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At the time of the Spanish Conquest, in the year 1536, the governor, Don Pedro Fernández de Lugo, had the intention of fulfilling Rodrigo de Bastidas' desire, discovering the source of the Magdalena River without sparing costs or efforts.

Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada was appointed general and chosen by the governor to lead this expedition, granting him broad powers and faculties to choose his own companions. At the beginning of this journey, they found it difficult to walk through marshy lands, the sudden assaults of the natives and the voracious attacks of beasts and insects.

All this they endured only from the prospect of finding a territory abundant in riches, which alleviated their hardships and made them continue in their stubborn endeavor.

After having overcome a thousand difficulties, on October 12, 1536, the fluvial expedition sighted some ´´Barrancas Bermejas´´ in the distance, located at 7 ° 04´ from Lat N, 73 ° 52´ from Long O to 75, 94 masl and 27.6 ° C average temperature.

On April 6, 1536, the expedition set out, which carried 700 infantrymen and 80 knights by land and in five boats under his command. All of them were expert captains, excellent sailors and famous warriors hardened in the war of Spain against the Moors. Latora or Latocca, was the indigenous name of today's Barrancabermeja, through which the Yuma River passed, today the Magdalena River.

The succor historian, Dr. Horacio Rodríguez Plata, in his book German Immigration to the Sovereign State of Santander in the 19th Century, brings a quote from Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedoy Valdés, from his General V Natural History of the Indies, Islands and Tierra Firme of the Ocean Sea, which says:

´´Two of Quesada's companions testified that one day in front of the town of Latora there is a source of bitumen that is a well and that boils and runs out of the ground, and is entering through the mountain, at the foot of the sierra, and it is large quantity and thick liquor. And the Indians bring it to their homes and smear themselves with that bitumen because they have been good to remove fatigue and strengthen their legs: and that black liquor and the smell of fish and worse, the Christians use it to brew their brigs ”.

Later one of the great precursors of independence, Don Pedro Fermín de Vargas, a native of Cepitá, warned of the importance and necessity of commercial exploitation of this ´´brea or chapapote´´, to ´´preserve the boats of the joke´ ´ employed on the roads that Lengerke built, from Zapatoca to Puerto Santander, he discovered the Barrancabermeja deposits, which Mr. De Mares took over and were the beginning of the great Colombian Petroleum Company, Ecopetrol.

Manuel Cortissoz and Lengerke's quinas left through Barrancabermeja, the same man who in 1878 could not find day laborers or muleteers who wanted to work or drive herds down that road, from Bucaramanga to Puerto Santander, for fear of being sacrificed by the arrows of the savages´´, descendants of the chief Pipatón.





Barrancabermeja is a Colombian municipality located in the department of Santander. It is home to the largest oil refinery in the country and is the capital of the Mares province.

It is located 136 km from Bucaramanga, on the banks of the Magdalena River, in the Magdalena Medio region, of which it is the most important and second most important city in the entire department.

Barrancabermeja limits to the north with the Sogamoso River and the Municipality of Puerto Wilches, to the south with the Municipalities of Puerto Parra, Simacota and San Vicente de Chucurí (Betulia)], to the east with the Municipality of San Vicente de Chucurí and Girón, and to the west with the Magdalena River. It is on National Route 66, 29 kilometers from the Troncal del Magdalena. Ethnography: Mestizos and Whites (96.72%), Afro-Colombians (3.15%), Amerindians (0.13%) and Gypsies (0.01%).

Natural heritage

The Ciénaga San Silvestre is a landscape to stand out. It is the most important natural reserve in Barrancabermeja, the advantages of this lake center are many: the boat ride or the love or ski cruise.

From Barrancabermeja it is also possible to travel to Yondó on the Magdalena River or on the bridge that connects to the department of Antioquia and visit the Laguna del Miedo; o Sabana de Torres and enjoy family walks in places known as La Gómez and La Llana. They are located by the Magdalena Medio trunk, 30 minutes from Puerto Petrolero.

The largest oil refinery in Colombia is located in Barrancabermeja, belonging to the state company Ecopetrol. Much of the economy of the city revolves around the Petrochemical industry that is based in this municipality. The Barrancabermeja refinery is the main refinery in the country, with a total production of 250,000 barrels of fuel per day. Among other economic tasks in the region, the petrochemical industries, port operations and logistics services for transportation, livestock, fishing, agriculture and commerce stand out.



The Barranco culture, since its birth as a municipality, has been permeated by the migratory waves generated due to the oil boom.

In this way, the departments of Córdoba, Sucre, Bolívar, Cesar, Magdalena, Antioquia and the Santander, have come together in a single crucible to generate the identity of the Daughter of the Sun.

The music that is heard predominantly in the city is, the vallenato, rhythms par excellence, they also delight the locals in their festivals, accompanied by the traditional pelayeras bands such as La Banda 26 De Abril which was founded as an initiative to represent and project our traditional music, also known as Sabaneras or wind, in the different cultural activities that take place inside and outside our city. It should be noted that the ´´aire´´ that is considered traditional in Barrancabermeja, is the air of ´´tambora´´, quite strong among the towns of Magdalena Medio. In the youngest, rock and electronic music are preferred, without neglecting the roots that characterize them.

Various events, in order to exalt the cultural values ​​of Barrancabermeja and preserve them from oblivion that are threatened by globalization, are periodically organized by the city's entities.

The Municipal Mayor of Barrancabermeja, the Institute of Recreation and Sports, churches of various denominations, educational institutions and associations that defend the rights of vulnerable groups carry the banner of this movement, organizing contests where Barranqueños can demonstrate their artistic and preserve intact its historical memory.

The Gastronomy of Barrancabermeja is a mixture that is governed by cultural influences (Sabanera and riverside areas of the Caribbean and Antioquia region) and geographical influences (being located in the center of the country, bordered by the Magdalena River and strongly interconnected in Road Matter ).

Barranqueña Gastronomy has innumerable cultural influences, which determine its eating; We are part of the Caribbean Culinary tradition (Sabana Zone) due to its influence of flows of people who came to the city to work in the Oil Industry, which continues to this day. That is why we can find a variety of dishes, mainly based on river fish whose preparation is based on the Riparian Tradition and not the Caribbean.

We cannot forget the influence exerted by Culinaria Paisa, taking into account the geographical scoop; Unlike much of Santander, the citizens of Barrancabermeja learned to eat and use a great diversity of Grains and Spices, which by tradition are not found in the Caribbean or Santanderean gastronomy. The influence caused by the arrival of people from Boyacá and Cundinamarca to the dining rooms for Ecopetrol employees, contributed to the consumption of various Plants and Tubers that do not exist in the Gastronomy of the Caribbean Region. Belonging to a Department like Santander, I do not guide the gastronomy of our city, the typical dishes of the Department are not very appreciated as if it is a preparation with fish. What guides the palate of Barranqueños? It is only Thinking that we cook !, How we prepare it! and How we eat it !; Let's look at it as a curiosity and give ourselves the pleasure of appreciating the roots of a people that is determined by the mixture of different culinary contributions.

We cannot relate in a single culture; We belong to Santander, but we do not live like them, we think differently and our gastronomy is very distant in comparison, we must accommodate the influences of other peoples and cultural notions within Our City. The Individual is not where he is born but where his roots are!

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