Fonseca, La Guajira
| Fonseca | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| town | |||
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| Motto: "Siempre de la Mano con el Pueblo" "Always by the People" |
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 Location of the town and municipality of Fonseca in the Department of La Guajira. |
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| Country | Colombia | ||
| Region | Caribbean | ||
| Department | La Guajira | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Pedro Manjarrez Fragoso (ASI) | ||
| Area | |||
| • town | 662 km2 (256 sq mi) | ||
| • Urban | 4.8 km2 (1.9 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 11.8 m (38.7 ft) | ||
| Population (2005) | |||
| • town | 32,220 | ||
| Climate | Aw | ||
| Website |
fonseca-guajira.gov.co/ |
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| * | |||
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Fonseca is a town and municipality located in the Colombian Department of La Guajira. The town celebrates the Festival del Retorno in honor of St Augustine with religious celebrations, vallenato music events and others.
The municipality of Fonseca has a total area of 622 km² at an altitude over sea level of 11 m over sea level at the seat of the municipality. The municipality is on a depression in the valley of the Ranchería River which flows through the municipality from west to east, between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía del Perijá.
Fonseca limits to the north with the municipality of Riohacha and Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range; to the south with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Serranía del Perijá mountains; to the east with the municipality of Barrancas and to the west narrowly with the municipality of San Juan del Cesar.
The average temperature throughout the year is of 28°Cº variating only between the two rainy seasons and two dry seasons or by altitude due to the mountainous environment.
The area of Fonseca was inhabited by different indigenous groups; Chimila, Tupe, Wayuu, Cariachile people and Motilon.
There are two hypothesis about the foundation of Fonseca. One describes that by the year 1700 Catalan colonizer Agustín Fonseca and Italian José Agustín Parodi Ovalle founded the village.
Agustín Fonseca was the leader of a group of adventurers who settled by the Ranchería river, but in a rainy season the river flooded the area bringing diseases. They moved to a dryer place on what is supposedly the present-day main plaza of Fonseca. José Agustín Parodi Ovalle was a captain in the Spanish military and arrived by orders of the Spanish monarchy.
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Wikipedia