Page 18 - PGA Community News - May '21

Page 18, PGA C.A.N.! May 2021 May 2021

Cartagena ‘The Heroic City’

By Don Kiselewski, MCC, the early explorers who plundered the Chibcha’s riches. completed in 1686 at a cost of some 59 million ounces of
D.S., Palm Beach Gardens Don Pedro de Heredia founded Cartagena in 1533. gold. It turned out to be money well spent.
Travel Leaders Soon after the interior of Columbia was explored by the
Have you ever realized conquistadors, who discovered that it was rich in gold Cartagena ‘The Heroic City’ on page 19
just how much your views of and emeralds. Cartagena
the world are influenced by de Indias, as it was called,
the movies? If you had never gained fame by the mid-16th
been there, and I asked you century when great fleets
to describe Fargo, Tuscany or stopped to take on gold and
Cartagena, you’d most likely other resources of northern
draw visions from famous South America for convoy
flicks depicting these places. to Spain. This also boosted
Many will remember North Dakota’s snowy, desolate the economy of Cartagena,
landscapes from the Coen brothers’ film Fargo, or the with goods returned from
distinctive architecture and colorful countryside in Under Spain. As a result, the city
the Tuscan Sun. And few can forget the early scenes in became a major trade and
Romancing the Stone, when the heroine arrives in Cartagena, slave port and the center
Colombia, to find a filthy, poorly maintained city, coming for the Inquisition. During
apart at the seams, with poor transportation and unsavory this growth period, the city
individuals lurking everywhere. Well folks, I’m here to say was governed through a
it just isn’t so – at least with respect to Cartagena. Hopefully, system of viceroys under
that which follows will give you a more accurate picture of strict Spanish rule.
Cartagena and the way it really is. The wealth flowing
Cartagena is located on the northwestern coast of through Cartagena’s
Cairo And Giza from page 22 Columbia, on the Atlantic Ocean (Caribbean Sea) side of the port attracted notice, and
country. This part of Colombia was originally inhabited by the consequently invited
Chibcha (chib-chuh) Indians. They lived in the mountains that pirate attacks. Adequate
border the sea, long before Columbus discovered America. defenses and fortifications
Their civilization was extremely advanced, with their works were immediately required
looked on as being some of the best from the pre-Columbian and the Spanish Crown
era. The Chibcha were true craftsmen when it came to pottery ordered an enormous wall
and weaving, however it was their excellent goldsmithing and series of fortresses to
skills and native emeralds that brought them attention. be built around the city.
Attention, unfortunately, that they didn’t need, since it drew The 11-kilometer wall was

Locals gather in the late afternoon in the colorful streets of Cartagena’s Getsemani The vibrant (and narrow) streets of Cartagena draw tourists far and wide.
neighborhood.

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