POPULATION OF THE CARIBBEAN REGION: MAIN CHARACTERISTICS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The population of the Caribbean region of Colombia is, according to official data for 2014, 10,301,982. It is a population with a great diversity of origin, the result of the history of the area.

The presence of indigenous people, of Spaniards who arrived after 1492 and of descendants of Africans taken as slaves during the colonial era, makes it a region very rich in ethnic and cultural mixes.

The Caribbean region is bordering the sea that gives it its name, in the north of the country. It is made up of 8 departments: Atlántico, Bolívar, Cesar, Córdoba, La Guajira, Magdalena, San Andrés and Providencia and Sucre.

Characteristics of the Colombian Caribbean Population

The population of this region is unevenly distributed between rural areas and cities. Likewise, it is worth noting the presence of important indigenous communities, such as the Wayúu or the Ika.

Distribution

According to statistics, 73.9% of the region's inhabitants live in urban areas, while the remaining 26.1% are located in rural areas.

The most important cities are Barranquilla, with an estimated population of 1,200,000 inhabitants, Cartagena de Indias, with just over 1,000,000 and Soledad, with 546,000 inhabitants.

Meanwhile, rural areas are much less populated, especially those semi-desert or very mountainous.

In the last decades there has been a great migration from the towns to the cities.

Ethnic composition

The ethnic composition of the population of the Caribbean region is marked by the arrival of the Spanish and the African slaves they brought.

Together with the indigenous populations that inhabited the area, they have created a mixture that gives it its own identity.

Pardos

It is the largest ethnic community in the region. According to its definition, pardos (or triracial) are the descendants of the three groups in the area.

First, between Indians and Spaniards and, later, with Africans. It is an old term that is still used in part of Latin America.

Those belonging to this group are neither mestizos nor mulattoes, since it is a proper reference for those with traits inherited from the three populations mentioned.

Black race

Demographic studies confirm that the inhabitants who consider themselves to be of African descent make up 15.7% of the population.

This is seen much more clearly in towns such as Cartagena or San Basilio de Palenque, where the percentage of black residents is much higher.

In fact, the founders of San Basilio were African slaves who managed to escape from their owners and establish a free community.

Today it is the enclave that has most conserved traditions and customs brought from Africa.

Natives

The main indigenous community that exists in the region is the Wayúu, also called guajiros, because they are originally from that Department.

The Wayúu population represents 45% of the inhabitants of La Guajira, dedicating themselves above all to agriculture and fishing. There is also a community in neighboring Venezuela.

Other indigenous groups are the Ika, located in the Sierra Nevada. The country's government has recognized its territory as an indigenous reserve of collective property.

Emigrants

The migratory group with the most presence in this region is the Arab. His arrival began in 1880, when numerous groups of Lebanese, Palestinians or Syrians, arrived in the area fleeing the Turkish Empire.

Many professed Orthodox Christianity and were integrated into the business fabric of cities, especially coastal ones.

Today, the main community of these settlers is in Barranquilla, given its status as a commercial port and its reputation as an open city.

References

1. DANE. Demography and Population. Obtained from dane.gov.co
2. Wikipedia. Caribbean region of Colombia. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org
3. Eco Diving Colombia. Caribbean Region. Obtained from ecodivingcolombia.travel
4. Population Pyramids. Caribbean Region. Retrieved from populationpyramid.net
5. Hum, Ann. Structure analysis of the La Guajira-Colombia population: a genetic, demographic and genealogical overview. Recovered from ncbi.nlm.nih.gov