivian silver from [[Potosí]] to Spain, made it an obvious target for pirates and [[French corsairs|corsairs]], encouraged by France, England, and Holland. In 1544, the city was pillaged by 5 ships and 1,000 men under the command of the French pirate [[Jean-François Roberval]], who took advantage of the city still without walls. Heredia was forced to retreat to Turbaco until a ransom was paid. A defensive tower, ''San Felipe del Boqueron'', was built in 1566 by Governor Anton Davalos. It was supposed to protect the anchorage and the Bahia de las Animas, a water lane into Plaza de lar Mar (current day Plaze de la Aduana), but the fort's battery had limited range. Then the French pirate Martin Cote struck in 1569 with 1,000 men, ransacking the city.<ref name=Lemaitre/>{{rp|23–24}}<ref name=Segovia/>{{rp|97–98}}

A few months after the disaster of the invasion of Cote, a fire destroyed the city and forced the creation of a firefighting squad, the first in the Americas.<ref>De Castellanos, Juan; ''Historia de Cartagena'', Bogotá: Biblioteca de Cultura Popular de Colombia, 1942.{{page needed|date=January 2016}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=January 2016}}

In 1568, Sir [[John Hawkins (naval commander)|John Hawkins]] tried to persuade Governor [[Martín de las Alas]] to open a trade fair in the city which would allow his men to sell foreign goods. This was a violation of Spanish law, which forbade trade with foreigners. Many in the settlement suspected this would have allowed Hawkins to sack the port afterwards; and as such the governor declined. Hawkins bombarded the city for 8 days, but failed to make any significant impacts and withdrew.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/05816284255727262232268/index.htm |title=Historia general y natural de las Indias, islas y tierra-firme del mar océano. Primera parte – Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes |publisher=Cervantesvirtual.com |access-date=24 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUDhawkinsJ.htm |title=Sir John Hawkins |publisher=Spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk |access-date=24 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514030812/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUDhawkinsJ.htm |archive-date=14 May 2011 }}</ref> Then [[Francis Drake]] attacked in April 1586 with 23 ships and 3,000 men. Drake burned 200 houses and the cathedral, departing only after a ransom was paid a month later.<ref name=Lemaitre/>{{rp|24}}<ref name="Meisel Roca 2002">{{cite journal |last=Meisel Roca |first=Adolfo |title=Crecimiento a Traves de los Subsidios – Cartagena de Indias y El Situado, 1751–1810 |trans-title=Growth Through Subsidies – Cartagena de Indias and Surrounding Area, 1751–1810 |url=http://www.banrep.gov.co/docum/Pdf-econom-region/Cuadernos/CHEE09.pdf |date=April 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513083115/http://www.banrep.gov.co/docum/Pdf-econom-region/Cuadernos/CHEE09.pdf |archive-date=13 May 2013 |journal=Cuadernos de Historia Económica y Empresarial [Journal of History, Economics, and Business] |language=es |access-date=26 March 2022}}</ref><ref name="Kraus2010">{{cite web |title=The Caribbean Raid 1585–1586: Sir Francis Drake: A Pictorial Biography by Hans P. Kraus (Rare Book and Special Collections Reading Room) |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/catalog/drake/drake-6-caribraid.html  |date=31 August 2010 |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=9 March 2021}}</ref>

Spain then commissioned [[Battista Antonelli|Bautista Antonelli]] in 1586 to design a master scheme for defending its Caribbean ports. This included a second visit to Cartagena in 1594 when he drew up plans for a walled city.<ref name="Segovia">{{cite book|last1=Segovia|first1=Rodolfo|title=The Fortifications of Cartagena de Indias|date=2009|publisher=el Ancora Editores|location=Bogota|isbn=978-958-36-0134-7|pages=23–24}}</ref>

In 1610, the [[Spanish Inquisition|Holy Office of the Inquisition]] was established in Cartagena and The [[Palace of Inquisition]] was completed in 1770. Sentences were pronounced in the main city plaza, today's Plaza de Bolivar, during the ''Autos de Fe'' ceremonies. Crimes under its jurisdiction included those of [[heresy]], [[blasphemy]], [[bigamy]] and [[witchcraft]]. A total of 767 people were punished, which ranged from fines, wearing a [[Sanbenito]], life imprisonment, or even the death of five. The Inquisition was abolished with independence in 1811.<ref name=Lemaitre/>{{rp|28}}

[[File:Prise et pillage de Carthagene d'Amerique en 1697 par Pointis.jpg|thumb|An illustration of the [[Raid on Cartagena (1697)|Raid on Cartegena]] in 1697 by [[Kingdom of France|French]] privateers. The raid was led by [[Bernard Desjean, Baron de Pointis]], who made off with roughly 2,000,000 livres in loot. The burning settlement is seen in the background (1698, Pierre Landry).]]

The first slaves were brought by [[Pedro de Heredia]] to work as "macheteros", clearing the underbrush. By the 17th century, Cartagena had become an important slave market in the [[New World]], centered around the Plaza de los Coches. European slave traders began to bring [[Atlantic slave trade|enslaved peoples]] from Africa during this period. Spain was the only European power that did not establish [[Factory (trading post)|factories]] in Africa to purchase slaves and therefore the Spanish Empire relied on the [[asiento]] system, awarding merchants from other European nations the license to trade enslaved people to their overseas territories.<ref>{{cite book|title= Génesis y desarrollo de la esclavitud en Colombia siglos XVI y XVII|publisher= Universidad del Valle|isbn = 978-958-670-338-3|year= 2005|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=PH_cf27ucZAC&pg=PP1|language = es}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title= Los místeres de las minas: crónica de la colonia europea más grande de Colombia en el siglo XIX, surgida alrededor de las minas de Marmato, Supía y Riosucio|author= Alvaro Gärtner|publisher= Universidad de Caldas|isbn = 978-958-8231-42-6|year= 2005|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5cUdM30KwxkC&pg=PP1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.gabrielbernat.es/espana/esclavitud/index.html|title= La esclavitud negra en la América española |publisher= gabrielbernat.es|year = 2003|language = es}}</ref><ref name=Lemaitre/>{{rp|30}}<ref name=Segovia/>{{rp|135}}

Gov. [[Francisco de Murga]] made the Inner Bay an "impregnable lagoon", according to Segovia, which included the forts ''El Boquerón'', ''Castillo Grande'', ''Manzanillo'', and ''Manga''. Besides the walls built to defend the historic district of Calamari, Francisco de Murga enclosed Getsemani with protective walls starting in 1631. This included the [[artillery battery|battery]] of Media Luna of San Antonio, located between the [[bastion]]s of Santa Teresa and Santa Barbara, which protected the only gate and [[causeway]] to the mainland.<ref name=Segovia/>{{rp|98, 130}}

The practice of ''[[Situado]]'' is exemplified in the magnitude of the city's subsidy between 1751 and 1810, when the city received the sum of 20,912,677 [[Spanish real]]es.<ref name="Meisel Roca 2002" /><ref name="Kraus2010" />{{page needed|date=January 2016}}

{{multiple image
 | align     = right
 | direction = horizontal
 | image1    = Hyacinthe Rigaud - Philippe V, roi d'Espagne (1683-1746) - Google Art Project.jpg
 | width1    = 150
 | caption1  = The policies of the [[Bourbon Dynasty]] in Spain, such as those of [[Philip V of Spain|Philip V]], stimulated the economic growth and consolidation of the [[Spanish America]].
 | image2    = Juan de Torrezar Díaz Pimienta.jpg
 | width2    = 176
 | caption2  = Juan Díaz de Torrezar Pimienta as governor was the mastermind of the reconstruction of the city after the destruction of 1697.
}}

The [[Raid on Cartagena (1697)|Raid on Cartagena]], in April 1697 during the [[Nine Years' War]], by Sir [[Bernard Desjean, Baron de Pointis]] and [[Jean Baptiste Ducasse]] was a severe blow to Cartagena. The Baron's forces included 22 large ships, 500 cannon, and 4,000 troops, while Ducasse's forces consisted of 7 ships and 1,200 [[buccaneers]]. They quickly overwhelmed [[Sancho Jimeno de Orozco]]'s force of 30 men in the ''San Luis de Bocachica'' fortification. Then, ''San Felipe de Barajas'' also fell and the city came under bombardment. When the Half Moon Gate was breached and Getsemani island occupied, Governor Diego de los Rios capitulated. The Baron left after a month of plunder (roughly 2&nbsp;million livres) and Ducasse followed a week later.<ref name=Lemaitre/>{{rp|31–32}}

When King [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]] employed the Italian engineer Juan Bautista Antonelli to design a master plan of fortifications for Cartagena, construction would actually continue for the next two hundred years. On 17 March 1640, three Portuguese ships under the command of Rodrigo Lobo da Silva, ran aground in the Bocagrande Channel. This accelerated the formation of a [[sand bar]], which soon connected the Bocagrande Peninsula to the island of Tierrabomba. The defense of the bay then shifted to two forts on either side of Bocachica, ''San Jose'' and ''[[Castle of San Luis de Bocachica|San Luis de Bocachica]]''. ''San Luis'' was replaced by ''San Fernando'' after the 1741 English raid. The next narrow passage was formed by the Island of Manzanillo, where ''San Juan del Manzanillo'' was constructed and ''Santa Cruz O Castillo Grande'' opposite on Cruz Grande at Punta Judio, both connected by a floating chain. Finally, there was ''San Felipe del Boquerón'', later ''San Sebastián del Pastelillo''. The city itself was circled with a ring of [[bastion]]s connected by [[curtain wall (fortification)|curtains]]. The island of Getsemani was also fortified. Protecting the city on the landward side, atop San Lázaro hill, was the [[Castillo San Felipe de Barajas]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Castillo San Felipe de Barajas |url=http://www.incartagenaguide.com/incartagena/castillo-san-felipe-de-barajas/ |website=Incartagenaguide.com |access-date=9 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409090318/http://www.incartagenaguide.com/incartagena/castillo-san-felipe-de-barajas/ |archive-date=9 April 2016 }}</ref> named in honor of Spain's King [[Philip IV of Spain|Philip IV]] and Governor [[Pedro Zapata de Mendoza, Marquis of Barajas]]' father, the Count of Barajas. Completed in 1654, the fort was expanded in the 18th century, and included underground corridors and galleries.<ref name=Lemaitre/>{{rp|25–26}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ageofpirates.com/article.php?Port_of_Cartagena |title=Pirate Encyclopedia: Port of Cartagena |publisher=Ageofpirates.com |access-date=24 June 2010}}</ref><ref name=Segovia/>{{rp|76}}<ref name=Segovia/>{{rp|69–72}}

{{multiple image
 | align     = right
 | direction = horizontal
 | image1    = Edward Vernon by Thomas Gainsborough.jpg
 | width1    = 162
 | caption1  = The final serious attempt to take the city and invade [[Viceroyalty of New Granada|New Granada]] was made by [[Edward Vernon]], who failed in one of the biggest military expeditions ever sent there.
 | image2    = Don Blas de Lezo -Museo Naval-.jpg
 | width2    = 167
 | caption2  = [[Blas de Lezo]], the one-eyed, one-legged, one-handed Spanish mariner, was one of those who defended the city in 1741.
}}

===Viceregal era: 1717–1811===
The 18th century began poorly for the city economically, as the [[Bourbon dynasty]] discontinued the ''Carrera de Indias'' convoys. However, with the establishment of the [[Viceroyalty of New Granada]] and the constant Anglo-Spanish conflicts, Cartagena took on the stronghold as the "gateway to the Indies of Peru". By 1777, the city included 13,700 inhabitants with a garrison of 1300. The population reached 17,600 in 1809.<ref name=Segovia/>{{rp|31–33, 36}}

In 1731, Juan de Herrera y Sotomayor founded the Military Academy of Mathematics and Practice of Fortifications in Cartagena. He is also known for designing the [[Puerta del Reloj, Cartagena|Puerta del Reloj]] starting in 1704.<ref name=Segovia/>{{rp|43, 138–39}}

====1741 attack====
[[File:Defensa de Cartagena de Indias por la escuadra de D. Blas de Lezo, año 1741.jpg|thumb|[[Battle of Cartagena de Indias|Siege of Cartagena de Indias of 1741]], where Spanish Empire forces of 2,800 men, commanded by [[Blas de Lezo]], defeated the British fleet and armies of 23,600 soldiers under Admiral [[Edward Vernon]]. The failed siege was decisive for the victory of the [[War of Jenkins' Ear]], and allowed the Spanish Crown to maintain economic dominance in the Caribbean until the [[Seven Years' War]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Álvarez |first=Jesús |title=El hombre que causó la mayor derrota sufrida jamás por la Armada inglesa |trans-title="The man who caused the greatest defeat ever suffered by the English Navy |url=https://sevilla.abc.es/cultura/20141023/sevi-blas-lezo-batalla-201410221911.html |date=23 October 2014 |newspaper=[[ABC (newspaper)|ABC de Sevilla]] |language=es |access-date=27 March 2020}}</ref>]]

Starting in mid-April 1741, the city endured a siege by a large [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] armada under the command of Admiral [[Edward Vernon]]. The engagement, known as [[Battle of Cartagena de Indias]], was part of the larger [[War of Jenkins' Ear]]. The British armada included 50 warships, 130 transport ships, and 25,600 men, including 2,000 North American colonial infantry. The Spanish defense was under the command of [[Sebastián de Eslava]] and Don [[Blas de Lezo]]. The British were able to take the Castillo de San Luis at Bocachica and land marines on the island of Tierrabomba and Manzanillo. The North Americans then took La Popa hill.<ref name=Lemaitre/>{{rp|33–35}}

Following a failed attack on San Felipe Barajas on 20 April 1741, which left 800 British dead and another 1,000 taken prisoner, Vernon lifted the siege. By that time he had many sick men from tropical diseases. An interesting footnote to the battle was the inclusion of [[George Washington]]'s half brother, [[Lawrence Washington (1718–1752)|Lawrence Washington]], among the North American colonial troops. Lawrence later named his [[Mount Vernon]] estate in honor of his commander.<ref name=Lemaitre/>{{rp|35–36}}

During this era, José Ignacio de Pombo thrived as merchant.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bassi |first1=Ernesto |title=No Limits to Their Sway: Cartagena's Privateers and the Masterless Caribbean in the Age of Revolutions |type=Book review |journal=Hispanic American Historical Review |date=1 February 2020 |volume=100 |issue=1 |pages=161–163 |doi=10.1215/00182168-7993342|s2cid=212810434 }}</ref>

====Silver Age (1750–1808)====
{{multiple image
 | align     = right
 | direction = horizontal
 | image1    = Mestiza of Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) circa 1799.jpg
 | width1    = 126
 | caption1  = ''[[Mestizo|Mestiza]] of Cartagena de Indias'' by Antonio Rodríguez Onofre, circa 1799
 | image2    = Criollo of Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) circa 1796.jpg
 | width2    = 134
 | caption2  = ''[[Criollo people|Criollo]] of Cartagena de Indias'' by Antonio Rodríguez Onofre, circa 1796
}}
In 1762, Antonio de Arebalo published his Defense Plan, the Report on the estate of defense on the avenues of Cartagena de Indias. This engineer continued the work to make Cartagena impregnable, including the construction from 1771 to 1778, of a 3400 yards long underwater [[jetty]] across the Bocagrande called the ''Escollera''. Arebalo had earlier completed ''San Fernando'', and the fort-battery of ''San Jose'' in 1759, then added ''El Angel San Rafael'' on El Horno hill as added protection across the Bocachica.<ref name=Segovia/>{{rp|55, 81–94}}

Among the censuses of the 18th century was the special census of 1778, imposed by the governor of the time, D. [[Juan de Torrezar Diaz Pimienta]] – later [[Viceroy of New Granada]] – by order of the [[Marquis of Ensenada]], Minister of Finance – so that he would be provided numbers for his [[Catastro]] tax project, which imposed a universal property tax he believed would contribute to the economy while at the same time increasing royal revenues dramatically. The census of 1778, besides having significance for economic history, required each house to be described in detail and its occupants enumerated, making the census an important tool<ref>This is used today by restoration architects in Cartagena's city center. The original census is preserved in the Museum of History of the city while a copy rests in the [[Archivo de Indias]] in [[Seville]]</ref> The census revealed what Ensenada had hoped. However, his enemies in the court convinced King [[Charles III of Spain|Charles III]] to oppose the tax plan. <!---needs rewriting and shortening-->

===1811 to the 21st century===
{{multiple image
| align         = right
| caption_align = center
| image1        = Puerta del Reloj (Cartagena, Colombia) 1901.jpg
| width1        = 170
| caption1      = Puerta del Reloj in 1917.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eluniversal.com.co/suplementos/facetas/retratos-de-la-nostalgia-256266-FVEU367662|title=Retratos de la nostalgia|author=FERNANDO CARREÑO ARRÁZOLA|website=[[El Universal (Cartagena)]]|date=25 June 2017 }}</ref>
| image2        = Baroque Colonial houses at Cartagena de Indias ca. 1850-1930 (cropped).jpg
| width2        = 150
| caption2      = Baroque colonial houses in a street of Cartagena, photo taken in 1871<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/f9cd4fd0-c572-012f-4544-58d385a7bc34#/?uuid=510d47e2-697a-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99|title=Street in Cartagena 1850–1930|website=[[New York Public Library]]}}</ref>
}}
For more than 275 years, Cartagena was under Spanish rule. With [[Napoleon]]'s imprisonment of [[Charles IV of Spain|Charles IV]] and [[Ferdinand VII of Spain|Ferdinand VII]], and the start of the [[Peninsular War]], the [[Spanish American wars of independence|Latin American wars of independence]] soon followed. In Cartagena, on 4 June 1810, Royal Commissioner [[Antonio Villavicencio]] and the Cartagena City Council banished the Spanish Governor Francisco de Montes on suspicions of sympathy for the French emperor and the French occupation forces which overthrew the king. A Supreme Junta was formed, along with two political parties, one led by [[Jose Maria Garcia de Toledo]] representing the aristocrats, and a second led by Gabriel and German Piñeres representing the common people of Getsemani. Finally, on 11 November, a Declaration of Independence was signed proclaiming "a free state, sovereign and independent of all domination and servitude to any power on Earth".<ref name=Lemaitre/>{{rp|49–51}} The support for a declaration of independence by working class leader and artisan Pedro Romero was key in pushing the Junta to adopting it.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cartagenaexplorer.com/biography-pedro-romero-cartagena-black-independence-leader/|title=Biography of Pedro Romero – Black, Working Class Hero of Cartagena's Independence|date=25 October 2018|website=Cartagena Explorer|access-date=13 January 2019}}</ref>

Spain's reaction was to send a "pacifying expedition" under the command of [[Pablo Morillo]], The Pacifier, and Pascual de Enrile, which included 59 ships, and 10,612 men. The city was [[Siege of Cartagena (1815)|placed under siege]] on 22 August 1815. The city was defended by 3000 men, 360 cannons, and 8 ships plus ancillary small watercraft, under the command of [[Manuel del Castillo y Rada]] and Juan N. Enslava. However, by that time, the city was under the rule of the Garcia de Toledo Party, having exiled German and Gabriel Piñeres, and [[Simon Bolivar]]. By 5 December, about 300 people per day died from hunger or disease, forcing 2000 to flee on vessels provided by the French mercenary Louis Aury. By that time, 6000 had died. Morillo, in retaliation after entering the city, shot nine of the rebel leaders on 24 February 1816, at what is now known as the Camellon de los Martires. These included [[José María García de Toledo]] and [[Manuel del Castillo y Rada]].<ref name=Lemaitre/>{{rp|55–60}}

Finally, a patriot army led by General [[Mariano Montilla]], supported by Admiral [[José Prudencio Padilla]], laid siege to the city from August 1820 until October 1821. A key engagement was the destruction of almost all of the royalist ships anchored on Getsemani Island on 24 June 1821. After Governor Gabriel Torres surrendered, Simon Bolivar the Liberator, bestowed the title "Heroic City" onto Cartagena. The Liberator spent 18 days in the city from 20 to 28 July 1827, staying in the Government Palace in Proclamation Square and the guest of a banquet hosted by Jose Padilla at his residence on Calle Larga.<ref name=Lemaitre/>{{rp|60, 67}}

Unfortunately, the toll of war, in particular from Morillo's siege long affected the city. With the loss of the funds it had received as the main colonial military outpost, and the loss of population, the city deteriorated. It suffered a long decline in the aftermath of independence, and was largely neglected by the central government in Bogotá. In fact, its population did not reach pre-1811 numbers until the start of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cartagenaexplorer.com/consequences-of-cartagenas-independence/|title=Consequences of Cartagena's Independence|date=19 November 2018|website=Cartagena Explorer|access-date=13 January 2019}}</ref>

These declines were also due to disease, including a devastating cholera epidemic in 1849. The Canal del Dique that connected it to the Magdalena River also filled with silt, leading to a drastic reduction in the amount of international trade. The rise of the port of Barranquilla only compounded the decline in trade. During the presidency of Rafael Nuñez, who was a Cartagena native, the central government finally invested in a railroad and other infrastructure improvements and modernization that helped the city to recover.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cartagenaexplorer.com/history-of-cartagena-comprehensive/|title=History of Cartagena – A Comprehensive Guide to the History of Cartagena, Colombia|date=11 July 2018|website=Cartagena Explorer|access-date=13 January 2019}}</ref>

Cartagena is the capital of the Bolívar department.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cartagena {{!}} Colombia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Cartagena-Colombia |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=13 April 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

==Geography==
[[File:Vitral de l a Iglesia y Claustro de San Pedro Claver. Cartagena. Colombia.JPG|thumb|right|[[Iglesia de San Pedro Claver, Cartagena|Sanctuary of Saint Peter Claver]]. [[Peter Claver]] was a Spanish-born [[Jesuit]] priest who dedicated his life to helping the enslaved Africans, giving them a sense of their own personal dignity. He became the [[patron saint]] of slaves, seafarers, the Republic of Colombia and ministry to Africans.]]

===Location===
Cartagena is located to the north of Colombia, at 10°25'N 75°32'W.<ref>{{cite web |title=Country Files (GNS) |url=http://geonames.nga.mil/gns/html/namefiles.html |date=14 December 2015 |website=National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency |access-date=18 December 2015}}</ref>
It faces the Caribbean Sea to the west. To the south is the Cartagena Bay, which has two entrances: Bocachica (Small Mouth) in the south, and Bocagrande (Big Mouth) in the north. Its coastal line is [[Coastal morphodynamics|characterized morphologically by dissipative beaches]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rangel-Buitrago |first1=Nelson |last2=Anfuso |first2=Giorgio |title=Risk assessment of storms in coastal zones |date=2015 |publisher=Springer}}</ref>

Cartagena bay is an estuary with an area of approximately 84&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Restrepo |first1=Juan D. |last2=Escobar |first2=Rogger |last3=Tosic |first3=Marko |title=Fluvial fluxes from the Magdalena River into Cartagena Bay, Caribbean Colombia: Trends, future scenarios, and connections with upstream human impacts |journal=Geomorphology |date=February 2018 |volume=302 |pages=92–105 |doi=10.1016/j.geomorph.2016.11.007|bibcode=2018Geomo.302...92R |hdl=10784/26918 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

===Neighborhoods===

====Northern area====
In this area is the [[Rafael Núñez International Airport]], located in the neighborhood of Crespo, ten minutes' drive from downtown or the old part of the city and fifteen minutes away from the modern area. Zona Norte, the area located immediately north of the airport, contains hotels, the urban development office of Barcelona de Indias, and several educational institutions.{{citation needed|date=February 2015}} The old city walls, which enclose the ''centro'' or downtown area and the neighborhood of San Diego, are located to the southwest of Crespo. On the Caribbean shore between Crespo and the old city lie the neighborhoods of Marbella and [[El Cabrero]].

====Downtown====
[[File:Torre De Reloj27-09-14.jpg|thumb|Baroque [[Puerta del Reloj, Cartagena|Puerta del Reloj]], built between 1704 and 1738, was the main city walls gate. This gate is one of the most successful works of the Hispanic American School of Fortification.]]

The Downtown area of Cartagena has varied architecture, mainly a colonial style, but republican and Italian style buildings, such as the cathedral's bell tower, can be seen.

The main entrance to downtown is the ''[[Puerta del Reloj, Cartagena|Puerta del Reloj]]'' (Clock Gate), which exits onto the ''[[Plaza de los Coches]]'' (Square of the Carriages).<ref>{{cite web |title=La Torre del Reloj Testigo Silencioso de un pasado |trans-title=The Clock Tower: Silent Witness to the Past |url=http://www.traviatacartagena.com/es/marzo/arte.htm |website=Traviata Nuestra |language=es |access-date=10 October 2016}}</ref> A few steps farther is the ''Plaza de la Aduana'' (Customs Square), next to the mayor's office. Nearby is [[San Pedro Claver Square]] and the church also named for Saint [[Peter Claver]], where the body of the [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] saint ('Saint of the African slaves') is kept in a casket, as well as the Museum of Modern Art.{{refn|[[Peter Claver]] was a Spanish-born man who traveled to Cartagena in 1610. On 19 March 1616 he was ordained as a [[Jesuit]] priest. Peter cared for the African slaves for thirty-eight years, defending the life and the [[dignity]] of the slaves. After four years of sickness, Peter died in 1654. Two services were held for him: the official funeral, and a separate memorial attended by his African friends. In 1888, the Roman Catholic Church [[canonized]] Peter. He is now known as the patron saint of African-Americans, slaves and the Republic of Colombia.<ref>Proceso de beatificación y canonización de San Pedro Claver. Edición de 1696. Traducción del latín y del italiano, y notas de Anna María Splendiani y Tulio Aristizábal S. J. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Universidad Católica del Táchira. 2002.</ref><ref>Valtierra, Ángel. 1964. San Pedro Claver, el santo que liberó una raza.</ref>|group=Note}}

Nearby is the Plaza de Bolívar (Bolívar's Square) and the [[Palace of Inquisition]]. Plaza de Bolívar (formerly known as Plaza de La Inquisicion) is essentially a small park with a statue of [[Simón Bolívar]] in the center. This plaza is surrounded by balconied colonial buildings.  Shaded outdoor cafes line the street.

The Office of Historical Archives devoted to Cartagena's history is not far away. Next to the archives is the Government Palace, the office building of the Governor of the Department of Bolivar. Across from the palace is the [[Cathedral of Cartagena, Colombia|Cathedral of Cartagena]], which dates back to the 16th century.

Another religious building of significance is the Iglesia de Santo Domingo in front of Plaza Santo Domingo (Santo Domingo Square). In the square is the sculpture ''Mujer Reclinada'' ("Reclining Woman"), a gift from the notable Colombian artist [[Fernando Botero]]. Nearby is the [[Tcherassi Hotel]], a 250-year-old colonial mansion renovated by designer [[Silvia Tcherassi]].

In the city is the Augustinian Fathers Convent and the [[University of Cartagena]]. This university is a center of higher education opened to the public in the late 19th century. The ''Claustro de Santa Teresa'' (Saint Theresa Cloister), which has been remodeled and has become a hotel operated by Charleston Hotels. It has its own square, protected by the San Francisco Bastion.

A 20-minute walk from downtown is the [[Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas]], located in el Pie de la Popa (another neighborhood), one of the greatest fortresses built by the Spaniards in their colonies. The tunnels were all constructed in such a way as to make it possible to hear footsteps of an approaching enemy. Some of the tunnels are open for viewing today.

Cartagena's walled Old City is known in part for its lush plazas,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/travel/things-to-do-in-36-hours-in-cartagena-colombia.html |title=36 Hours in Cartagena, Colombia |work=The New York Times |date=10 September 2014 |last1=Moon |first1=Freda }}</ref> and sherbet-hued Spanish colonial buildings.<ref>{{cite web |title=AD's Guide to Cartagena, Colombia |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/travel-guide-cartagena-colombia |website=Architectural Digest |date=16 March 2016}}</ref>

====San Diego====
San Diego was named after the local San Diego Convent, now known as the Beaux Arts University Building. In front of it is the Convent of the [[Poor Clares|Nuns of the Order of Saint Clare]], now the Hotel Santa Clara. In the surrounding area is Santo Toribio Church, the last church built in the Walled City. Next to it is Fernández de Madrid Square, honoring Cartagena's hero, José Fernández de Madrid, whose statue can be seen nearby.

Inside the Old City{{clarify|Since this is capitalized, it must be important and deserves more space than this. Mentioned in later paragraph as well|date=November 2012}} is found [[Las Bóvedas]] (The Vaults),<ref>{{cite web|title=Cartagena attractions: Las Bovedas|url=http://www.viator.com/Cartagena-attractions/Las-Bovedas/d4498-a6201|publisher=Viator|access-date=11 December 2013}}</ref> a construction attached to the walls of the Santa Catalina Fortress. From the top of this construction the Caribbean Sea is visible.

====Getsemaní====
[[File:Cartagena, street scene.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Painting of 1893 of [[List of colonial buildings in Cartagena, Colombia|Plaza de los Coches]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.yale.edu/digital/collection/rebooks/id/103178|title=Colombia 1893|author=Clímaco Calderón, Edward E. Britton|website=[[Yale University Library]] Digital Collections}}</ref>]]

Once a district characterized by crime, Getsemaní, just south of the ancient walled fortress, has become "Cartagena's hippest neighborhood and one of Latin America's newest hotspots", with plazas that were once the scene of drug dealing being reclaimed and old buildings being turned into boutique hotels.<ref>{{cite news |last=Saladino |first=Emily |title=A renaissance beyond Cartagena's historic walls |url=http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20130724-a-renaissance-beyond-cartagenas-historic-walls |date=23 August 2013 |department=Travel |website=[[BBC]] |access-date=24 August 2016}}</ref>

Getsemaní has become a "Ciudad Mural" to rescue the values, customs, traditions and anecdotes of the people.[https://forbes.co/2020/01/03/forbes-life/getsemani-el-barrio-de-cartagena-entre-los-mas-cool-del-mundo]

====Bocagrande====
The Bocagrande (Big Mouth) is an area known for its skyscrapers. The area contains the bulk of the city's tourist facilities, such as hotels, shops, restaurants, nightclubs and art galleries. It is located between [[Cartagena Bay]] to the east and the Caribbean Sea to the west, and includes the two neighborhoods of El Laguito (The Little Lake) and Castillogrande (Big Castle). Bocagrande has long beaches and much commercial activity is found along Avenida San Martín (Saint Martin Avenue).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tripelle.com/medellin-vs-cartagena-vs-bogota-which-is-the-best-colombian-city-for-your-next-vacation/|title=Medellin vs. Cartagena vs. Bogota: Which is the Best Colombian City for Your Next Vacation?|date=23 March 2019|website=Tripelle|access-date=1 November 2019}}</ref>

The beaches of Bocagrande, lying along the northern shore, are made of volcanic sand, which is slightly grayish in color. This makes the water appear muddy, though it is not. There are breakwaters about every {{convert|200|yd|m|order=flip|sp=us}}.{{citation needed|date=February 2015}}

On the bay side of the peninsula of Bocagrande is a seawalk. In the center of the bay is a statue of the Virgin Mary. The Naval Base is also located in Bocagrande, looking at the Bay.

{{Clear}}
{{wide image|69 - Carthagène - Décembre 2008.jpg|1500px|Bocagrande's skyline at twilight from the old town, in 2008}}

===Climate===
Cartagena features a [[tropical wet and dry climate]] ([[Köppen climate classification|Köppen]]: ''Aw''). Humidity averages around 80%, with the rainy season typically lasting in May–November. The climate tends to be hot and windy.

The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is one of the coastal ocean factors having a bearing on the regional climate.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Orejarena-Rondón |first1=Andrés F. |last2=Sayol |first2=Juan M. |last3=Marcos |first3=Marta |last4=Otero |first4=Luis |last5=Restrepo |first5=Juan C. |last6=Hernández-Carrasco |first6=Ismael |last7=Orfila |first7=Alejandro |title=Coastal Impacts Driven by Sea-Level Rise in Cartagena de Indias |journal=Frontiers in Marine Science |date=1 October 2019 |volume=6 |doi=10.3389/fmars.2019.00614|hdl=10261/202816 |hdl-access=free |doi-access=free }}</ref>

{{Weather box|location = Cartagena ([[Rafael Núñez International Airport]]) 1991–2020
|metric first = Yes
|single line = yes
|Jan record high C = 40.0
|Feb record high C = 38.0
|Mar record high C = 38.0
|Apr record high C = 38.0
|May record high C = 40.0
|Jun record high C = 39.8
|Jul record high C = 39.0
|Aug record high C = 38.0
|Sep record high C = 39.6
|Oct record high C = 39.0
|Nov record high C = 40.0
|Dec record high C = 38.0
|year record high C = 40.0
|Jan high C = 31.1
|Feb high C = 31.1
|Mar high C = 31.2
|Apr high C = 31.7
|May high C = 32.0
|Jun high C = 32.3
|Jul high C = 32.2
|Aug high C = 32.2
|Sep high C = 32.1
|Oct high C = 31.7
|Nov high C = 31.5
|Dec high C = 31.4
|year high C = 31.7
|Jan mean C = 26.9
|Feb mean C = 27.0
|Mar mean C = 27.3
|Apr mean C = 28.1
|May mean C = 28.6
|Jun mean C = 28.9
|Jul mean C = 28.6
|Aug mean C = 28.7
|Sep mean C = 28.6
|Oct mean C = 28.3
|Nov mean C = 28.1
|Dec mean C = 27.5
|year mean C = 28.0
|Jan low C = 24.0
|Feb low C = 24.2
|Mar low C = 24.9
|Apr low C = 25.8
|May low C = 26.1
|Jun low C = 26.1
|Jul low C = 25.7
|Aug low C = 25.9
|Sep low C = 25.8
|Oct low C = 25.6
|Nov low C = 25.5
|Dec low C = 24.8
|year low C = 25.4
|Jan record low C = 19.0
|Feb record low C = 19.0
|Mar record low C = 19.0
|Apr record low C = 19.5
|May record low C = 19.0
|Jun record low C = 19.0
|Jul record low C = 20.0
|Aug record low C = 18.0
|Sep record low C = 18.5
|Oct record low C = 19.0
|Nov record low C = 19.0
|Dec record low C = 18.5
|year record low C = 18.0
|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation mm = 0.5
|Feb precipitation mm = 0.3
|Mar precipitation mm = 0.2
|Apr precipitation mm = 18.6
|May precipitation mm = 117.4
|Jun precipitation mm = 92.5
|Jul precipitation mm = 121.1
|Aug precipitation mm = 127.5
|Sep precipitation mm = 133.1
|Oct precipitation mm = 236.5
|Nov precipitation mm = 178.3
|Dec precipitation mm = 44.7
|year precipitation mm = 1073.8
|unit precipitation days = 1 mm
|Jan precipitation days = 0.1
|Feb precipitation days = 0.1
|Mar precipitation days = 0.4
|Apr precipitation days = 2.0
|May precipitation days = 7.0
|Jun precipitation days = 8.5
|Jul precipitation days = 8.5
|Aug precipitation days = 9.5
|Sep precipitation days = 10.3
|Oct precipitation days = 12.1
|Nov precipitation days = 8.9
|Dec precipitation days = 2.6
|year precipitation days = 70.1
|Jan humidity = 81
|Feb humidity = 79
|Mar humidity = 80
|Apr humidity = 81
|May humidity = 82
|Jun humidity = 82
|Jul humidity = 81
|Aug humidity = 82
|Sep humidity = 82
|Oct humidity = 83
|Nov humidity = 83
|Dec humidity = 82
|year humidity = 81
|Jan sun = 272.8
|Feb sun = 240.1
|Mar sun = 238.7
|Apr sun = 210.0
|May sun = 192.2
|Jun sun = 189.0
|Jul sun = 207.7
|Aug sun = 198.4
|Sep sun = 171.0
|Oct sun = 170.5
|Nov sun = 186.0
|Dec sun = 241.8
|year sun = 2518.2
|Jand sun = 8.8
|Febd sun = 8.5
|Mard sun = 7.7
|Aprd sun = 7.0
|Mayd sun = 6.2
|Jund sun = 6.3
|Juld sun = 6.7
|Augd sun = 6.4
|Sepd sun = 5.7
|Octd sun = 5.5
|Novd sun = 6.2
|Decd sun = 7.8
|yeard sun = 6.9
| Jan percentsun  = 75.9
| Feb percentsun  = 66.6
| Mar percentsun  = 63.8
| Apr percentsun  = 56.6
| May percentsun  = 49.3
| Jun percentsun  = 49.5
| Jul percentsun  = 52.9
| Aug percentsun  = 51.4
| Sep percentsun  = 46.8
| Oct percentsun  = 46.2
| Nov percentsun  = 53.2
| Dec percentsun  = 67.7
| year percentsun =
| Jan light = 11.6
| Feb light = 11.8
| Mar light = 12.1
| Apr light = 12.4
| May light = 12.6
| Jun light = 12.7
| Jul light = 12.7
| Aug light = 12.5
| Sep light = 12.2
| Oct light = 11.9
| Nov light = 11.7
| Dec light = 11.5
| year light= 
| Jan uv  =11
| Feb uv  =11
| Mar uv  =13
| Apr uv  =15
| May uv  =13
| Jun uv  =13
| Jul uv  =12
| Aug uv  =13
| Sep uv  =13
| Oct uv  =13
| Nov uv  =11
| Dec uv  =10
| year uv =
|source 1 = [[Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (Colombia)|Instituto de Hidrologia Meteorologia y Estudios Ambientales]] (humidity, sun 1971–2010)<ref name=IDEAM1>{{cite web 
|url=http://www.ideam.gov.co/documents/21021/553571/Normales%2BClimatol%C3%B3gicas%2BEst%C3%A1ndar_Periodo%2B1991-2020.xlsx/347421fe-b205-478f-9c24-55d0ea3785cd 
|title=Promedios Climatológicos 1991–2020 
|publisher=Instituto de Hidrologia Meteorologia y Estudios Ambientales 
|language=es 
|access-date=25 June 2024 |archive-date=6 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240606062955/http://www.ideam.gov.co/documents/21021/553571/Normales+Climatol%C3%B3gicas+Est%C3%A1ndar_Periodo+1991-2020.xlsx/347421fe-b205-478f-9c24-55d0ea3785cd 
|url-status=dead 
}}</ref><ref name=IDEAM2>{{cite web
| url = http://www.ideam.gov.co/documents/21021/553571/Promedios+Climatol%C3%B3gicos++1981+-+2010.xlsx/f28d0b07-1208-4a46-8ccf-bddd70fb4128
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160815025712/http://www.ideam.gov.co/documents/21021/553571/Promedios%2BClimatol%C3%B3gicos%2B%2B1981%2B-%2B2010.xlsx/f28d0b07-1208-4a46-8ccf-bddd70fb4128
| archive-date = 15 August 2016
| title = Promedios Climatológicos 1981–2010
| publisher = Instituto de Hidrologia Meteorologia y Estudios Ambientales
| language = es
| access-date = 15 August 2016
}}</ref><ref name=IDEAM3>{{cite web
| url = http://www.ideam.gov.co/documents/21021/553571/Promedios+Climatol%C3%B3gicos++1971+-+2000.xlsx/7358269a-2856-442c-8d41-fe076f0361af
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160815030409/http://www.ideam.gov.co/documents/21021/553571/Promedios%2BClimatol%C3%B3gicos%2B%2B1971%2B-%2B2000.xlsx/7358269a-2856-442c-8d41-fe076f0361af
| archive-date = 15 August 2016
| title = Promedios Climatológicos 1971–2000
| publisher = Instituto de Hidrologia Meteorologia y Estudios Ambientales
| language = es
| access-date = 15 August 2016
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.ideam.gov.co/web/tiempo-y-clima/clima
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160815030620/http://www.ideam.gov.co/web/tiempo-y-clima/clima
| archive-date=15 August 2016
| title = Tiempo y Clima
| publisher = Instituto de Hidrologia Meteorologia y Estudios Ambientales
| language = es
| access-date = 15 August 2016}}</ref>
| source 2 =  Weather Atlas(daylight)<ref name="Weather Atlas">{{cite web |url=https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/colombia/cartagena-climate |title=Cartagena, Colombia – Monthly weather forecast and Climate data |publisher=Weather Atlas |access-date=9 March 2019 }}</ref> Nomadseason(UV index)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://nomadseason.com/uv-index/colombia/bolivar/cartagena.html |title=UV Index in Cartagena, Colombia |access-date=19 August 2024 |website=Nomadseason |no-pp=y}}</ref>
|date = November 2011}}

==Demographics==
[[File:Zenon de Somodevilla y Bengoechea, Marquis de Ensenada (ca. 1750) - Jacopo Amigoni (Museo El Prado).jpg|thumb|The [[Marquis of Ensenada]] was Minister for America and responsible for many policies, one of which resulted in the first modern census in the city in 1778.]]

{{Historical populations
|align=none|cols=3|percentage=pagr
|1533|200
|1564|2,400
|1593|3,543
|1612|5,302
|1634|8,390
|1643|12,302
|1698|14,223
|1701|10,230
|1732|12,932
|1762|14,203
|1778|16,940
|1792|19,380
|1803|23,402
|1811|29,320
|1821|5,392
|1832|8,001
|1842|4,221
|1853|6,403
|1867|8,320
|1870|7,680
|1882|13,994
|1890|17,392
|1900|21,220
|1912|29,922
|1918|34,203
|1926|64,322
|1939|87,504
|1952|123,439
|1967|299,493
|1976|312,520
|1985|554,093
|1993|725,072
|1999|837,552
|2005|893,033
|2018|973,035
}}

{{wide image|58 - Carthagène - Décembre 2008.jpg|1500px|Panorama of Cartagena from the San Felipe de Barajas Fort, in 2008}}

=== Ethnic composition ===
According to the figures presented by [[Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística|DANE]] from the 2005 census, the ethnographic composition of the city is:<ref>{{Cite web |title=PERFIL CARTAGENA-DANE |url=http://www.dane.gov.co/files/censo2005/PERFIL_PDF_CG2005/13001T7T000.PDF}}</ref>

* [[Whites]] and [[Mestizos]]: 63.2%
* [[Afro-Colombians|Black, mulatto, Afro-Colombian or Afro-descendant]]: 36.1%
* [[Palenque de San Basilio|Palenquero]]: 0.3%
* [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous]]: 0.2%
* [[Romani people|ROM]]: 0.1%
* [[Raizal]]: 0.1%

==Economy==
[[File:Cartagena2011-Skyline-Habour.jpg|thumb|Port of Cartagena de Indias]]

The main economic activities in Cartagena are industry, tourism, and commerce. The port of Cartagena is one of the largest of South America.

=== Industry ===
Other prominent companies include [[Cementos Argos]], [[Miss Colombia]], Kola Román, Indufrial, Amazon Pepper, Vikings SA, Distribuidora Ltda Refrigeration, Central Ingenio Colombia, Perfumery Lemaitre, Cartagena Refinery Cellux Colombiana SA, Flour Three Castles, Polyban International SA, [[SABMiller]], [[Dow Chemical]], [[Cemex]], [[Dole Food Company|Dole]], and Abocol.{{citation needed|date=February 2015}}.

=== Miss Colombia ===
In 1934, [[Miss Colombia]] was founded in [[Cartagena de Indias]]. Known as ''Concurso Nacional de Belleza de Colombia'' (National Beauty Contest of Colombia), it is a national beauty pageant in Colombia. The winner, ''Señorita Colombia'', is sent to [[Miss Supranational]] and the first runner-up, ''Señorita Colombia Internacional'' or ''Virreina'', to [[Miss International]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 November 2022 |title=¿En qué certamen internacional participará Sofia Osio Luna, la Señorita Colombia 2022? |url=https://colombia.as.com/tikitakas/en-que-certamen-internacional-participara-sofia-osio-luna-la-senorita-colombia-2022-n/ |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Diario AS |language=es-co}}</ref>

There is also a local beauty contest held with many of the city's neighbourhoods nominating young women to be named Miss Independence.<ref>{{cite web |title=What to Expect During the Cartagena November Festivities (2019 Update) |url=https://www.cartagenaexplorer.com/guide-cartagena-independence-festivities-fiestas-novembrinas-november-celebration/ |website=Cartagena Explorer |date=13 October 2019}}</ref>

=== Free zones ===
[[Free-trade zone|Free zones]] are areas within the local territory which enjoy special customs and tax rules.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Zonas Francas Permanentes en Colombia|url=https://www.inviertaencolombia.com.co/zonas-francas-y-otros-incentivos/zonas-francas-permanentes.html|access-date=2020-09-03|website=Invierta en Colombia|language=es-es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2017|title=Zonas Francas Colombia|url=https://www.asociacionzonasfrancas.org/media/estadisticas-pais/Colombia/2017/Estadisticas_Zonas_Francas_Colombia.pdf|website=Asociacion Zonas Francas}}</ref> They are intended to promote the industrialization of goods and provision of services aimed primarily at foreign markets and also the domestic market.{{citation needed|date=February 2015}}
* ''Parque Central Zona Franca'': Opened in 2012 the zone is located in the municipality of Turbaco, within the District of Cartagena de Indias. It covers an area of {{convert|115|ha|acre|frac=4|abbr=}}.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Parque Central – Free Trade Zone – Zona Franca|url=https://zonafrancapc.co/en/parque-central-free-trade-zone/|access-date=2020-09-03|language=en-US}}</ref>  It has a permamente Zone (Phase 1 – Phase 2) and a Logistics and Commercial Zone for SMEs.{{citation needed|date=February 2015}}
* ''Zona Franca Industrial Goods and Services ZOFRANCA Cartagena SA'': located {{convert|14|km|abbr=off|frac=8|sp=us}} from the city center, at the end of the industrial sector and has Mamonal private dock.{{citation needed|date=February 2015}}
* ''Zona Franca Turística en Isla De Barú'': located on the island of Baru, within the swamp Portonaito. Approved in 1993 the tourist zone offers waterways, marine tourism and urban development.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Garcia Martinez |first=Eduardo |title=Aprueban Zona Franca Turística en Isla De Barú |trans-title=Tourist Free Zone Approved in Isla De Barú |url=https://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-191532 |date=10 August 1993 |website=El Tiempo |language=es |access-date=9 March 2021}}</ref>

===Tourism===
[[File:Panorama Castillo San Felipe de Barajas CTG 11 2019 2864.jpg|thumb|[[Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas|Castle of San Felipe de Barajas]], just outside the walled city]]
[[File:Ciudad amurallada fog.jpg|thumb|The [[Cartagena Cathedral, Colombia|Cartagena Cathedral]] was built between 1577 and 1612, has been preserved today almost unchanged.]]
[[File:Palace of the Inquisition in 1875 (Cartagena, Colombia).jpg|thumb|260px|The [[Palace of the Inquisition (Cartagena, Colombia)|Palace of the Inquisition]] in 1875 (cleaned photo).]]
[[File:Amarillo Latente.jpg|thumb|The [[Casa del Marqués de Valdehoyos]] (to the right) built in 1765.]]
{{See also|List of colonial buildings in Cartagena, Colombia}}
Tourism is a mainstay of the economy. The following are tourist sites that are within the walled city of Cartagena:
* Colonial architecture with Andalusian style roots. Many of the houses in Cartagena have balconies with tropical flowers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Big on Charm: Colonial Cartagena |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/big-on-charm-colonial-cartagena |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303214931/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/big-on-charm-colonial-cartagena |archive-date=3 March 2021 |website=Travel |access-date=13 January 2022 |language=en |date=17 November 2015}}</ref>
* [[Convento de la Popa|Convent, cloister and chapel of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de la Popa]], located at the top of Mount Popa
* [[Cartagena Cathedral, Colombia|Cathedral of Santa Catalina de Alejandría]]
* [[Iglesia de San Pedro Claver, Cartagena|Church and cloister of San Pedro Claver]]
* [[Convento de Santo Domingo, Cartagena|Convent and church of Santo Domingo]]
* [[Palace of Inquisition]]
* Teatro Heredia<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cartagenacolombiarentals.com/2016/03/teatro-heredia/|title=Teatro Heredia|access-date=17 March 2016}}</ref>
* Cartagena Gold Museum<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.incartagenaguide.com/incartagena/museo-del-oro-de-cartagena/|title=Museo del Oro de Cartagena|access-date=19 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220202135/http://www.incartagenaguide.com/incartagena/museo-del-oro-de-cartagena/|archive-date=20 February 2015}}</ref>
* [[Las Bóvedas]]
* [[Puerta del Reloj, Cartagena|Clock Tower]]
* Fortresses in Cartagena de Indias: Of the twenty fortresses comprising the walls in the district of Getsemaní, today 16 are still standing, preserved in good condition. In 1586, it was commissioned to the most famous military engineer of the Crown of Spain in that time, the Italian [[Battista Antonelli]], the fortification of the city. The works of the project finally ended in the 17th century. Cartagena became an impregnable bastion, which successfully resisted the attacks of Baron Pontis to 1697. In the 18th century, new additions gave the fortified complex its current amplitude by engineer {{ill|Antonio de Arévalo|es}}. The initial fortification system includes only the urban recint, the bastion port of San Matías at the entrance to the passage of Bocagrande, and the Tower of San Felipe del Boquerón that controlled the Bay of las Ánimas. Gradually, all passages were dominated by fortresses: fortress of San Luis, fortress of San José and fortress of San Fernando in Bocachica, fortress of San Rafaél and fortress of Santa Bárbara in Pochachica (the passage at southwest), fortress of Santa Cruz, fortress of San Juan de Manzanillo and fortress of San Sebasi de Pastellilo around the interior of Bahía, castle of San Felipe de Barajas, in the rock that dominates the city from the east and access to protected the Isthmus del Cerebro. The fortifications of San Felipe de Barajas in Cartagena, protected the city during numerous sieges, giving its character and reputation unassailable. These are described as a masterpiece of Spanish military engineering in the Americas.

The city has a budding hotel industry with small boutique hotels being primarily concentrated in the Walled City and larger hotels in the beach front neighborhood of Bocagrande.  The area of Getsemaní just outside the wall is also a popular place for small hotels and hostels.<ref>{{cite web |title=Where to Stay in Cartagena? – Insider's Guide (with recommendations, 2019 update) |url=https://www.cartagenaexplorer.com/where-to-stay-best-areas-to-stay-cartagena-colombia-guide/ |website=Cartagena Explorer |date=28 June 2019}}</ref>

The following are tourist sites that are outside the city of Cartagena:
* Las Islas del Rosario: These islands are one of Colombia's most important national parks. Most of the islands can be reached in an hour or less from the city docks.

==Infrastructure==

===Transportation===
As the commercial and touristic hub of the country, the city has many transportation facilities, particularly in the seaport, air, and fluvial areas.{{citation needed|date=February 2015}}

In 2003,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.transcaribe.gov.co/nueva/viewsFinal/index.php?pag=informacion.php&idIndex=9 |title=Transcaribe |publisher=Transcaribe |access-date=26 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520175429/http://www.transcaribe.gov.co/nueva/viewsFinal/index.php?pag=informacion.php&idIndex=9 |archive-date=20 May 2013 }}</ref> the city started building [[Transcaribe]], a mass transit system. In 2015 the system began operating in the city.  Taxis are also a prevalent form of public transportation and there is a bus terminal connecting the city to other cities along the coast and in Colombia.<ref>{{cite web |title=Getting Around Cartagena – A Comprehensive Guide to Transportation in Cartagena, Colombia |url=https://www.cartagenaexplorer.com/comprehensive-guide-to-public-transportation-in-cartagena-colombia/ |website=Cartagena Explorer |date=28 June 2019}}</ref>

Cartagena has problems of traffic congestion.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gonzalez-Urango |first1=Hannia |last2=Pira |first2=Michela Le |last3=Inturri |first3=Giuseppe |last4=Ignaccolo |first4=Matteo |last5=García-Melón |first5=Mónica |title=Designing walkable streets in congested touristic cities: the case of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia |journal=Transportation Research Procedia |date=2020 |volume=45 |pages=309–316 |doi=10.1016/j.trpro.2020.03.021|hdl=20.500.12442/5225 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

====Roads====
The city is linked to the northern part of the Caribbean Region through [[Highways in Colombia#50px Caribbean Transverse - National Route 90|roads 90]] and 90A, more commonly called Central Caribbean Road. This road passes through [[Barranquilla]], [[Santa Marta]] and [[Riohacha]] ending in [[Paraguachón]], Venezuela and continues with Venezuelan numeration all the way to [[Caracas]].  Taxis in the city perimeter do not have fare meters.<ref>{{Cite web|date=8 August 2020|title=Getting Around Cartagena – A Comprehensive Guide to Transportation in Cartagena, Colombia|url=https://www.cartagenaexplorer.com/comprehensive-guide-to-public-transportation-in-cartagena-colombia/|access-date=2021-05-28|website=Cartagena Explorer|language=en-US}}</ref>

The following roads are in the southeast portion of the city:

{{clarify|reason=need to rm portions that are not in the city. Road needs a separate article|date=February 2015}}
Road 25: Going through [[Turbaco]] and [[Arjona, Colombia|Arjona]], and through the Montes de María when a fork divides it continuing to Sincelejo as National 25 and finally ending in [[Medellín]], and to the east to [[Valledupar]] as number 80.

Road 25 A: Going also to [[Sincelejo]], but avoiding the mountains, connects with Road 25 in the forementioned city.{{clarify|which is what? Medellín?|date=November 2012}}

====Air====
The [[Rafael Núñez International Airport]] is the busiest airport in Colombia's Caribbean region and the fourth in passenger traffic in the country. The code of the airport is CTG, having flights to almost all airports in Colombia including Bogota's [[El Dorado International Airport]]. Excessive operational costs and easier connection travel and better prices had led to the shifting of the Rafael Núñez's international connection passengers away from Bogota to the nearer [[Tocumen International Airport]] in Panama and [[Queen Beatrix International Airport]] in [[Aruba]]. Also, more companies prefer to serve the Colombian market from Cartagena, due to better geographical and atmospheric conditions.<ref>{{cite news|title=En Marzo Entregan Obras en el Aeropuerto|url=http://www.eluniversal.com.co/cartagena/economica/en-marzo-entregan-obras-en-el-aeropuerto-103770|access-date=20 February 2013|newspaper=El Universal}}</ref>

====Sea====
[[File:Atardecer en Cartagena de Indias desde La Popa..jpg|thumb|right|Sunset over Cartagena Harbor as seen from La Popa]]
[[File:Playa Blanca, Barú.jpg|thumb|Playa Blanca Beach, [[Isla Barú]], Cartagena]]
[[File:Stylaster roseus.jpg|thumb|The endangered [[Coral reef of Varadero|Varadero Coral Reef]] in Cartagena Bay]]

Cartagena is the most important port of Colombia in the Caribbean.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stein |first1=Alfredo |last2=Moser |first2=Caroline |title=Asset planning for climate change adaptation: lessons from Cartagena, Colombia |journal=Environment and Urbanization |date=April 2014 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=166–183 |doi=10.1177/0956247813519046|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The open ports of the city are:
* [[Sociedad Portuaria de Cartagena de Indias|Port Society of Cartagena]] - Specializing in container management, this port is first of its class in the country, the third busiest port on the Caribbean Sea, and ranked 99th among ports of the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.puertocartagena.com/ |title=Contecar – Sociedad Portuaria Regional Cartagena |publisher=Puertocartagena.com |access-date=24 June 2010}}</ref>
* [[Muelles El Bosque]] (El Bosque Docks) – specialized in grain storage, expanding to the container market<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elbosque.com/ |title=Terminal Marítimo Muelles El Bosque S.A |publisher=Elbosque.com |access-date=24 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128084205/http://elbosque.com/ |archive-date=28 January 2011 }}</ref>
* [[Terminal de Contenedores de Cartagena de Indias|Container Terminal of Cartagena]] – container management

Private ports of the city:
* The port of the Cartagena [[Oil Refinery]] (REFICAR S.A.)
* [[SABMiller]] brewery port
* [[Argos (cement company)|Argos]] cement port
* [[Dow Chemical]] raw materials embarkment port
* [[BASF]] [[Colombia]] raw materials embarkment port
* [[DuPont (1802–2017)|Du Pont]] private embarkment port
* [[Cemex]] cement port
* [[Dole Food Company|Dole]] packing house
* [[Colombian Navy]] steelworks port

====Canals====
Since the 17th century the bay has been connected to the [[Magdalena River]] by the [[Canal del Dique|Dique Canal]], built by Governor Pedro Zapata de Mendoza. After Colombian independence, the canal was abandoned. Increasing [[centralization]] left the city without resources to maintain it. The last important maintenance work was done in the 1950s during [[Laureano Gómez]]'s administration. Some improvements were made by local authorities in the 1980s. This was discontinued because of legal objections from the central government that decreed that the "maintenance" of the canal did not fall under the [[jurisdiction]] of the local government. From then on, maintenance of the canal has been delayed, though it is still functional.<ref>Lemaitre, Eduardo; Historia Extensa de Cartagena de Indias, Ed. Aguilar 1976</ref>

Cartagenian political leaders have argued that this state of affairs might change with a return to pre-independence funding and tax system. Under such systems the canal would be maintained properly and even expanded, benefiting the national economy.<ref>"El Porvenir", Year CXVII, Issue 29.399, p. 4, column 2. Cartagena de Indias, 1999.</ref>

===Waste disposal===
Cartagena is one of the few cities in the world with a [[marine outfall]], inaugurated in 2013,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eluniversal.com.co/cartagena/local/se-inaugura-el-emisario-submarino-113040 |title=Se inaugura el Emisario Submarino |date=20 March 2013 |publisher=El Universal|language=es}}</ref> whose {{convert|4.3|km|adj=on|sp=us}}-long underwater section is the third longest in the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eluniversal.com.co/cartagena/local/emisario-submarino-por-fin-112989|title=Emisario Submarino: ¡por fin! |date=20 March 2013 |publisher=El Universal|language=es}}</ref>

==Education==
[[File:Calle de San agustin.JPG|thumb|right|The Convent of San Agustín at background, convent built in 16th-century, and since 1828 is occupied by the University of Cartagena. Currently, of the original structure of this convent remains only the cloister, the arches and the supporting walls. The tower is of Italian Revival style and as the large interior garden and courtyard.{{citation needed|date=March 2022|reason=incomplete sentence}}]]

===Colleges and universities===
* [[University of Cartagena]]
* [[Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar]]

===Primary and secondary schools===
International schools include:
* [[Corporacion Educativa Colegio Britanico de Cartagena]] (British)
* [[Gimnasio Cartagena de Indias]] (International)
* [[Colegio Jorge Washington]] (American)

===Libraries===
The city has many public and private libraries:
* The [[Universidad de Cartagena]] [[José Fernández Madrid]] Library: Started in 1821 when the university opened as the "University of Magdalena and Isthmus". Serves mainly the students and faculty of this university but anyone can use its services.
:Divided in buildings across the city being assigned to the Faculties it serves accordingly each area. The main building is in C. de la Universidad 64 and the second biggest section is located in Av. Jose Vicente Mogollón 2839.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unicartagena.edu.co/biblioteca.htm |title=Universidad de Cartagena – Biblioteca |publisher=Unicartagena.edu.co |access-date=24 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100311040151/http://www.unicartagena.edu.co/biblioteca.htm |archive-date=11 March 2010 }}</ref>
* The [[Bartolomé Calvo]] Library: Founded in 1843 and established in its current place in 1900, it is one of the main libraries on the Caribbean Coast and the largest in the city. Its address is Calle de la Inquisición, 23.
* The History Academy of Cartagena de Indias Library: Opened in 1903, many of its books date from more than a century before from donations of members and benefactors. Its entrance is more restricted due to secure handling procedure reasons as ancient books require, but it can be requested in the academy office in Plaza de Bolivar 112.
* The Technological University of Bolívar Library: Opened in 1985 Although small in general size, its sections on engineering and electronics are immense and its demand is mostly on this area, being located in Camino de Arroyohondo 1829.
* The American Hispanic Culture Library: Opened in 1999, it already existed a smaller version without Spanish funding in the Casa de España since the early 1940s but in 1999 was enlarged to serve Latin America and the Caribbean in the old convent of Santo Domingo. It specializes in Hispanic Culture and History and is a continental epicenter of seminaries on history and restoration of buildings. The restoration of the convent and the enlargement of the library was and still is a personal project of [[Juan Carlos I of Spain]] who visits it regularly. It is located in Plaza Santo Domingo 30, but its entrance is in C. Gastelbondo 52.
* Jorge Artel Library: Opened in 1997, serves the area of the southwest districts of the city, it is mostly for children. It is located in Camino del Socorro 222
* Balbino Carreazo Library: Located in Pasacaballos, a suburban neighborhood of the southeastern part of the city, serves mostly the suburbs of Pasacaballos, Ararca, Leticia del Dique and Matunilla. It is located in Plaza de Pasacaballos 321
* District Libraries: Although small, this system goes grassroots to neighborhoods circulating books, generally each district library has around 5000 books.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ipcc.gov.co/bibliotecas.html |title=Patrimonio Cultural – Instituto de Cultura de Cartagena Colombia |publisher=Ipcc.gov.co |access-date=24 June 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070623164113/http://www.ipcc.gov.co/bibliotecas.html |archive-date = 23 June 2007}}</ref>

==Culture==
{{Multiple image
 | align = right
 | direction = horizontal
 | width1 = 230
 | width2 = 226
 | image1 = Teatro Adolfo Mejía, Cartagena 02.jpg
 | caption1 = Teatro Adolfo Mejía was opened in 1911.
 | image2 = Cartagena de Indias, interior del Teatro Heredia 2.jpg
 | caption2 = Interior of the Teatro Adolfo Mejía
}}

===Theaters and concert halls===
The first carnivals and western theaters that served in New Granada operated on, what is today, Calle del Coliseo. This was an activity patronized by the Viceroy [[Manuel de Guirior]] and [[Antonio Caballero y Góngora]], who, like their predecessors, spent most of the time of their mandates ruling in Cartagena.
* Teatro Adolfo Mejía: former Teatro Heredia, opened in 1911, inspired by the [[Teatro Tacón]] of [[Havana]], was designed by Jose Enrique Jaspe. After years of abandonment, it was rebuilt in the 1990s and continues to be a cultural center. It is located in Plazuela de La Merced 5.<ref>{{cite web |title=Teatro Heredia |trans-title=Heredia Theatre |url=http://www.cartagenatravel.com/espanol/teatroheredia.htm |year=2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020423185800/http://cartagenatravel.com/espanol/teatroheredia.htm |archive-date=23 April 2002 |website=Cartagena Travel |language=es |access-date=9 July 2016}}</ref>

===Sport===
[[Tigres de Cartagena]] represent the city in the [[Colombian Professional Baseball League]], playing at [[Estadio Once de Noviembre]]. Other historical baseball teams that once represented Cartagena include Indios, Águilas, and Torices.

The main football club in the city is [[Real Cartagena]].

In August 2024, Cartagena co-hosted the 2024 [[U-15 Baseball World Cup]] with [[Barranquilla]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Schedule revealed for WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup 2024; Hosts Colombia take on Italy on opening day |url=https://www.wbsc.org/en/events/2024-vi-u15-baseball-world-cup/news/schedule-revealed-for-wbsc-u-15-baseball-world-cup-2024-hosts-colombia-take-on-italy-on-opening-day |website=WBSC |publisher=World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) |access-date=14 July 2024}}</ref>

===Museums and galleries===
[[File:Cartagena de Indias, museo del oro 1.jpg|thumb|right|The Museo del Oro contains an important collection of over 600 pieces, of gold and pottery, of the pre-Columbian [[Zenú]] indigenous culture.]]

* City Museum Palace of the Inquisition, opened in the 1970s {{citation needed|date=December 2015}}
* Sanctuary and Museum of St. [[Maria Bernarda Bütler]] (foundress of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Help)<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.eluniversal.com.co/suplementos/facetas/un-museo-que-mueve-el-espiritu-7817|title= Un museo que mueve el espíritu|website= eluniversal.com.co|date= 6 February 2011|access-date=6 December 2016}}</ref>

===World Heritage site===
[[File:Sector antiguo de la ciudad de Cartagena de Indias 2.JPG|thumb|An aerial view of the historic center]]
[[File:Plaza@Cartagena.jpg|thumb|Colonial Plaza de los Coches]]
The port, the fortresses and the group of monuments of Cartagena were selected in 1984 by the [[United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization]] ([[UNESCO]]) as significant to the heritage of the world, having the most extensive fortifications in South America. They are significant, too, for being located in a bay that is part of the Caribbean Sea. A system of zones divides the city into three neighborhoods: San Sebastian and Santa Catalina with the cathedral and many palaces where the wealthy lived and the main government buildings functioned; San Diego or Santo Toribio, where merchants and the middle class lived; and Getsemani, the suburban popular quarters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=285|title=Port, Fortresses and Group of Monuments, Cartagena|author=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|access-date=19 February 2015}}</ref>

===Festivities===
* '''January''': The "Cartagena International Music Festival" (Cartagena Festival Internacional de Música), Classical music event that has become one of the most important festivals in the country. It is done in the Walled City for 10 days, during which are held classes, conferences and counted with the presence of national and international artists.
** "Fiesta Taurina del Caribe" (Caribbean Bullfight festival) (ultimately canceled, for maintenance of the scenario)
** "SummerLand Festival": Electronic music festival most important of the country
* '''February''': "Fiestas de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria" (Feasts of [[Our Lady of Candelaria]]),
** "Festival del Frito"
* '''March''': "International Film Festival of Cartagena" (Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena)
** " [[Miss Colombia]]"
** "Feria Nautica"
* '''April''': "Festival del Dulce" (Festival of the Sweets)
* '''June–July:''' "Festival de Verano" (Summer Festival)
** "Sail Cartagena"
* '''November''': "Fiestas del 11 de noviembre" (Feasts of 11 November or of the Independence)
* '''December''': "Jazz Festival under the Moon" (Festival de Jazz bajo la Luna)
** "Cartagena Rock"

== Media appearances ==

=== Film ===
* ''[[Burn! (1969 film)|Burn!]]'' (1969), with [[Marlon Brando]], was filmed in Cartagena.
* In the movie ''[[Romancing the Stone]]'' (1984), romance novelist Joan Wilder ([[Kathleen Turner]]) travels to Cartagena to deliver a treasure map, in an effort to ransom her kidnapped sister. The Cartagena scenes were actually filmed in Mexico. In the movie, [[Michael Douglas]]' character refers to it as Cartage(ny)a.  This has largely been adopted by tourists and is an irritant to the locals. The "N" in Cartagena is hard.
* The film ''[[The Mission (1986 film)|The Mission]]'' (1986), with [[Robert De Niro]], was filmed in Cartagena and Brazil<ref name=IMDBTheMission>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091530/locations?ref_=tt_dt_dt ''The Mission''] – [[IMDb]]</ref>
* The film ''[[Love in the Time of Cholera (film)|Love in the Time of Cholera]]'' (2007) was filmed in Cartagena.
* Scenes of ''[[Gemini Man (film)|Gemini Man]]'' (2019), with [[Will Smith]], were filmed in Cartagena.
* Scenes of the (2023) film [[Sound of Freedom (film)|Sound of Freedom]]

=== Television ===
* In the ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "[[Barely Legal (Family Guy)|Barely Legal]]", the mayor, thinking the events of ''Romancing the Stone'' (see above) are real, sends all the city's police officers to Cartagena{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}
* Cartagena figured prominently in the "Smuggler's Blues" (1985) episode of ''[[Miami Vice]]'', featuring guest star [[Glenn Frey]] and his song "Smuggler's Blues"<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0647113/ ''Smuggler's Blues'', ''Miami Vice''] – [[IMDb]]</ref>
* Cartagena is featured as the backdrop for the ''[[NCIS (TV series)|NCIS]]'' episodes "[[Agent Afloat (NCIS)|Agent Afloat]]" and "[[The Missionary Position (NCIS)|The Missionary Position]]".<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1256295/ ''Agent Afloat'', ''NCIS''] – [[IMDb]]</ref><ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2247715/synopsis ''The Missionary Position'', ''NCIS''] – [[IMDb]]</ref>
* The 30th installment of [[MTV]]'s reality competition series, titled ''[[The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30]]'', was filmed in Cartagena.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ew.com/tv/2017/10/17/the-challenge-real-world-redemption-house/|title='The Challenge': Welcome to 'The Real World: Redemption House'|website=EW.com}}</ref>
* In the ''[[Orphan Black]]'' episode "To Right the Wrongs of Many", Delphine and Cosima are in Cartagena, where Delphine is giving the cure to the Leda clone found there.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thesnarkingdeadrecaps.com/orphan-black-season-5-episode-10-series-finale-right-wrongs-many/ |title="Orphan Black", Season 5, Episode 10, Series Finale, "To Right the Wrongs of Many" – the Snarking Dead TV Recaps |access-date=14 January 2019 |archive-date=15 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115023508/http://www.thesnarkingdeadrecaps.com/orphan-black-season-5-episode-10-series-finale-right-wrongs-many/ }}</ref>
* The Colombian [[Netflix]] show ''[[Siempre Bruja]]'' (Always a Witch) is set in Cartagena.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8001250/ Siempre Bruja] – [[IMDb]]</ref>
* In ''[[The Amazing Race 28]]'', the second and third legs were set in Cartagena and required teams to visit various locations throughout the city.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Davis |first1=Joslyn |last2=Robinson |first2=Erin |title=Amazing Race Insider: Erin Robinson and Joslyn Davis Share Leg 2 Secrets |url=https://tvline.com/2016/02/19/amazing-race-season-28-epsiode-2-secrets-erin-robinson-joslyn-davis/ |website=[[TVLine]] |date=20 February 2016 |access-date=26 February 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Walker |first1=Jodi |title=The Amazing Race recap: Bros Being Jocks |url=https://ew.com/recap/the-amazing-race-season-28-episode-3/ |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |access-date=26 February 2021}}</ref>
* In [[The Real Housewives of New York City (season 10)|Season 10]] of ''[[The Real Housewives of New York City]]'', the annual cast vacation takes place in Cartagena.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8660868/?ref_=ttep_ep15 | title=Wigging Out | website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref>

=== Literature ===
<!---citation is required to tie blue-linked article to Cartagena per {{WP:NLIST]]--->
* A fictionalized version of the 1697 [[Raid on Cartagena (1697)|raid on Cartagena]] is chronicled in the novel ''[[Captain Blood (novel)|Captain Blood]]'' (1922).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1965/1965-h/1965-h.htm|title=Captain Blood, by Rafael Sabatini|via=Project Gutenberg|access-date=24 February 2019}}</ref>
* [[Gabriel García Márquez]]'s novel ''[[Love in the Time of Cholera]]'' is set in an unnamed city based on Cartagena. García Márquez has also said that Cartagena influenced the setting of ''[[The Autumn of the Patriarch]]''.<ref name="Visual Arts and Poetization of Space">{{cite journal|last1=Williams|first1=Raymond Leslie|title=The Visual Arts, the Poetization of Space and Writing: An Interview with Gabriel García Márquez|journal=PMLA|date=March 1989|volume=104|issue=2|pages=131–40|doi=10.2307/462499|jstor=462499|s2cid=163626383 }}</ref> His novel ''[[Of Love and Other Demons]]'' takes place in Cartagena in the 1600s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Del amor y otros demonios |url=https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13022 |access-date=2024-06-15 |website=www.litencyc.com |language=en}}</ref>
* The first chapter of [[Brian Jacques]]' novel ''[[The Angel's Command]]'' (2003) takes place in Cartagena in 1628.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}
* The poem "Románc" (1983) by [[Sándor Kányádi]] talks about the beauty of Cartagena.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}
* The second story in [[Nam Le]]'s award-winning book of short fiction, ''The Boat'' (2008) is called "Cartagena" and set in Colombia.  Cartagena in the story is more an idea than a place.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}
* A portion of the 2014 novel ''[[The Bone Clocks]]'' by [[David Mitchell (author)]] is set in the city.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11061763/The-Bone-Clocks-by-David-Mitchell-review-painstakingly-kind-to-the-reader.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11061763/The-Bone-Clocks-by-David-Mitchell-review-painstakingly-kind-to-the-reader.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell, review: 'painstakingly kind to the reader'|last=Kavenna|first=Joanna|journal=Daily Telegraph|date=30 August 2014|access-date=21 May 2018|issn=0307-1235}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* A 2015 novel by [[Claudia Amengual]] is named ''[[Cartagena (novel)|Cartagena]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27880504-cartagena|title=Cartagena|website=goodreads.com|access-date=21 May 2018}}</ref>
* The poem "A mi ciudad nativa" is in honor of Cartagena<ref>{{cite web |title=Análisis de 'A mi ciudad nativa' de Luis Carlos López |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=4808367 |website=[[University of La Rioja|Dialnet]] |language=es |access-date=5 July 2021}}</ref>

=== Video games ===
* The city is the scene of two levels in the video game ''[[Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception]]''.<ref>{{cite video game| title = [[Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception]]| developer = [[Naughty Dog]]| publisher =[[Sony Computer Entertainment]] | date =1 November 2011| platform =[[PlayStation 3]]| level =  Chapter 2 – Greatness from Small Beginnings and Chapter 3 – Second Story Work }}</ref>

=== Music ===
Champeta is a musical genre whose main variants are rooted in Cartagena and Barranquilla.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Martínez |first1=Luis |title=La champeta |url=https://revistas.udea.edu.co/index.php/boletin/article/download/11229/10295/0 |access-date=17 June 2021}}</ref>

* On the album ''[[Corazón Profundo]]'', [[Carlos Vives]] honored the city of Cartagena, calling it "The Fantastic City" (in Spanish: La fantástica).<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/7kejSqsKuvE Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20141120212424/http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=7kejSqsKuvE Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kejSqsKuvE| title = LA FANTÁSTICA – CARLOS VIVES (Homenaje)HD | website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* The 2016 song "Otra Vez" by [[Zion & Lennox]] mentions Cartagena.
* The song "1741 (The Battle of Cartagena)" by [[Alestorm]] off their 2014 Album ''[[Sunset on the Golden Age]]'' is about the 1741 siege of Cartagena.

==Notable people==
<!---each is supposed to have blue link if notable. Needs one cite to tie them to Cartagena-->
[[File:Cartagena, la heróica.JPG|thumb|Plaza de la Aduana square. Cartagena la heróica]]

* [[Joe Arroyo]], salsa music composer and singer<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://lachachara.org/2013/04/la-plaza-de-majagual-famosa-por-el-joe-arroyo/|title=La plaza de Majagual, famosa por el Joe Arroyo|newspaper=La Chachara|language=es-es|access-date=21 January 2017}}</ref>
* [[Miguel Avila]], indoor/outdoor footballer and referee<ref>{{Cite web |title=NASL-Miguel Avila |url=https://www.nasljerseys.com/Players/A/Avila.Miguel.htm |access-date=2 January 2025 |website=(NASL) jerseys}}</ref>
* [[Valeria Ayos]], [[Miss Universe Colombia 2021]]
* [[Alvaro Barrios]], conceptual artist<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.banrepcultural.org/blaavirtual/biografias/barralva.htm|title=Barrios, Álvaro {{!}} banrepcultural.org|website=www.banrepcultural.org|language=es|access-date=21 January 2017}}</ref>
* [[Bartolomé Calvo]], politician, journalist, [[Governor of Panama]] (1856–58), [[President of the Granadine Confederation]] in 1861
* [[Bernardo Caraballo]], boxer
* [[Alfonso Múnera Cavadía]], diplomat and historian<ref>{{Cite web|date=11 February 2012|title=Alfonso Múnera, nuevo secretario de la Asociación de Estados del Caribe|url=https://www.eluniversal.com.co/politica/alfonso-munera-nuevo-secretario-de-la-asociacion-de-estados-del-caribe-64423-GVEU146257|access-date=2021-02-21|website=www.eluniversal.com.co|language=ES-es}}</ref>
* [[Antonio Cervantes]], boxer
* [[Peter Claver|Saint Peter Claver SJ]], Jesuit priest, pastor and missionary to the slaves brought to Cartagena ("Slave of the slaves forever"), human rights advocate. [[Beatified]] 1850 by [[Pope Pius IX]], [[canonized]] 1888 by [[Pope Leo XIII]]. 1985, the [[Colombian Congress]] declared 9 September, his feast day, as Human Rights national day in his honor.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sladky |first1=Joseph |title=St. Peter Claver: Slave of the Slaves Forever |url=https://www.crisismagazine.com/2014/st-peter-claver-slave-slaves-forever |website=Crisis Magazine – A Voice for the Faithful Catholic Laity |date=8 September 2014 |access-date=25 June 2020}}</ref>
* [[William Dau]], former Mayor of Cartagena
* [[Germán Espinosa]], writer, author of "La Tejedora de Coronas" (The weaver of crowns) and 40 other works<ref name="lat">{{cite news|url=http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-cartagena-colombia-revels-in-love-sans-cholera29oct07|title=Cartagena, Colombia revels in love, sans cholera|last=McDonnell|first=Patrick J.|date=29 October 2007|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721141432/http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-cartagena-colombia-revels-in-love-sans-cholera29oct07|archive-date=21 July 2011|access-date=21 January 2017}}</ref>
* [[José María García de Toledo]], politician, early "juntismo" movement member, later independentist; President of the Supreme Junta of Cartagena (1810–11)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.banrepcultural.org/blaavirtual/biografias/garcjose.htm|title=García Toledo, José María {{!}} banrepcultural.org|website=www.banrepcultural.org|language=es|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref>
* [[Laura González (Miss Colombia)|Laura González]], [[Miss Colombia 2017]]
* [[Enrique Grau]], painter, born in [[Panama]] but raised in the city where most of his work was done and inspired<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-apr-03-me-passings3.2-story.html|title=Enrique Grau, 83; His Art Depicted Indians, Afro-Colombians|date=3 April 2004|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|issn=0458-3035|access-date=21 January 2017}}</ref>
* [[Dilson Herrera]], professional baseball player<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://m.es.mlb.com/player/599096/dilson-herrera|title=Dilson Herrera Stats, Fantasy & News|website=Cincinnati Reds|language=es-US|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref>
* [[Zharick León]], actress<ref>{{cite news |title=Zharick León reapareció en redes con sensuales fotos |url=https://www.eluniversal.com.co/farandula/zharick-leon-reaparecio-en-redes-con-sensuales-fotos-IC3307695 |date=18 August 2020 |newspaper=[[El Universal (Cartagena)|El Universal]] |language=es |access-date=5 July 2021}}</ref>
* [[Nereo Lopez]], documentary photographer<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.revistaarcadia.com/agenda/articulo/muere-fotografo-nereo-lopez/43875|title=Fallece el fotógrafo Nereo López|website=revistaarcadia.com|date=25 August 2015|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref>
* [[Manuel Medrano]], singer
* [[Andrea Nocetti]], [[Miss Colombia 2000|Miss Colombia 2001]]
* [[Rafael Núñez (politician)|Rafael Núñez]], politician, journalist, diplomat, writer, lawyer and judge. Dominant political figure in Colombia in the 19th century, and the first to did so by civil means: In 1848 just after another civil war entered in local politics. Then became MP for Cartagena in the [[Colombian Congress]], also was Governor of [[Bolívar Department|Bolívar]] (1854), then briefly Minister of War in 1855–57. President of the [[Sovereign State of Bolivar]] twice, (1876–77) (1879–80) was finally elected 4 times [[President of Colombia]]. During this time the country stabilized and the economy grew after decades of civil war and established the foundations for civil-led government with the [[Colombian Constitution of 1886]] that lasted 105 years. Also wrote the country's national anthem.
* [[Laura Olascuaga]], [[Miss Universe Colombia 2020]]
* [[Alfonso Pérez (boxer)|Alfonso Pérez]], boxer
* [[Carlos Pizarro Leongómez]], guerrilla fighter for the [[19th of April Movement]]
* [[Sabas Pretelt de la Vega]], politician and ambassador, Minister of Interior (2003–06)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eltiempo.com/opinion/columnistas/sabas-pretelt-de-la-vega|title=Sabas Pretelt de la Vega: Perfil y columnas de Sabas Pretelt de la Vega |last=Tiempo|first=Casa Editorial El|website=El Tiempo|language=es-CO|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref>
* [[Frey Ramos]], footballer
* [[Ramses Ramos]], actor
* [[Hugo Soto (footballer)|Hugo Soto]], footballer
* [[Julio Teherán]], professional baseball player<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://jeffschultz.blog.myajc.com/2014/02/14/braves-sign-julio-teheran-to-six-year-extension/|title=Braves sign Julio Teheran to six-year extension {{!}} Jeff Schultz blog|last=VIP|first=WordPress com|access-date=21 January 2017}}</ref>
* [[Gio Urshela]], professional baseball player
* [[Rodrigo Valdez]], boxer
* [[Kevin Flórez]], singer
* [[Karoll Márquez]], singer
* [[Teresa Román Vélez]], writer
* [[Orlando Cabrera]], baseball player
* [[Jeymmy Vargas]], beauty queen and model
* [[Vanessa Rosales Altamar]], author
* [[Laura De León Céspedes]], actress
* [[Angie Cepeda]], actress
* [[Lorna Cepeda]], actress
* [[Eduardo Lemaitre]], historian
* [[Salomón Bustamante Sanmiguel]], TV host
* [[Patricia Teherán Romero]], singer
* [[Rafael Vergara Navarro]], lawyer

==See also==
* [[San Basilio de Palenque]], according to UNESCO, the first free African town in the Americas, located 50 kilometres (31&nbsp;mi) from Cartagena de Indias
* [[Rosario Islands]], an archipelago located 20 kilometres from Cartagena with a large coral reef
* [[List of tallest buildings in Cartagena]]
* [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cartagena in Colombia]]
* [[Manuel Rodríguez Torices]]
* [[Cartagena Manifesto]]
* [[United Provinces of New Granada]]
* [[Gran Colombia]]
* [[War of the Supremes]]
* [[1829–51 cholera pandemic]], in which 4000 Cartageneros died in 1849<ref name=Lemaitre/>{{rp|72}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=Note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

===Colonial history===
{{Div col}}
* Álvarez Alonso, Fermina. ''La Inquisición en Cartagena de Indias durante el siglo XVII''. Madrid: Fundación Universitaria Española, 1999.
* Bossa Herrazo, Donaldo. ''Nomenclatur cartagenero''. 1981.
* Böttcher, Nikolaus. "Negreros portugueses y la Inquisición de Cartagena de Indias, siglo XVII." Memoria 9 (2003): 38–55.
* Dorta, Enrique Marco. ''Cartagena de Indias: Puerto y plaza fuerte''. 1960.
* Escobar Quevedo, Ricardo. "Los Criptojudíos de Cartagena de Indias: Un eslabón en la diáspora conversa (1635–1649)." Anuario Colombiano de Historia Social y de la Cultura 29 (2002): 45–71.
* Fals-Borda, Orlando. ''Historia doble de la costa''. 4 vols. 1979–1986.
* Goodsell, James Nelson. "Cartagena de Indias: Entrepôt for a New World, 1533–1597." PhD dissertation, Harvard University 1966.
* Grahn, Lance R. "Cartagena and Its Hinterland in the Eighteenth Century" in ''Atlantic Port Cities: Economy, Culture, and Society in the Atlantic World, 1650–1850''. Franklin W. Knight and Peggy K. Liss, eds. 1991, pp.&nbsp;168–95.
* Grahn, Lance R. "Cartagena" in ''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture'', vol. 1, pp.&nbsp;581–82. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.
* Greenow, Linda. ''Family, Household, and Home: A Microgeographic Analysis of Cartagena (New Granada) in 1777''. 1976.
* Greenow, Linda. "Urban form in Spanish American colonial cities: Cartagena de Indias, New Granada, in 1777." Department of Geography Suny-New Paltz, NY. Middle States Geographer (2007).
* Lemaitre, Eduardo. ''Historia general de Cartagena''. 4 vols. Bogota: Banco de la República, 1983.
* McKnight, Kathryn Joy. "Confronted Rituals: Spanish Colonial and Angolan" Maroon" Executions in Cartagena de Indias (1634)." Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History 5.3 (2004).
* Medina, José Toríbio. ''Historia del Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisicón de Cartagena de Indias''. Santiago: Imprenta Elzeviriana, 1899.
* Meisel, Adolfo. "Subsidy-Led Growth In A Fortified Port: Cartagena De Indias And The Situado, 1751–1810." Borradores de Economía 167 (2000).
* Molino García, María Paulina. "La sede vacante en Cartagena de Indias, 1534–1700." ''Anuario de Estudios Americanos'' 32 (1975): 1–23.
* Newson, Linda A., and Susie Minchin. "Slave mortality and African origins: a view from Cartagena, Colombia, in the early seventeenth century." ''Slavery & Abolition'' 25.3 (2004): 18–43.
* Olsen, Margaret M. ''Slavery and Salvation in Colonial Cartagena de Indias''. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2004.
* Pacheco, Juan Manuel. "Sublevación portuguesa en Cartagena." Boletín de historia y antigüedades 42 (1955): 557–60.
* Rey Fajardo, José del. ''Los jesuitas en Cartagena de Indias, 1604–1767''. Bogota: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, 2004.
* Rocha, Carlos Guilherme. "A disputa por poder em Cartagena das Índias: o embate entre o governador Francisco de Murga e o Tribunal do Santo Ofício (1629–1636)." (2013).
* Ruiz Rivera, Julián B. "Cartagena de Indias: ¿Un cabildo cosmopolita en una ciudad pluriétnica?" In ''El municipio indiano: Relaciones interétnicas, económicas y sociales. Homenaje a Luis Navarro García'', edited by Manuela Cristina García Bernal and Sandra Olivero Guidobono, 407–24. Seville: Universidad de Sevilla, 2009.
* –––. "Gobierno, comercio y sociedad en Cartagena de Indias en el siglo XVII." In ''Cartagena de Indias en el siglo XVII'', edited by Haroldo Calvo Stevenson and Adolfo Meisel Roca, 353–76. Cartagena: Banco de la República, 2007.
* –––. "Los regimientos de Cartagena de Indias." In ''La venta de cargos y el ejercicio del poder en Cartagena de Indias'', edited by Julián B. Ruiz Rivera y Ángel Sanz Tapia, 199–221. León: Universidad de León, 2007.
* –––. ''Cartagena de Indias y su provincia: Una mirada a los siglos XVII y XVIII''. Bogota: El Áncora Editores, 2005.
* –––. "Municipio, puerto y provincia (1600–1650)." In Julián B. Ruiz Rivera, ''Cartagena de Indias y su provincia: Una mirada a los siglos XVII y XVIII'', 203–24. Bogota: El Áncora Editores, 2005.
* –––. "Vanquésel, casa de préstamos en Cartagena de Indias." In ''Estudios sobre América: siglos XVI–XX'', edited by Antonio Gutiérrez Escudero and María Luisa Laviana Cuetos, 673–89. Seville: Asociación Española de Americanistas, 2005.
* –––. "Una banca en el mercado de negros de Cartagena de Indias." ''Temas americanistas'' 17 (2004): 3–23.
* –––. "Los portugueses y la trata negrera en Cartagena de Indias." ''Temas americanistas'' 15 (2002): 19–41.
* Salazar, Ricardo Raul. "Running Chanzas: Slave-State Interactions in Cartagena de Indias, 1580 to 1713." Diss. Harvard University, 2014.
* Sánchez Bohórquez, José Enrique. "La Inquisición en América durante los siglos XVI–XVII: Los dominicos y el Tribunal de Cartagena de Indias." In ''Praedicatores inquisitores, vol. 2, La Orden Dominicana y la Inquisición en el mundo ibérico e hispanoamericano'', 753–808. Rome: Istituto Storico Domenicano, 2006.
* Solano Alonso, Jairo. ''Salud, cultura y sociedad en Cartagena de Indias, siglos XVI y XVII'' In ''De la Roma Medieval a la Cartagena Colonial: El Santo Oficio de la Inquisición. Vol. I of Cincuenta Años de Inquisición en el Tribunal de Cartagena deIndias, 1610–1660'', edited by Anna María Splendiani, et al. Bogotá: Centro EditorialJaveriano, 1997.. Barranquilla: Universidad del Atlántico, 1998.
* Splendiani, Anna María, et al. eds. ''De la Roma Medieval a la Cartagena Colonial: El Santo Oficio de la Inquisición. Vol. I of Cincuenta Años de Inquisición en el Tribunal de Cartagena de Indias, 1610–1660'',  Bogotá: Centro Editorial Javeriano, 1997.
* Tejado Fernández, Manuel. "El tribunal de Cartagena de Indias: La primera mitad del siglo XVII(1621–1650)." In ''Historia de la Inquisición en España y América'', 3 vols., edited by Joaquín Pérez Villanueva and Bartolomé Escandell Bonet, I.1141–45. Madrid: Centro de Estudios Inquisitoriales, 1984.
* –––. "La ampliación del dispositivo: Fundación del Tribunal de Cartagena de Indias." In ''Historia de la Inquisición en España y América'', 3 vols., edited by Joaquín Pérez Villanueva and Bartolomé Escandell Bonet, I.984–95. Madrid: Centro de Estudios Inquisitoriales, 1984.
* –––. ''Aspectos de la vida social en Cartagena de Indias durante el seiscientos''. Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos, 1954.
* –––. "Un foco de judaísmo en Cartagena de Indias durante el seiscientos." ''Bulletin Hispanique'' 52 (1950): 55–72.
* Vidal Ortega, Antonino. ''Cartagena de Indias y la región histórica del Caribe, 1580–1640''. Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos, 2002.
* –––. "Portugueses negreros en Cartagena, 1580–1640", in ''IV Seminario internacional de estudios del Caribe: Memorias'', 135–54. Bogota: Fondo de Publicaciones de la Universidad del Atlántico, 1999.
* [[Vila Vilar, Enriqueta]]. "Cartagena de Indias en el siglo XVII: Puerto negrero internacional." In Redescubriendo el Nuevo Mundo: Estudios americanistas en homenaje a Carmen Gómez, edited by María Salud Elvás Iniesta and Sandra Olivero Guidobono, 63–74. Seville: Universidad de Sevilla, 2012.
* –––. "Extranjeros en Cartagena (1593–1630)." ''Jahrbuch für Geschichte von Staat, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft Lateinamerikas'' 16 (1979): 147–84.
* Von Germeten, Nicole. ''Violent Delights, Violent Ends: Sex, Race, & Honor in Colonial Cartagena de Indias''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2013.
* Wethey, Harold E. "Enrique Marco Dorta, Cartagena de Indias. La ciudad y sus monumentos: Seville, Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1951. pp. xxiii+ 322; 170 figs. 200 pesetas." (1952): 322–24.
{{Div col end}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links 
 |wikt=no |commonscat=Cartagena, Colombia |n=no |q=no |s=no |author=no |b=no |v=no
 |voy=Cartagena_(Colombia)
}}
{{EB1911 poster|Cartagena (Colombia)}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160815030647/http://rgssamachupicchu.blogspot.com.au/2016/06/action-off-cartagena.html Reference volumes and maps regarding the history of Cartagena. Library of the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia]
* {{in lang|es}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20161013150510/http://www.cartagena.gov.co/ Cartagena City Government website]
* {{in lang|en}} [https://brsolution.com.co/discover-the-charms-of-cartagena-de-indias/ Discover the Charms of Cartagena de Indias]
* [http://www.wdl.org/en/item/10087 Map of the City and Bay of Cartagena de las Indias] from 1735

{{Geographic location
 | Center =   ''Cartagena''
 | North =     Caribbean Sea, Bocacanoa
 | Northeast = Bayunca, [[Clemencia, Colombia|Clemencia]]
 | East =      [[Villanueva, Bolívar]], [[San Estanislao]]
 | Southeast = [[Turbaco]], [[Arjona, Colombia|Arjona]]
 | South =     [[Tierra Bomba Island]], Portonao.
 | Southwest = Caribbean Sea
 | West =      Caribbean Sea
 | Northwest = Caribbean Sea
}}
{{Navboxes
|title= Other articles and topics related to Cartagena, Colombia
|state= collapsed
|list1=
{{Colombia topics}}
{{World Heritage Sites in Colombia}}
{{Treasures of Colombia}}
{{Spanish Colonial architecture}}
{{Latin american film festivals}}
{{Central American and Caribbean Games}}
}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cartagena, Colombia| ]]
[[Category:1533 establishments in the Spanish Empire]]
[[Category:Capitals of Colombian departments]]
[[Category:Municipalities of Bolívar Department]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1533]]
[[Category:Port cities in Colombia]]
[[Category:Port cities in the Caribbean]]
[[Category:Ports and harbours of Colombia]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in Colombia]]