Magdalena River Explained

Magdalena
Name Etymology:Biblical figure Mary Magdalene
Map:Rio Magdalena map.png
Pushpin Map Caption:Colombia
Subdivision Type1:Country
Subdivision Name1:Colombia
Subdivision Type5:Cities
Length:1528km (949miles)[1]
Discharge1 Location:Calamar, Bolívar[2]
Discharge1 Min:2000m3/s
Discharge1 Avg:(Period: 1975–1995) 7200m3/s[3] (Period: 1991–2020) [4]
Discharge1 Max:12000m3/s
Source1:La Magdalena lagoon
Source1 Location:Colombian Massif, Colombia
Source1 Coordinates:1.9342°N -76.6081°W
Source1 Elevation:3685m (12,090feet)
Mouth:Caribbean Sea
Mouth Location:Barranquilla, Colombia
Mouth Coordinates:11.1167°N -74.85°W
Mouth Elevation:0m (00feet)
Basin Size:257438km2 to [5]
Tributaries Left:Páez, Saldaña, La Miel, Nare, Cauca, San Jorge
Tributaries Right:Cabrera, Bogotá, Negro, Carare, Sogamoso, Cesar

The Magdalena River (Spanish; Castilian: Río Magdalena, pronounced as /es/; less commonly Spanish; Castilian: Rio Grande de la Magdalena)[6] is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about 1528km (949miles) through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, in spite of the shifting sand bars at the mouth of its delta, as far as Honda, at the downstream base of its rapids. It flows through the Magdalena River Valley.

Its drainage basin covers a surface of 273000km2, which is 24% of the country's area and where 66% of its population lives.

Course

The Magdalena River is the largest river system of the northern Andes, with a length of 1,612 km.[7] Its headwaters are in the south of Colombia, where the Andean subranges Cordillera Central and Cordillera Oriental separate, in Huila Department. The river runs east then north in a great valley between the two cordilleras. It reaches the coastal plain at about nine degrees north, then runs west for about 100km (100miles), then north again, reaching the Caribbean Sea at the city of Barranquilla in the zone known as Bocas de Ceniza.

Flora and fauna

See also: Biodiversity of Colombia.

Fish

See also: List of fishes in the Magdalena river. The Magdalena River basin, which includes the Cauca River and other tributaries, are very rich in fish., 213 fish species were known from the basin.[8] Since then several new species have been described from the basin such as five Hemibrycon in 2013,[9] two Ancistrus in 2013[10] and a Farlowella in 2014.[11] Among the more famous species in the basin are Kronoheros umbriferus, Ctenolucius hujeta, Geophagus steindachneri, Ichthyoelephas longirostris, Panaque cochliodon, Pimelodus blochii, Potamotrygon magdalenae, Prochilodus magdalenae, Pseudoplatystoma magdaleniatum and Salminus affinis. About 55% of the fish species in the basin are endemic, including four endemic genera: The catfish Centrochir and Eremophilus, and the characids Carlastyanax (often included in Astyanax) and Genycharax.[12] In general, the fish fauna shows connections with surrounding basins, notably Atrato and Maracaibo, but to a lesser extent also AmazonOrinoco.[12]

The most productive fishing areas in Colombia are in the basin, but there has been a drastic decrease in the annual harvest with a fall of about 90% between 1975 and 2008.[13] The primary threats are pollution (such as human waste, mining, farming and deforestation causing siltation) and habitat loss (such a dams). Additional dams are being constructed, including El Quimbo (opened in 2015) and Ituango (expected operational in 2018), which has caused some controversy.[14] [15] As a result of the pollution, heavy metals have also been detected in some commercially important fish in the river.[16], 19 fish species in the river basin were recognized as threatened.[17]

Other animals

The Magdalena River and its valley crosses a wide variety of ecosystems, like páramo in its headwaters, dry forest in the upper part of its valley, rainforest in its middle course, and swamps and wetlands in its lower course.[18] The spectacled caiman, green iguana and brown pelican are abundant in these ecosystems but other animal species like the West Indian manatee, Magdalena tinamou, Todd's parakeet, American crocodile, Colombian slider, Magdalena River turtle, Dahl's toad-headed turtle and red-footed tortoise are in danger of extinction.[19]

In addition, there is a possible risk posed by invasive hippopotamus. Originally imported by Pablo Escobar, these hippopotami became feral following his demise, and have since expanded beyond their original home on Hacienda Napoles into nearby regions of the Magdalena River.[20] [21]

History

Due to its geographical position in the north of South America, the Magdalena River was since precolumbian times a route towards the interior of present-day Colombia and Ecuador. Several Carib-speaking peoples such as the Panche and the Yariguí ascended through the western bank of the river, while its eastern portion was inhabited by the Muisca civilization, which called the river Yuma.

Likewise, the Spanish conquistadores who arrived to today's Colombia early in the 16th century used the river to push to the wild and mountainous inland after Rodrigo de Bastidas discovered and named the river on April 1, 1501. During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the river was the only transport link communicating Bogotá with the Caribbean Sea port Cartagena de Indias and thus with Europe.

The Magdalena Campaign of Pierre Labatut and Simón Bolívar took place along the Magdalena River.

In 1825, the Congress of Colombia awarded a concession to establish steam navigation in the Magdalena River to Juan Bernardo Elbers,[22] but his company closed shortly after. By 1845, steamboats regularly travelled on the river[23] until 1961, when the last steamers ceased operation.[22]

In mass media

Much of the film Love in the Time of Cholera takes place in the historic, walled city of Cartagena in Colombia. Some screenshots showed the Magdalena River and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range.

The General in His Labyrinth, by Gabriel García Márquez, is a fictionalized account of the final voyage of Simón Bolívar down the Magdalena River, where he revisits many cities and villages along the river.

In Magdalena: River of Dreams (Knopf, 2020), Canadian writer, anthropologist, and explorer Wade Davis travels the length of the river by boat, on foot, by car, and on horseback combining descriptions of nature with episodes from Colombian history.[24]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sistema de informacion Ambiental de Colombia – SIAC . es . 2011-07-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120315223526/http://www.siac.gov.co/contenido/contenido_imprimir.aspx?conID=413&catID=320 . 2012-03-15 . dead .
  2. Web site: Chapter 14 . The Pacific and Caribbean Rivers of Colombia: Water Discharge, Sediment Transport and Dissolved Loads . 2011-07-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120325144718/http://geotest.tamu.edu/userfiles/167/210.pdf . 2012-03-25 . dead .
  3. Web site: Chapter 14 . The Pacific and Caribbean Rivers of Colombia: Water Discharge, Sediment Transport and Dissolved Loads . 2011-07-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120325144718/http://geotest.tamu.edu/userfiles/167/210.pdf . 2012-03-25 . dead .
  4. Book: ESTUDIO NACIONAL DEL AGUA 2022. 978-958-5489-12-7. 2023.
  5. Book: ESTUDIO NACIONAL DEL AGUA 2022. 978-958-5489-12-7. 2023.
  6. Web site: Polinizaciones: Las Abejas y las Garzas / The Bees and Storks . Polinizaciones.blogspot.com . 7 February 2008 . 2008-11-06.
  7. Restrepo . Juan D. . Escobar . Rogger . Tosic . Marko . Fluvial fluxes from the Magdalena River into Cartagena Bay, Caribbean Colombia: Trends, future scenarios, and connections with upstream human impacts . Geomorphology . February 2018 . 302 . 92–105 . 10.1016/j.geomorph.2016.11.007. 2018Geomo.302...92R . 10784/26918 . free .
  8. Maldonado-Ocampo; Vari; and Usma (2008). Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of Colombia. Biota Colombiana 9: 143–237.
  9. Román-Valencia; Ruiz; Taphorn; Mancera-Rodriguez; and García-Alzate (2013). Three new species of Hemibrycon (Characiformes: Characidae) from the Magdalena River Basin, Colombia. Rev Biol Trop. 61(3): 1365–1387.
  10. Taphorn; Armbruster; Villa-Navarro; and Ray (2013). Trans-Andean Ancistrus (Siluriformes: Loricariidae). Zootaxa 3641(4): 343–370.
  11. Ballen; and Mojica (2014). A new trans-Andean Stick Catfish of the genus Farlowella Eigenmann & Eigenmann, 1889 (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) with the first record of the genus for the río Magdalena Basin in Colombia. Zootaxa 3765(2): 134–142.
  12. Freshwater Ecoregions of the World: Magdalena – Sinu. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  13. Lasso; Agudelo-Córdoba: Jiménez-Segura; Ramírez-Gil; Morales-Betancourt; Ajiaco-Martínez; Gutiérrez; Usma-Oviedo; Muñoz-Torres; and Sanabria-Ochoa (2011). I. Catálogo de los recursos pesqueros continentales de Colombia. Serie Editorial Recursos Hidrobiológicos y Pesqueros Continentales de Colombia. Bogotá (Colombia): Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt (IAvH).
  14. International Rivers (18 January 2012). Colombia's El Quimbo in Limbo. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  15. International Rivers (18 March 2013). Police Detain Ituango Dam Affected. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  16. Noreña; Arenas; Murillo; Guío; and Méndez (2012). Heavy metals (Cd, Pb and Ni) in fish species commercially important from Magdalena river, Tolima tract, Colombia. Tumbaga 2(7): 61–76.
  17. Granado-Lorencio; Serna; Carvajal; Jiménez-Segura; Gulfo; and Alvarez (2012). Regionally nested patterns of fish assemblages in floodplain lakes of the Magdalena river (Colombia). Ecol Evol. 2(6): 1296–1303.
  18. Web site: Magdalena Valley dry forests . 2011-07-15.
  19. Web site: CUIDEMOS NUESTRO RÍO MAGDALENA . es . 2011-07-15 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120327014613/http://fs03eja1.cormagdalena.com.co/nuevaweb/pagina%20ni%C3%B1os/CUIDEMOS%20NUESTRO%20RIO%20MAGDALENA.pdf . 2012-03-27 .
  20. Web site: Kremer, W. . Pablo Escobar's hippos: A growing problem . 26 June 2014 . BBC . 31 July 2017.
  21. Web site: Howard, B.C. . Pablo Escobar's Escaped Hippos Are Thriving in Colombia . https://web.archive.org/web/20160511142039/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/05/160510-pablo-escobar-hippos-colombia/ . dead . May 11, 2016 . 10 May 2016 . National Geographic . 26 February 2018.
  22. Web site: Navegación a Vapor en Colombia | xcafe.co . es . 2011-07-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120327173822/http://xcafe.co/blog/2010/05/26/navegacion-a-vapor-en-colombia/ . 2012-03-27 . dead .
  23. Web site: En el río Magdalena. . Viajes por los Andes colombianos: (1882–1884) . Alfred Hettner . es . 2011-07-15.
  24. News: Book review: Magdalena: River of Dreams . The Economist . 22-28 August 2020 . The Economist Newspaper Limited.