A difficult river. The Magdalena: environmental history, navigability and development.

Abstract

History of the difficult and limited navigability of the Magdalena River is illustrated basing on travels and travelers references since Jiménez de Quesada until the past century early sixties, when navigation fall down after the burning of the David Arango, the last passengers steam ship in the river. Increasing navigation difficulties due to sand and mud flats were evident and this paper relates them with two important historical processes in the development of Colombia. One, the need to impulse alternative transportation by trains and roads that, in connection with the Panamá channel aperture in 1914, created condition for Buenaventura, Cali and western Colombia development, in detriment of the Caribbean and mainly Barranquilla, until then, via Magdalena river, the most important harbor for external commerce. Second, the impact of deforestation as the main cause of increasing difficulties due to erosion, sedimentation and torrential flow; scientific information support that Magdalena have been, by nature, difficult, but deforestation worse conditions; an overview of deforestation history illustrates what happened. Nowadays, huge projects to recover Magdalena navigability are beginning, in a risky process in which development could be good to realize that Magdalena had been, always a difficult river.