Riohacha is the capital of La Guajira Department on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, where the Ranchería River meets the sea. Founded in 1535 by the German conquistador Nikolaus Federmann, the city developed as a port known historically for pearl diving despite frequent pirate raids, earning it the nickname Portal de Perlas. The 2023 census recorded 222,541 residents in the district, and the surrounding region is inhabited mainly by the indigenous Wayuu people, whose language gave the city its Wayuu name, Süchiimma; Riohacha also appears in the work of Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, including One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Facts
Area (sq km) Founding Year Population Estimate Year Elevation (m) Latitude11.544167 degrees north 1 Sources
1. Riohacha (Wikidata)
P1082 (population)
population 222,541 (2020)
P625 (coordinate location)
latitude 11.544167, longitude -72.906944
P2044 (elevation above sea level)
elevation 5 m
P2046 (area)
area 5020.0 sq km
P571 (inception)
inception 1547
P1082 (population), P585 (point in time)
population 222541 (2020)
View the SourceRiohacha (Wikipedia)
Lead section
Riohacha (Spanish pronunciation: [rjoˈa.tʃa]; Wayuu: Süchiimma) is a city in the Riohacha Municipality in the northern Caribbean Region of Colombia by the mouth of the Ranchería River and the Caribbean Sea.
- In Group: Cities of South America (World), Wikipedia; part-of country and UN M49 subregion
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