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 COROZAL

³THE PEARL ON THE SAVANNA´

By Carlos Mario Castro Navarro

Corozal is the second most

populous town in the Department of 

Sucre in northern Colombia, within

the Caribbean Region. Corozal is

located ten kilometers away from

Sincelejo, the main town in Sucre,

and forty kilometers away from the

Caribbean Sea.

Corozal has a total area of 203.3

square kilometers and it is placed

within the Tropical wet and dry or savanna climate ( Aw ) according to

the Köppen climate classification, so

it keeps an average temperature

close to 28º Celsius.

Story

When the Europeans arrived to the

  Americas, the territory where is

located the department of Sucre

was inhabited by several indigenoustribes that were part of the Arawac

and Caribbean families, among

these tribes there were the Finzenus 

and the Turbacos. 

Eventually Spanish conquerors took

these lands close to 1501 in order to

get gold, pearls and other 

resources. The Europeans and the

natives established a town named

San José de Pileta, but the priest

Juan Antonio Aballe y Rumay was

worried about the dryness of the

zone, so he convinced the

inhabitants to move to a better place

for agriculture and cattle raising,

then they bought a farm named

Hato Corozal , but the actual moving

took place in 1770 because it was

necessary an authorization from the

governor of Cartagena. Finally on

May 26, 1770 Carlos the Third from

Spain, by Royal Decree, was

recognized as a corregimiento withinthe Cartagena Province. The small

town started to spread because of 

the expansion and development

reached by neighboring towns like

Cartagena and Mompox.

In the republican age in Colombia,

Corozal became an important trade

center in Sucre, but it was always

dimmed by the success of Sincelejo,

more when it was chosen to be thecapital of Sucre when this

department was created.

Nevertheless Corozal has a unique

identity and it keeps a rich culture

legacy, which is why some had

called it ³Cultural Town on the

Savanna´, ³City of teachers´ or ³City

of literates´.

The People from Corozal

The people from Corozal fix

perfectly within the definition of the

Caribbean Colombian people, a

almost perfect melting pot of three

different ethnic features: the

Caucasian, the Amerindian and the

  African, the most of people in

Corozal does not recognizes

themselves as a part of any of these

ethnics but they do recognizethemselves as mestizos or mix-

raced. It is important to mention the

little but important migration of 

people from Middle East, usually

called ³The Turkish´, but unlike other 

Caribbean zones as Barranquilla

where this component is still alive, in

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 Corozal it has mixed with the local

component, becoming part of the

people from Corozal.

Corozal is still a small town, which is

why the 95% of the households are

houses. The electricity is available

for 95.9% of the households and it is

the most spread basic service in

Corozal, unlike the telephone

service that only reaches the 34.5%

of the households. But the cell

phones revolution made it to

Corozal, and it is estimated that

about the 85% of the adult

population in Corozal own a cell

phone.

There are more women than men in

Corozal, and a half of the adult

population is single. Corozal is

known in the department of Sucre

for having an increasing openly gay

population, which is the source of 

very cruel jokes toward its

inhabitants and the local people in

other towns and municipalities.

The Carnival

Corozal is also known for its

carnival, which starts in February or 

March and it lasts 4 days, this

carnival includes several parades,

free concerts and a beauty contest,

the carnival has reached great

importance and the tourism gets a

peak while the carnival takes place.

The Water 

Corozal owns the most important

source of water in the north of 

Sucre: the Morroa¶s Aquifer, and

because of this, there are

permanent supply of sweet water in

Corozal, unlike Sincelejo, where it is

not permanent, this had impacted in

the real state of Corozal, so a house

in Sincelejo (for renting or selling) is

cheaper than in Corozal.

Unification with Sincelejo

Corozal is the most indebted

municipality in Sucre, so it had to

accept a payment plan suggested

by the national government, if 

Corozal eventually is unable to keep

this plan, its condition as

independent municipality will be

over and it is going to be annexed to

Sincelejo. If Corozal and Sincelejobecome one municipality, Sincelejo

is going to receive the rights to

explode the aquifer getting the most

important source of water in

northern Sucre.

Why to go to Corozal?

Corozal has got several pieces of 

architecture within its central zone,

the people have made efforts to sowornamental trees and plants, so it is

possible to see flowers all along.

The carnival is an excellent time to

arrive to Corozal, but it is necessary

to reserve a room weeks before,

and having an open mind and

dressing old clothing, because get

dirty using water and natural

colorants is part of this celebration.