Thousand Days' War
During the 1820s, after the independence of Colombia from Spain, Simón Bolívar gave Gorgona to Federico D'Croz, as thanks for his military service during the Battle of Vargas Swamp. By 1870 the island was inhabited by a small mestizo community which live off fishing. Ramon Payan bought part of the island from one of D’Croz's descendants and built a hacienda that was destroyed in 1899 during the Thousand Days' War when 1100 members of the liberal forces stayed on the island for a little less than two weeks.