Ondaimas

The Ondaimas were an Indigenous people of the Magdalena River near the rapids of Honda. Their river settlement stood where navigation from the Caribbean met the obstacles of the upper river. Fishing and exchange connected them to neighbouring communities before Spanish conquest. Honda later grew at this natural break in the river route, where goods had to be transferred between boats and roads toward the highlands.

During the colonial period Honda became the principal inland port for traffic between Cartagena and Santafé. Boats carried passengers and merchandise up the Magdalena, while the royal road climbed through Guaduas toward the capital. Its strategic position made the town a busy place of warehouses, traders and river workers. The river that had sustained the Ondaimas thus became a central artery of colonial New Granada.