Official Name: | San Andrés |
Type: | City and municipality |
Mapsize: | 250px |
Pushpin Map: | Colombia |
Pushpin Label Position: | right |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of San Andrés in Colombia |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Type1: | Region |
Subdivision Type2: | Department |
Subdivision Name: | Colombia |
Subdivision Name1: | Insular |
Subdivision Name2: | San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina |
Area Total Km2: | 26 |
Population As Of: | 2005 |
Population Total: | 55,426[1] |
Population Density Km2: | auto |
Population Blank1 Title: | Languages spoken |
Population Blank1: | San Andrés Creole, English, Spanish |
Population Blank2 Title: | Ethnic groups |
Population Blank2: | 20% Raizals and 80% mainland Colombians |
Timezone: | Colombia Time (COT) |
Utc Offset: | -5 |
Coordinates: | 12.5847°N -81.7006°W |
San Andrés (pronounced as /es/) is the capital city of the department of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, or The Raizal Islands, in Colombia. As of 2005 its population was 55,426.[1]
It is situated at the north end of San Andrés Island, on the Caribbean Sea, with the runway of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport bisecting the western urban portion area clustering the cape of Punta Norte from the Eastern portion of the urban area. The population is considered to be about 20% Raizals and 80% mainland Colombians. The economy is mainly sustained by tourism and commercial fishing. Once a duty-free port, it still has a relatively vigorous shopping district selling various consumer goods at bargain prices, including Colombian gold and emerald jewellery, leather goods and other distinctively Colombian wares.
San Andrés has become such a byword for bargain shopping in Colombia that many towns and cities have a bargain shopping area known as a San Andresito ("little San Andres").