Sonso

The Pacific coast near Buenaventura is a country of bays, tidal channels and humid forest west of the Cauca valley. Indigenous communities inhabited the shore before Spanish expeditions arrived. In 1540 Pascual de Andagoya’s expedition explored the bay, and his lieutenant Juan Ladrillero began a settlement there. The port offered a connection between the Pacific and routes crossing the Western Cordillera toward Cali and the interior.