Santa Cruz del Islote ( Spanish for: ''Santa Cruz of the Islet'' or ''Holy Cross of the Islet'') is an

artificial island An artificial island or man-made island is an island that has been Construction, constructed by humans rather than formed through natural processes. Other definitions may suggest that artificial islands are lands with the characteristics of hum ...

located off the coast of

Bolívar Department Bolívar () is a department of Colombia. It was named after one of the original nine states of the United States of Colombia. It is located to the north of the country, extending roughly north–south from the Caribbean coast at Cartagena near ...

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 ...

, close to

Tolú Tolú is a small town in Sucre Department, northern Colombia on the Caribbean coast. The municipality has an area of 500 km2. It is named after the Tolú, one the pre-Columbian indigenous people of the North Colombia lowlands. The munici ...

and

Coveñas Coveñas is a resort city and municipality located in the Sucre Department, northern Colombia. It was established in the 16th century as a port for slave traders, then it became an oil port in the twentieth century. It was classified as a municipa ...

. It is a part of the

Archipelago of San Bernardo The Archipelago of San Bernardo () is a set of nine coastal coral islands and one artificial island (ten in total) belonging to and governed by Colombia, located in the Gulf of Morrosquillo in the Caribbean Sea, with an approximate area of 213&n ...

. Its large population for its size has given it notoriety for supposedly being the most densely populated island on earth; however, estimates of its population vary greatly.

History

The island was uninhabited until the 1860s, when fishermen working around the island from Cartagena and

, Colombia, began to settle on the island to rest and to protect themselves from storms. The first settlers gathered building materials from the sea that were used to further build out the island, including "Sea shells, coconut shells, tree trunks from the neighboring islands, sand, and even garbage". Settlers were attracted to the island not only for its abundance of fish due to the island being surrounded by

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

, but also because there were no

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

es living on it. Island locals attribute this absence of mosquitoes to a lack of beaches and mangroves on the island. According to photographer Charlie Cordero, "One day, the tide brought in a cement cross, or 'cruz' in Spanish. The first settlers picked it up and put it in the center of the island. t the time the islandhad no name, but from that day it was called Santa Cruz del Islote." Because of the island's small size, some locals would later migrate to neighboring islands, such as

Tintipán Island Tintipán Island () is a coral island located in the Archipelago of San Bernardo, Gulf of Morrosquillo, Caribbean Sea. It is governed by Colombia as part of the Bolívar Department Bolívar () is a department of Colombia. It was named after ...

or Múcura Island. In 2013, a community council was formed by the residents to discuss local problems. The island and some residences were affected by flooding due to a tidal wave in 2018. At an event held in August 2020, attended by the Minister of Technology (ICT) of the

Government of Colombia The Government of Colombia is a republic with separation of powers into executive, judicial and legislative branches. Its legislature has a congress, its judiciary has a supreme court, and its executive branch has a president. The citi ...

and the Governor of the

Department of Bolívar Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

, a free 24-hour

internet service An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non- ...

called Zona Digital Rural was established for the island, allowing the residents access to distance education in the midst of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Previously, service had been expensive and of poor quality, making it difficult to carry out administrative and educational activities from home. On 2 July 2021, the island became the first territory in Colombia to be fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.

Geography

The island has an area of 12,140.57 m², or almost 3 acres.

Demographics

The population of the island is contested, and the frequently cited figure of 1,247 is likely to be an exaggeration. A census taken in the mid-2010s fixed the population at 492. Another source provides a figure of 779 for the ''

corregimiento ''Corregimiento'' (; , ) is a Spanish term used for country subdivisions for royal administrative purposes, ensuring districts were under crown control as opposed to local elites. A ''corregimiento'' was usually headed by a '' corregidor''. The ...

'' of Santa Cruz, which is said to be coterminous with the island. 65 percent of the island's population consists of youth. The island has 97 to 115 houses and 45 permanent families.

Government and politics

Due to its small size, the territory is not autonomous. Geographically, it is part of the San Bernardo Archipelago in the Department of Bolívar in northern Colombia and is guarded by the Colombian Navy. Santa Cruz del Islote is home to a community of

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

. The island has a

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

, a

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

that is also a port, a health post, and a small island square with a

cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...

. There is a conservation

aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

, which houses

turtles Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked turtle ...

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

stingrays Stingrays are a group of sea rays, a type of cartilaginous fish. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae (deepwater stin ...

and small sharks. Much of the island relies on

solar panels A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

to generate electricity. There are no police on the island. Residents of Santa Cruz del Islote are poor and have no toilets or sewage, with clean drinking water, food, and other essentials being imported from overseas. The island also has problems with handling pollution and garbage, although the island has contracted a cleaning company to handle waste management. The island has also made moves towards environmental and recycling programs. Despite these problems, some residents of the island say they do not feel poor, and can live within their means as they do not have big expenses. The economy of the island is centered on fishing, as well as services such as cooking, cleaning, and tourism guides. Children in particular are taught to fish and swim from a young age. According to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', the island has "an active street life: groups of children run freely, play traditional street games, and dreadlocked and tattooed teenagers listen to Spanish-language rap at full volume while adults sit in the shade, talking about boxing and preparing food."

References

External links