page_title: Cartagena, Colombia
section_title: Colonial era: 1533–1717
hierarchical_section_title: Cartagena, Colombia / History / Colonial era: 1533–1717
caption_attribution_description: English: Cover of the English translation of the Asiento contract signed by Britain and Spain in 1713 as part of the Utrecht treaty that ended the War of Spanish Succession. The contract granted exclusive rights to Britain to sell slaves in the Spanish Indies.
context_page_description: The city of Cartagena, known in the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias, is a city and major port on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region. Founded in 1533, city's strategic location between the Magdalena and Sinú Rivers gave it easy access to the interior of New Granada and made it a main port for trade between Spain and its overseas empire, establishing its importance by the early 1540s. During the colonial era it was a key port for the export of Peruvian silver to Spain and for the import of enslaved Africans under the asiento system. It was defensible against pirate attacks in the Caribbean.
  Modern Cartagena is the capital of the Bolívar Department, and had a population of 1,028,736, according to the 2018 census, making it the second-largest city in the region, after Barranquilla, and the fifth-largest city in Colombia. The urban area of Cartagena is also the fifth-largest urban area in the country. Economic activities include the maritime and petrochemicals industries, as well as tourism.
context_section_description: Under contract to Queen Joanna of Castile, Pedro de Heredia entered the Bay of Cartagena with three ships, a lighter, 150 men, and 22 horses, on 14 January 1533. He soon found the village of Calamari abandoned. Proceeding onwards to Turbaco, where Juan de la Cosa had been mortally wounded 13 years earlier, Heredia fought an all-day battle before claiming victory. Using India Catalina as a guide, Heredia embarked on a three-month exploration expedition. He returned to Calamari in April 1533 with gold pieces, including a solid gold porcupine weighing 132 pounds. In later expeditions, Heredia raided the Sinú tombs and temples of gold. His rule as governor of Cartagena lasted 22 years, before perishing on his return to Spain in 1544.
  Cartagena was founded on 1 June 1533 by the Spanish commander, Pedro de Heredia, in the former location of the indigenous Caribbean Calamarí village. The town was named after the port city of Cartagena, in Murcia in southeast Spain, where most of Heredia's sailors had resided. King Philip II gave Cartagena the title of "city" (ciudad) in 1574, adding "most noble and loyal" in 1575.
  The city's increasing importance as a port for the export of Peruvian silver from Potosí to Spain, made it an obvious target for pirates and corsairs, encouraged by France, England, and Holland. In 1544, the city was pillaged by 5 ships and 1000 men under the command of the French pirate Jean-François Roberval, who took advantage of the city still without walls. Heredia was forced to retreat to Turbaco until a ransom was paid. A defensive tower, San Felipe del Boqueron, was built in 1566 by Governor Anton Davalos. It was supposed to protect the anchorage and the Bahia de las Animas, a water lane into Plaza de lar Mar (current day Plaze de la Aduana), but the fort's battery had limited range. Then the French pirate Martin Cote struck in 1569 with 1000 men, ransacking the city.
  A few months after the disaster of the invasion of Cote, a fire destroyed the city and forced the creation of a firefighting squad, the first in the Americas.
  In 1568, Sir John Hawkins of England tried to trick Governor Martín de las Alas into violating Spanish law, which forbade trade with foreigners, by opening a trade fair in the city to sell goods. This would have allowed Hawkins to ravage the port afterwards; the governor declined. Hawkins bombarded the city for 8 days, but failed to level it. Then Francis Drake attacked in April 1586 with 23 ships and 3,000 men. Drake burned 200 houses and the cathedral, departing only after a ransom was paid a month later.
  Spain then commissioned Bautista Antonelli in 1586 to design a master scheme for defending its Caribbean ports. This included a second visit to Cartagena in 1594 when he drew up plans for a walled city.
  In 1610, the Holy Office of the Inquisition was established in Cartagena and The Palace of Inquisition was completed in 1770. Sentences were pronounced in the main city plaza, today's Plaza de Bolivar, during the Autos de Fe ceremonies. Crimes under its jurisdiction included those of heresy, blasphemy, bigamy and witchcraft. A total of 767 persons were punished, which ranged from fines, wearing a Sanbenito, life imprisonment, or even death for five unlucky souls. The Inquisition was abolished with independence in 1811.
  The first slaves were brought by Pedro de Heredia to work as "macheteros", clearing the underbrush. By the 17th Century, Cartagena had become an important New World slave market, centered about the Plaza de los Coches. Europeans began to bring slaves from Africa. Spain was the only European power that could not establish factories in Africa to purchase slaves and therefore the Spanish empire relied on the asiento system, awarding merchants (mostly from Portugal, France, England and the Dutch Empire) the license to trade enslaved people to their overseas territories.
  Gov. Francisco de Murga made the Inner Bay an "impregnable lagoon", according to Segovia, which included the forts El Boquerón, Castillo Grande, Manzanillo, and Manga. Besides the walls built to defend the histo
caption: The Asiento contract signed by Britain and Spain in 1713. The contract granted exclusive rights to Britain to sell African slaves in the Spanish West Indies.
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