Necocli

Necoclí lies on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Urabá, where the Caribbean reaches deep into the mainland. Indigenous communities inhabited this coast before Spanish expeditions attempted to establish themselves at the gulf. Its beaches and waterways offered access to both sides of Urabá and to the Atrato basin. Ojeda named his fort for Saint Sebastian and built a small settlement of thatched huts beside it.

In 1509 Alonso de Ojeda established San Sebastián de Urabá near the later site of Necoclí. Indigenous resistance, disease and shortages weakened the settlement, which was abandoned in 1510. The survivors crossed the gulf to establish Santa María la Antigua del Darién. In 1535 Pedro de Heredia founded another settlement, San Sebastián de Buenavista, near Necoclí; it endured until around 1550.