Providencia (Colombia)
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Isla de Providencia, historically Old Providence, and generally known as Providencia, is a mountainous Caribbean island that is part of the Colombian department of
Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina The Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina ( es, Archipiélago de San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina, ), or San Andrés and Providencia, is one of the departments of Colombia, and the only one in North America. It consis ...
and the municipality of
Providencia and Santa Catalina Islands Providencia and Santa Catalina Islands (Spanish: ''Providencia y Santa Catalina Islas'') is a municipality of the department of Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina in insular Colombian region, on the northern coast of Prov ...
, lying midway between Costa Rica and
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
. Providencia's maximum elevation is above
sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...
. The smaller Santa Catalina Island to the northwest is connected by a footbridge to its larger sister Providencia Island. Providencia Island has an area of ; the two islands cover an area of and form the municipality of Santa Isabel, which had a population of 4,927 at the Census of 2005. The island is served by
El Embrujo Airport El Embrujo Airport is an airport serving Providencia Island, Colombia. The airport is located in the north east side of the island, in the limits of the Old Providence McBean Lagoon National Natural Park. The runway is on the eastern edge of the ...
, which the Colombian Government plans to expand in order to take international flights. The island was the site of an English
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
colony established in 1629 by the
Providence Island Company The Providence Company or Providence Island Company was an English chartered company founded in 1629 by a group of Puritans including Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick in order to establish the Providence Island colony on Providence Island and M ...
, and was taken by Spain in 1641. The pirate
Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan ( cy, Harri Morgan; – 25 August 1688) was a privateer, plantation owner, and, later, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he raided settlements and shipping on the Spanish Main, becoming we ...
used Providencia as a base for raiding the
Spanish empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
, and rumors suggest that much of his treasure remains hidden on the island. Many parts of the island are named after Morgan. Forts and cannons dating back hundreds of years can be found scattered all over Santa Catalina Island. In November 2020,
Hurricane Iota Hurricane Iota was a devastating late-season Category 4 hurricane, Category 4 Atlantic hurricane which caused severe damage to areas of Central America already devastated by Hurricane Eta just less than two weeks prior. The 31st and final trop ...
directly impacted the island. An estimated 98% of all infrastructure was destroyed from the impact, making it one of the worst and strongest tropical cyclones to impact Colombia.


Early times of the colony

The colony was hampered by poor planning, internal strife (seen in conflict among leadership) and economic woes. It was founded, in part, to create a profitable and Godly Puritan base. It was expected to be more profitable and successful than the Massachusetts Bay Colony that was founded in 1630. The colony is known for its involvement in the trade in slaves and was the beginning of the English use of Africans as life-long slaves instead of indentured servants. Some of the more famous residents were the governors Nathaniel Butler and Philip Bell, Bell's father-in-law Daniel Elfrith, and William Rous. Philip Bell was the first governor and was replaced by Robert Hunt, due to conflict with another colonist. Nathaniel Butler later replaced Hunt. Many of these men had already had experience with England's colonizing and economic expeditions with the
Virginia Company The Virginia Company was an English trading company chartered by King James I on 10 April 1606 with the object of colonizing the eastern coast of America. The coast was named Virginia, after Elizabeth I, and it stretched from present-day Mai ...
and the Somers (Bermuda) Company. It is possible to infer what life was like on the island based on the accounts of slaves. They reported that some of the Englishmen who wanted to leave said "this place is no way to live" as a complaint against eating turtles all the time. Life included church services, trade with English ships, and hopes for corsair raids against the Spanish. Tobacco was grown on the island by the African and Native American slaves. The island's freshwater streams and surrounding waters provided fish and turtles as additional food sources. They sometimes brought back Miskito Indians from their expeditions to the mainland of present day Nicaragua. The principal trading port had several small forts around the harbor and at the bay's entrance. There were about fourteen forts in all.


Privateering

Due to the economic difficulties the colonists faced, some turned to
privateering A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
to make money. This is surprising to many because it seems in conflict with Puritan values. Though England and Spain were not at war, the desire to protect the respective countries’ interests in the West Indies only increased tensions between the two nations. While Nathaniel Butler was governor, much of his time was spent looking after the needs of privateers. He was hoping to revitalize the colony's hurting economy, which in turn would improve the morale and hopes of the disgruntled colonists. In addition, he was worried that the English and Dutch activity in a heavily Spanish-controlled area would attract unwanted attention. The island's focus turned to defense and by 1638 the colony expected a Spanish attack within a year. Several men were sent on privateering expeditions themselves and a council of war was created. This is one major difference between the Providence Island colony and other English colonies; as Karen Kupperman observes, in the New England colonies, “success was accompanied by lodging such issues firmly under civilian control. In the threatening world of the western Caribbean, such amateurism was not seen as possible.” However, the privateering expeditions proved unsuccessful due to inexperience and lack of general sailing or West Indies knowledge.


People

Although the island is part of Colombia, the 5,000 to 6,000 inhabitants are reported to feel more Caribbean than Colombian, with many Rastafari. The inhabitants mostly speak English or San Andrés–Providencia Creole, an
English-based creole An English-based creole language (often shortened to English creole) is a creole language for which English was the '' lexifier'', meaning that at the time of its formation the vocabulary of English served as the basis for the majority of the cre ...
similar to Belize Kriol and Jamaican Patwa, rather than the Spanish of Colombia, as well as Provisle, an indigenous sign language. , the island was not seriously affected by the drug trafficking of Colombia, but many islanders were recruited to work for traffickers due to their seafaring skills and knowledge of the waters of the area and to the scarcity of other employment opportunities on the island. It was estimated that about 800 young men out of the island's small population were in jails abroad, or had simply disappeared.


Environment

The 995-hectare national park Old Providence McBean Lagoon is located on the island's northeast side, between Maracaibo and Rocky Point. This National Park consists of coral reefs, small Cayes, mangroves, lagoons and tropical dry forest. The National Park has a tiny visitor centre on Crab Caye, from where there are views towards the barrier reef and the waters that surround the caye. A local population of black land crabs is noteworthy for its breeding migration, which occurs every April/May. These crabs live in the hills of the island and descend (en masse) to the sea once a year to lay their eggs. Providencia is the centre point of the UNESCO Marine Protected Area the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve, which forms 10% of the entire Caribbean Sea. This ecologically important reserve contains some of the world's greatest marine biodiversity, and incorporates the
Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina The Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina ( es, Archipiélago de San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina, ), or San Andrés and Providencia, is one of the departments of Colombia, and the only one in North America. It consis ...
, in addition to the remote uninhabited cays at
Roncador Bank Roncador Bank is a mostly-submerged atoll with several sandy cays. It lies in the west Caribbean Sea off the coast of Central America. Geography It is about 15 by 6 kilometers in size, with an area of 65 km2 composed mostly of lago ...
, Serrana Bank, as well as distant reefs that include Quita Sueño Bank,
Rosalind Bank Rosalind Bank, also called Rosalinda or Rosa Linda Bank ( es, Placer de Rosalinda), is a large, completely submerged bank or atoll in the western Caribbean Sea. It is the culmination of an area of coral reef, some 300 km (186 mi) long, that exten ...
and Alice Shoal.


References


Further reading

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External links


Providencia Island travel guide
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Providencia y Santa Catalina islas
Official Tourism Promotion Office in Colombia (Proexport) *
La Divina Providencia y Santa Catalina Islas
- Local government tourism website *
Providencia Es Pasion
- Tourism website {{Authority control Underwater diving sites in the Caribbean Underwater diving sites in Colombia