Barranquilla

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**City of Barranquilla, Industrial and Ports, Special District**
Image:Barranquillacity.jpg
Template:Border	Image:Escudocartagena.JPG
City flag	City Coat of arms
City nickname: "The sand city", "curramba", "curramba, the beautiful", "Barranquilla Saudi", "Golden gate of Colombia"
Image:Atlanticomap.jpg Location in the Atlantico Deparment
Area - Total	00,000 km² (0,000 mi)
Population - Total (2006) - Density	1,700,000 aprox. 00 per km²
Time zone	UTC–5
Location	Template:Coor dms
Mayor	Guillermo Hoenigsberg Bornacelly
City official website

Barranquilla is the chief industrial city on the Caribbean coast of Colombia followed by Cartagena. It is the chief port of Colombia and is the fourth largest city in the country, though some consider it the third most important due to its influence in the national economy and its ever growing manufacturing sector.

Barranquilla lies at the mouth of the Magdalena River. It is known as Colombia's Golden Gate (Spanish: La Puerta de Oro de Colombia). Its settlement or foundation can be traced back to at least 1629, but its is one of very few cities in the world which does not know its founders. However, its residents traditionally have come to commemorate the city's "birthday" as the date when Barranquilla was legally established as a village, April 7 1813. As Barranquilla became an important port it also served as a haven for immigrants from Europe during World War I and World War II, and for different waves of immigrants from the Middle East and Asia.

Barranquilla was Colombia's first port and is proud of its level of industrialization and modernity, which earned it the name of Colombia's Golden Gate. The first airport in South America was also built in Barranquilla, and the second oldest commercial airline doing business today was founded there, SCADTA (now Avianca). The Ernesto Cortissoz International airport, the first airport built in South America (1919), is served by domestic and international flights.

Barranquilla's peaceful territory is an isle amid Colombia's political problems. Its population is warm and very open to strangers. Some say Barranquilla's only fault is that when you fall in love with it you'll never be able to leave it, and if you do, you'll never get rid of its bittersweet memory.

1 Climate
2 Education
3 Culture
4 Sister City
5 Famous barranquilleros
6 External links

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Climate

The climate is hot and very humid. Usually remains around 30°C. Nevertheless, in December the tradewinds cool it to a more comfortable temperature during the day and mostly the night. Barranquilla is a modern, industrial city, with more than 1,700,000 inhabitants (2.8 million metropolitan area including Sabana Grande and Soledad). Barranquilla is located at 10°57'50" North, 74°47'47" West (10.963889, -74.796389) [1].

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Education

Barranquilla has several universities, including the largest, Universidad del Atlántico, a government-funded educational organization, and Universidad del Norte, a private institution. There are also many bilingual schools like the Karl C. Parrish School, Marymount School, Lyndon B. Johnson School and the British International College, generally only accessible to the elite. Barranquilla also has important Catholic schools like Colegio Sagrado Corazón and the Jesuits' Colegio San Jose. The city is also remarkable for having one of highest literacy rates in Colombia, 98.7 percent.

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Culture

Image:Barranquilla, Colombia - Vista desde el Museo Romantico.JPG Barranquilla's Carnival (Spanish:Carnaval de Barranquilla), which is celebrated four days before Ash Wednesday, is broadly recognized as one of the world's largest Carnivals; residents claim it is second only to the Carnival of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In November of 2003, UNESCO proclaimed it as one of 28 different "masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity".

Perhaps the Carnival, or else some other magic among Barranquilla's people, helps it to be as cosmopolitan as Colombia's capital Bogotá.

Barranquilla is lovingly known as Curramba the Beautiful (Spanish: Curramba la Bella) and those hailing from Barranquilla, like international recording artist Shakira and Atlanta Braves shortstop Edgar Rentería, are known as "Curramberos" (Curramberos means Party people). The adjective for a woman from Barranquilla is Barranquillera, while a man is a Barranquillero.

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