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It was founded by Juan Ladrillero, according to the order of Pascual de Andagoya, on July 14, 1540 on the Island of Cascajal, approximately 16 km from its current location. The city received its name for having been created on the day of the feast of San Buenaventura and for the tranquility of the bay.



Buenaventura is a city in Colombia located in the department of Valle del Cauca. It is the most important maritime port on the Pacific Ocean and the most important in Colombia due to the volume of cargo it moves (more than 60% of the country's trade. It is 115 km away from Cali by road and is separated from it by the Western Cordillera Los Andes Apart from this, it is the largest city in the entire Pacific region and the largest municipality in the department of Valle del Cauca.

To the south, Buenaventura limits with muddy lands that extend to the municipality of López de Micay; to the north, it borders the jungle lands of the Department of Chocó.

The municipality of Buenaventura is made up of the Corregimientos de Barcos, Bocas del San Juan, Calle Honda, El Carmen, Cisneros, El Patico, El Tigre, Gamboa, Guadualito, Kilometer 43 or La Triana, La Trojita, Mayorquín, Nicolás Ramos Hidalgo, Potedó, San Antonio de Yurumanguí, San Isidro, San Lorenzo, San Pedro de Naya, Silva and Taparal. In addition, the city is divided into 12 Communes, of which four belong to the insular zone and eight to the continental zone. The most economically important communes are those located on the island of Cascajal, but the most populated is number 12, in the access zone to the city.

Buenaventura is communicated by a road that is paved but that presents problems either of public order or landslides that close the road. This road leaves towards the Loboguerrero sector where it fragments to go to Cali or Buga. Upon reaching Buga, take the dual carriageway to go to the cities of Pereira, Medellín and Bogotá.

Hydrography

The municipality is surrounded by an immense number of rivers, highlighting the Anchicayá, Calima, Raposo, Mayorquín, Cajambre, Yurumanguí, part of the right arm of the Naya river and part of the left arm of the mighty San Juan river at its mouth . In addition, it has a huge number of streams and smaller rivers, such as Agua Clara, San Marcos, Sabaletas, San Cipriano and Escalerete, which supplies the municipal seat through a modern aqueduct.

Economy

Through its port, the country sends 80% of Colombia's coffee and 60% of all international maritime trade in Colombia abroad. Buenaventura, due to its geostrategic economic importance and its social complexities, has been proposed as a Special Port and Biodiverse District in the first legislature of 2007, in the National Congress of Colombia, as well as Tumaco and Turbo, two other maritime ports.

Currently, the Colombian Government is advancing millionaire concessions to modernize the current port and make it the most modern in Latin America, which will be connected to Bogotá and the center of the country by a four-lane superhighway, which will have the longest tunnel on the continent and more than 20 viaducts, which would shorten the distance between this port and the country's capital by eight hours. There are other alternative economic activities to port activities. The most prominent are fishing, extraction and processing of wood. Mining occupies an important place, especially with the extraction of gold, although this is still obtained by hand. Tourism is an important generator of employment and income, as it has beaches and rivers of exceptional natural beauty.

Commerce

Commerce is very active, chain stores such as Olímpica, La 14 and Almacenes Éxito currently operate in the city, located in the ´Brisas plaza shopping´ shopping center, this being the first in the Colombian Pacific, important banks also operate in the city , financial entities, renowned restaurants, and clothing stores, footwear etc, making Buenaventura at the same level as many Colombian capitals and thus becoming the most important city in the Colombian Pacific.

Gastronomy

• Drinks: fresh avocado, borojó juice, biche (cane brandy made by hand), arrechón, chontaduro juice and sugarcane juice.

• Appetizers and principles: stuffed avocados, shrimp or prawn ceviche, fish empanadas.

• Dishes: coconut rice, crab and crab encocado, tollo sweat, seafood casserole, fish with chocoano lulo, pickled fish, fried snapper in mustard sauce, crab and crab encocado.

• Desserts: cocadas, chancacas, chontaduro cake, chontaduro with salt and honey, rice milk with coconut.





In Buenaventura you will find various tourist attractions. The most prominent are:

• Néstor Urbano Tenorio Park.

• Lookouts towards the sea.

• Floating tourist dock.

• Mural ´´Buenaventura 450 years to the cosmos´´.

• Cathedral of Buenaventura.

• National Palace.

• Hotel Station.

• San Cipriano and Escalarete Rivers Nature Reserve.

• Spas on the outskirts of the City and the beautiful beaches of La bocana, Piangüita, Juanchaco, Ladrilleros and La Barra.

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