Mompoj

Santa Cruz de Mompox grew on the Magdalena River in the wet lowlands of northern Colombia. Founded by the Spanish around 1540, it became a river port on the principal route between the Caribbean coast and the interior. Its position near the Magdalena and Cauca river systems made it an important point for the movement of people, supplies and trade.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Mompox developed along the riverbank, with churches, houses and public spaces reflecting its colonial role. Indigenous labor under the encomienda system was part of the early colonial order. In 1810 local leaders established a governing junta amid the independence crisis; accounts differ over the precise dating of the subsequent declaration of independence.