Tumaco is a

port city A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manche ...

and municipality in the

Nariño Department Nariño () is a department of Colombia named after independence leader Antonio Nariño. Its capital is Pasto. It is in the west of the country, bordering Ecuador and the Pacific Ocean. Nariño has a diverse geography and varied climate acc ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, by the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. It is located on the southwestern corner of Colombia, near the border with Ecuador, and experiences a hot tropical climate. Tumaco is inhabited mainly by

Afro-Colombian Afro-Colombians (), also known as Black Colombians (), are Colombians of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Colombia has one of the largest African diaspora, Afro-descendant populations in South America, with government ...

s and some

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

. Tumaco is accessible by plane from

Pasto Pasto, officially San Juan de Pasto (; "Saint John of Pasto"), is the capital of the department of Nariño, in southern Colombia. Pasto was founded in 1537 and named after indigenous people of the area. In the 2018 census, the municipality ...

, the capital city of Nariño Department, as well from

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

and

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

. It can also be reached by land via highway from Pasto and San Lorenzo (Ecuador). Tumaco is known for being the hometown of many great Colombian soccer players, including Willington Ortiz. Colombian film director Samuel Córdoba released a documentary about the city in 2009. The film, entitled "Tumaco Pacífico", chronicles the stilt-house area of the city, predominantly populated by Afro-Colombians. Córdoba was inspired by a panoramic photo of the stilt houses he saw in a photography book on Tumaco. The film won first place at the ''Festival de Cine Latinoamericano de Bordeaux'', in France, and was presented at the ''Festival Internacional de Cine'', in Santiago, Chile. Other places of interest include ecotourism sites and beaches located near the mouth of the ''Mira'' River, where the river meets the sea. Also, there are the ''Playas de Milagros'' (beaches of Miracles), and ''Bocananueva y Teran'' beaches, where visitors can experience the diversity of flora and fauna first-hand.

Image Gallery

File:Tolita-Tumaco gold figure 1st century BC.jpg, Tumaco gold figure 1st century BC. File:Buque descargando fertilizantes en el puerto de Tumaco.JPG, Potosi Merchant vessel unloading fertilizers at the Tumaco port. File:Playa del Bajito en Tumaco.JPG, ''Bajito'' beach at Tumaco. File:Panoramica de la isla la Viciosa en Tumaco.JPG, Panoramic view of the ''Viciosa'' island at Tumaco.

Climate

Like all of the Colombian Pacific coast, Tumaco has a hot, rainy, overcast and humid

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Af''), although it is less extreme than areas further north, with annual rainfall totalling only around , vis-à-vis at Buenaventura and at Quibdó. The wettest months are from January to June, and there is a rainfall trough in August opposite to northern Colombia.

Economy

Tumaco's location on the coast provides it with a number of maritime-related economic activities. One of the main lines of the region's economy is

artisanal fishing Artisanal, subsistence, or traditional fishing consists of various small-scale, low-technology, fishing practices undertaken by individual fishermen (as opposed to commercial fishing). Many of these households are of coastal or island ethnic grou ...

. Shrimp farming is one of its strengths. In recent years there has been a development in agricultural holdings; Crops present in the area, such as African palm, dry rice, and cocoa have become mechanised. Other crops of pancoger (small plots of peasant families) are the main source of food for their population. The cultivation of cocoa is widely used among the peasant population; Tagua is also cultivated, known as ivory nut or vegetable ivory, it is the seed of the ''Phytelephas macrocarpa'' palm and its production, although in decline in the municipality, is still high. Another product is the African palm (''Elaeis guineensis'') and the commercial cultivation of crude

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 36% of global oils produced from o ...

. There are about planted with African palm and 7 oil extraction plants, representing an important source of job creation for the region. Tourism has gained important places in the economy of the municipality, the beaches of El Morro, Bocagrande and El Bajito every day attract national and foreign visitors. Tumaco is also the main Colombian oil port on the Pacific Ocean, and the second nationwide, after Coveñas. In recent years, the pipeline and the port have served to transport and export Ecuadorian oil, a situation that is reflected in the movement of its foreign trade.

Transportation

La Florida Airport serves Tumaco with flights from

. Tumaco is the site of Colombia's second most important Pacific port behind Buenaventura. Due to the limited development of roads in the region, the port is the primary way of accessing several villages along the coast. A paved, long highway connects Tumaco with the departmental capital

Impact of the armed conflict

Tumaco was highly affected by the

Colombian armed conflict The Colombian conflict () began on May 27, 1964, and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups, crime syndicates and far-left guerrilla groups fighting each other to increase their i ...

as recently as 2011. On 17 August 2011, four soldiers from the Colombian army were killed in Tumaco by FARC-EP guerrillas from the 29th front. On 29 August 2011 five more soldiers were killed by guerrillas in the outskirts of the city, A few weeks earlier, guerrillas from the Western Bloc of the FARC-EP stormed the local prison, freeing roughly fifteen imprisoned FARC members. On 26 September, seven people, including a local politician, were killed by unidentified gunmen in the inner city. The perpetrators also kidnapped one politician. Apart from the FARC-EP, the area was the home turf of paramilitary groups like the right-wing Los Rastrojos and the Guevarist, left-wing Ejército de Liberación Nacional.

References

External links

Tumaco: Tourist guide

Tumaco: Web Portal San Andres de Tumaco - La Perla Del Pacifico
{{Authority control Port cities in Colombia Municipalities of Nariño Department