Leticia
Encyclopedia
Leticia is a city
in the Republic of Colombia, capital of the department
of Amazonas, Colombia's southernmost town (4.09° south 69.57° west) and the only major port on the Amazon river. It has an elevation of 96 meters above sea level and an average temperature of 27 °C (80.6 °F). Leticia has long been Colombia's shipping point for tropical fish
es for the aquarium
trade. Leticia has approximately 33,000 inhabitants on the left bank of the Amazon
river, and is located at the point where Colombia, Brazil
and Peru
come together in an area called Tres Fronteras
.
A long standing border dispute involving Leticia, between Colombia and Peru, was decided in 1934 by the League of Nations
after these two nations were engulfed in an armed conflict known as the Colombia-Peru War
. This was the first instance of action by an international body using its powers covered by the Monroe Doctrine
.
A legend states that a Colombian soldier fell in love with an Amerindian woman named Leticia and decided to name the settlement after her. It could also be named after Saint Leticia
. However, Peruvian records indicate that on the 15 December 1867, the port of "San Antonio" was renamed to "Leticia" by Peruvian engineer Manuel Charón. Charón named the port in honor of a young female resident of the Peruvian city of Iquitos
named Leticia Smith.
Small border incidents between Peru and Colombia occurred in 1911, and in 1922 the two governments of those countries reached a controversial agreement awarding the Leticia area to Colombia in exchange for recognizing Peru's rights to the zone south of the Putumayo River
, which was also claimed by Ecuador
. This agreement proved to be unpopular among the Peruvian population, despite the treaty's ratification in 1928, because the treaty was signed in secret and it awarded Colombia a region that had been founded by Peruvians and that had a large Peruvian population living within its borders.
A small war between Colombia and Peru over the town began in September 1932 when two hundred Peruvians, followed later by military troops, occupied public buildings in Leticia. Hand-to-hand combat ensued between small Colombian and Peruvian forces in early 1933. The conflict lasted until May 1933, when a cease-fire negotiated by the League of Nations went into effect in order to settle the conflict. The League finally awarded the disputed area to Colombia in June 1934.
in order to ensure the town's loyalty to Colombia. Most of the people who came from Bogotá from the 1940s to 1965 still live in Leticia today. During that time Leticia expanded greatly, with a new main street being built. However, the city's industries have changed little since then, with agriculture
and tourism
still the prime sources of income.
s were bought and sold in broad daylight.
For Leticia, this was a time for great growth. Several rich cartel
leaders built large houses, such as the Casa Grande and contributed to the economy. Drugs were transported by truck to boats on the Putumayo River. This was to avoid shipping by air. The concept was to build a 70 km (~35 miles) highway to the small city of Tarapacá. The first 12 km were all that were ever finished before cartel members were arrested.
The drug business was eventually slowed down when new tough-hitting police were brought to Leticia. They stopped many drug cartel leaders in the city, seizing such famous places as the Casa Grande for the government.
came to the region and listened to the issues of the townspeople for 12 hours. He promised to bring in help for Leticia's sagging economy, including building a branch of a famous Colombian resort
chain, the Decameron Resort Company, to attract tourism
and aid social problems. In late 2004, a hotel was rented to Decameron and has since brought more tourism to the area. Today there are three airlines going from Bogota to Leticia each day: Aero Republica, AIRES
and SATENA
.
Tourism in Leticia has boomed and the town is today the second tourism destination for foreigners after Cartagena de Indias. International students travel to Leticia to learn Spanish at The Amazon Spanish College. Meanwhile students and visitors can enjoy the attractions nearby the city like Mundo Amazonico Ecological Park.
with minimal difference in average high and low temperatures throughout the course of the year. Leticia does have noticeably wetter and drier months, with its wettest month (May) seeing a little more than twice as much precipitation as its driest month (July). The average monthly rainfall in the city is above 100 mm.
, Medellín
, and Tolima are the majority. Few people from Cali
live in Leticia. A significant proportion of Leticia's population comprises native Amerindians (as opposed to mestizos or caboclo
s). The prevailing trend is for people to move from the village of their birth in far-lying rural communities into the city to make a "better" living.
, a hearty soup, with regional variations in different parts of Colombia. But even within regions, each family has its own recipe. Leticia's cuisine includes Brazilian and Peruvian influences. Common staples in Leticia include river fish, domestic (and occasionally wild) meat, rice, locally-grown vegetables and potatoes. Meals are usually cooked over a wood-fired stovetop in a pan. A typical Sunday meal might comprise grilled meats, cooked in makeshift charcoal grillers, served with rice and plantain
s.
Isla de los Micos(River)
Puerto Nariño(River)
Lago Tarapoto(River)
Lago Yahuarcacas (km.2)
Parque temático Mundo Amazónico (Km. 7)
Museum Banco de la República (Downtown)
Parque Orellana and Santander (Downtown)
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
in the Republic of Colombia, capital of the department
Departments of Colombia
Colombia is an unitary republic formed by thirty-two departments and a Capital District . Each department has a Governor and a Department Assembly , elected by popular vote for a four-year period. The governor cannot be re-elected in consecutive periods...
of Amazonas, Colombia's southernmost town (4.09° south 69.57° west) and the only major port on the Amazon river. It has an elevation of 96 meters above sea level and an average temperature of 27 °C (80.6 °F). Leticia has long been Colombia's shipping point for tropical fish
Tropical fish
Tropical fish include fish found in tropical environments around the world, including both freshwater and salt water species.Tropical fish are popular as aquarium fish, due to their often bright coloration...
es for the aquarium
Aquarium
An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...
trade. Leticia has approximately 33,000 inhabitants on the left bank of the Amazon
Amazon River
The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
river, and is located at the point where Colombia, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
come together in an area called Tres Fronteras
Tres Fronteras
Tres Fronteras is the Spanish name for an area of the Amazon Rainforest, noted for its natural beauty, where Brazil, Peru, and Colombia meet...
.
A long standing border dispute involving Leticia, between Colombia and Peru, was decided in 1934 by the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
after these two nations were engulfed in an armed conflict known as the Colombia-Peru War
Colombia-Peru War
The Colombia–Peru War was an armed conflict between the Republic of Colombia and the Republic of Peru.-Civilian takeover:...
. This was the first instance of action by an international body using its powers covered by the Monroe Doctrine
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine is a policy of the United States introduced on December 2, 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression requiring U.S. intervention...
.
Early history and etymology
Early Leticia history mentions a Portuguese explorer who, after becoming lost on the Amazon, died of starvation at the present site of Leticia with the rest of his crew. The Peruvian captain Benigno Bustamante, then governor of the Peruvian department of Loreto, founded the city itself on April 25, 1867. Legend has it that when the Peruvian government decided to colonise the area (in order to prevent the Colombian government from claiming it first), they found a cross inscribed with the words "San Antonio", naming the new town after this cross.A legend states that a Colombian soldier fell in love with an Amerindian woman named Leticia and decided to name the settlement after her. It could also be named after Saint Leticia
Saint Leticia
Saint Leticia , whose feast day is October 21, is venerated as a virgin martyr. A saint with the same name had a feast day occurring on March 13. Her cult was diffused in Corsica and can be found in medieval England...
. However, Peruvian records indicate that on the 15 December 1867, the port of "San Antonio" was renamed to "Leticia" by Peruvian engineer Manuel Charón. Charón named the port in honor of a young female resident of the Peruvian city of Iquitos
Iquitos
Iquitos is the largest city in the Peruvian rainforest, with a population of 370,962. It is the capital of Loreto Region and Maynas Province.Located on the Amazon River, it is only above sea level, although it is more than from the mouth of the Amazon at Belém on the Atlantic Ocean...
named Leticia Smith.
Small border incidents between Peru and Colombia occurred in 1911, and in 1922 the two governments of those countries reached a controversial agreement awarding the Leticia area to Colombia in exchange for recognizing Peru's rights to the zone south of the Putumayo River
Putumayo River
The Içá or Putumayo River is one of the tributaries of the Amazon River, west of and parallel to the Yapura. It forms part of Colombia's border with Ecuador, as well as most of the frontier with Peru...
, which was also claimed by Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
. This agreement proved to be unpopular among the Peruvian population, despite the treaty's ratification in 1928, because the treaty was signed in secret and it awarded Colombia a region that had been founded by Peruvians and that had a large Peruvian population living within its borders.
A small war between Colombia and Peru over the town began in September 1932 when two hundred Peruvians, followed later by military troops, occupied public buildings in Leticia. Hand-to-hand combat ensued between small Colombian and Peruvian forces in early 1933. The conflict lasted until May 1933, when a cease-fire negotiated by the League of Nations went into effect in order to settle the conflict. The League finally awarded the disputed area to Colombia in June 1934.
The population of Leticia
Though the League of Nations' intervention had officially ended the war, the Colombian government remained wary of the Peruvians, and decided to populate Leticia with people from BogotáBogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
in order to ensure the town's loyalty to Colombia. Most of the people who came from Bogotá from the 1940s to 1965 still live in Leticia today. During that time Leticia expanded greatly, with a new main street being built. However, the city's industries have changed little since then, with agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
still the prime sources of income.
1970s
In the 1970s, illegal drug trafficking became a new way to make money in this region. During the late 1960s and 1970s narcotic drugNarcotic
The term narcotic originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with any sleep-inducing properties. In the United States of America it has since become associated with opioids, commonly morphine and heroin and their derivatives, such as hydrocodone. The term is, today, imprecisely...
s were bought and sold in broad daylight.
For Leticia, this was a time for great growth. Several rich cartel
Cartel
A cartel is a formal agreement among competing firms. It is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production. Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products...
leaders built large houses, such as the Casa Grande and contributed to the economy. Drugs were transported by truck to boats on the Putumayo River. This was to avoid shipping by air. The concept was to build a 70 km (~35 miles) highway to the small city of Tarapacá. The first 12 km were all that were ever finished before cartel members were arrested.
The drug business was eventually slowed down when new tough-hitting police were brought to Leticia. They stopped many drug cartel leaders in the city, seizing such famous places as the Casa Grande for the government.
Recent history
Little of note has occurred in the city in the last twenty years. In 2003, President Álvaro UribeÁlvaro Uribe
Alvaro Uribe Vélez was the 58th President of Colombia, from 2002 to 2010. In August 2010 he was appointed Vice-chairman of the UN panel investigating the Gaza flotilla raid....
came to the region and listened to the issues of the townspeople for 12 hours. He promised to bring in help for Leticia's sagging economy, including building a branch of a famous Colombian resort
Resort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
chain, the Decameron Resort Company, to attract tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
and aid social problems. In late 2004, a hotel was rented to Decameron and has since brought more tourism to the area. Today there are three airlines going from Bogota to Leticia each day: Aero Republica, AIRES
AIRES
Aerovías de Integración Regional S.A. is a low-cost airline headquartered in the AIRES Hangar in Bogotá, Colombia. It operates scheduled regional domestic and international services, as well as a domestic cargo service...
and SATENA
SATENA
SATENA is an Colombian military airline based in Fontibón, Bogotá, Colombia. It operates regional, domestic and international routes...
.
Tourism in Leticia has boomed and the town is today the second tourism destination for foreigners after Cartagena de Indias. International students travel to Leticia to learn Spanish at The Amazon Spanish College. Meanwhile students and visitors can enjoy the attractions nearby the city like Mundo Amazonico Ecological Park.
Climate
Leticia features a tropical rainforest climateTropical rainforest climate
A tropical rainforest climate, also known as an equatorial climate, is a tropical climate usually found along the equator...
with minimal difference in average high and low temperatures throughout the course of the year. Leticia does have noticeably wetter and drier months, with its wettest month (May) seeing a little more than twice as much precipitation as its driest month (July). The average monthly rainfall in the city is above 100 mm.
People
The majority of Leticia's population have migrated from elsewhere. There is no obviously dominant segment, but migrants from BogotáBogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
, Medellín
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...
, and Tolima are the majority. Few people from Cali
Calì
Calì, also written in English as Cali, is an Italian surname, widespread mainly in the Ionian side of Sicily.For the surname Calì is assumed the origin of the Greek word kalos , or from its Sanskrit root kali, "time."The surname refers to:...
live in Leticia. A significant proportion of Leticia's population comprises native Amerindians (as opposed to mestizos or caboclo
Caboclo
A caboclo or caboco is a person of a mixed Brazilian Indian and European ancestry. In Brazil, a caboclo is a specific type of mestiço as is the mulato, a person of a mixed Afro-Brazilian and European ancestry....
s). The prevailing trend is for people to move from the village of their birth in far-lying rural communities into the city to make a "better" living.
Food
Although the inhabitants commonly eat the same things each week, a wide variety of food is available in Leticia. Dishes specific to each of Colombia's regions are made here. For example, people make SancochoSancocho
Sancocho is a traditional soup in several Spanish and Latin American cuisines. Variations represent popular national dishes in the Canary Islands of Spain, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela...
, a hearty soup, with regional variations in different parts of Colombia. But even within regions, each family has its own recipe. Leticia's cuisine includes Brazilian and Peruvian influences. Common staples in Leticia include river fish, domestic (and occasionally wild) meat, rice, locally-grown vegetables and potatoes. Meals are usually cooked over a wood-fired stovetop in a pan. A typical Sunday meal might comprise grilled meats, cooked in makeshift charcoal grillers, served with rice and plantain
Plantain
Plantain is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. The fruit they produce is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana...
s.
Attractions
Parque Nacional Natural Amacayacu (River)Isla de los Micos(River)
Puerto Nariño(River)
Lago Tarapoto(River)
Lago Yahuarcacas (km.2)
Parque temático Mundo Amazónico (Km. 7)
Museum Banco de la República (Downtown)
Parque Orellana and Santander (Downtown)
See also
- TabatingaTabatingaTabatinga is a municipality in the Três Fronteiras area of Northwestern Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Its population was 45,293...
, the Brazilian town and harbour that adjoins Leticia. The two cities cooperate closely, and altogether their urban area and adjacent suburbs along the Amazon riverAmazon RiverThe Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
have a population of more than 100,000 people.
External links
- Official website
- Human mobility in the triple border of Peru, Colombia and Brazil, Márcia Maria de Oliveira, São Paulo May/August 2006 (abstract in English, text in Portuguese). Territorial-Environmental Information System of Colombian Amazon SIAT-AC website
- The Amazon Spanish College Spanish Language School
- Mundo Amazonico Ecological Park Mundo Amazonico Ecological Park (Parque Ecológico Mundo Amazónico)
- Visit Leticia Essential Travel Information to Leticia and its Surroundings