Territorial construction and deconstruction of the Colombian Caribbean during the XIX century

Abstract

The territorial structuring process of New Granada's Caribbean region during the nineteenth century, specifically between 1821 and 1886, is studied from a geohistorical and geopolitical perspective. Starting from the environmental setting, the evolution of the administrative boundaries is then studied by means of map-based cartographic reconstructions. The process of change takes place in the area covered by the former states of Magdalena and Bolivar (the latter including the San Andres and Providencia islands), Panamá's caribbean coast (as was part of Colombia during that time) and the Urabá gulf region. Based upon the laws of each republican constitutions for the nineteenth century, a general enquiry was made of the territorial configurations that emerge during each sub-period inside the Departments (1821-1831), Provinces, "Cantones" (1831-1857) and States (1858-1886). Finally in 1886 Colombia was organized with a structure consisting of Departments and "Municipios" as in the current configuration. The ending segment presents a geohistoric regionalization proposal in which the environmental aspects are conjugated with the historical reconstruction of the administrative boundaries.