Providencia Island
Encyclopedia
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. Though it is closer to Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
, it is part of the Archipelago of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina, a department of Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, lying midway between Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
and Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
. Its maximum elevation is 360m above sea level.
The island was the site of an English Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
colony established in 1629 by the Providence Island Company
Providence Island Company
The Providence Company or Providence Island Company was an English chartered company founded in 1629 by a group of Puritans including Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick in order to settle Providence Island, off the Spanish Mosquito Coast of what became Nicaragua.Besides Lord Warwick, among the twenty...
, and was taken by Spain
Spanish capture of Providencia
The Spanish conquest of Providencia took place on 17 May 1641 and was a Thirty Years' War amphibious expedition launched by Spain in order to seize the island from English control...
in 1641. The infamous pirate Henry Morgan
Henry Morgan
Admiral Sir Henry Morgan was an Admiral of the Royal Navy, a privateer, and a pirate who made a name for himself during activities in the Caribbean, primarily raiding Spanish settlements...
used Providencia as a base for raiding the Spanish empire, and rumours suggest that much treasure remains hidden on the island.
Providencia has a population of 5,000 yet receives about 15,000 visitors per year. The island is also a scuba diving destination, with a 32 km long barrier reef protecting the Eastern and North/South parts of the island.
A local population of Black Land Crabs is noteworthy for its spectacular breeding migration.
The 995-hectare national park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
Old Providence McBean Lagoon
Old Providence McBean Lagoon National Natural Park
The Old Providence McBean Lagoon National Natural Park is a national park located on the northeast side of Providencia Island in the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, Colombia....
is located on the island's northeast side.
A unique sign language
Providence Island Sign Language
Providence Island Sign Language is the sign language used by the deaf community on the small island community of Providence Island in the Western Caribbean, off the coast of Nicaragua but belonging to Colombia...
is signed on the island.
People
The local population consists of RaizalRaizal
The Raizals are a Protestant Afro-Caribbean ethnic group, speaking the San Andrés-Providencia Creole, an English Creole, living in the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, presently the Colombian San Andrés y Providencia Department, off the Nicaraguan Miskito Coast...
s, a Protestant Afro-Caribbean ethnic group, speaking the San Andrés-Providencia Creole
San Andrés-Providencia Creole
San Andrés–Providencia Creole is a Creole language spoken in the San Andrés and Providencia Department of Colombia by the natives , very similar to the Miskito Coastal Creole spoken in Bluefields, the Corn Islands and the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua...
, an English Creole
English-based creole languages
An English-based creole language is a creole language that was significantly influenced by the English language...
, although most speak Spanish as well. Spanish-speaking immigrants from Colombia have increased the use of Spanish, although they remain a minority, unlike the significantly more Spanish sister island, San Andres.
A forum titled "San Andres & Providencia" Islands of Colombia reads “…This heritage goes back to pre-colonial times, to the days of the Dutch sea captains who inhabited San Andres and Old Providence, one of whom
Abraham Blauvelt
Abraham Blauvelt was a Dutch privateer and explorer mapping much of Central America in the 1630s, after whom both the Bluefield River and the neighboring town of Bluefields, Nicaragua were named....
founded Bluefields
Bluefields
Bluefields is the capital of the municipality of the same name, and of Región Autónoma del Atlántico Sur in Nicaragua. It was also capital of the former Zelaya Department, which was divided into North and South Atlantic Autonomous Regions...
, naming it after himself…”
Getting there
The local El Embrujo AirportEl Embrujo Airport
El Embrujo Airport is an airport on Providencia Island, Colombia....
is served by various daily flights from Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport in San Andrés
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport is the leading airport in the archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, which has enough capacity to receive large aircraft, due to a number of charter flights and seasonal in different parts of America and Europe.- Description :The...
. Flights are operated by Satena, as well as charter flights operated by Decameron/Searca.
A 30 seater catarmaran makes a return trip from San Andres to Providencia Island every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The boat trip takes 2 and a half hours, leaving San Andres in the morning, and returning to San Andres from Providencia in the afternoon.
External links
- Providencia Es Pasion - tourism website.