Abstract

BELL-LEMUS, Carlos. Industry, Port, City (1879-1964): How Barranquilla took shape (Colombia). Apuntes [online]. 2008, vol.21, n.1, pp.62-73. ISSN 1657-9763.

The emergence of Barranquilla as Colombia's most important maritime and fluvial port at the beginning of the 20^th Century was the result of the need for connecting the young republic to global markets. This process took place throughout the second half of the 19^th Century and was consolidated with Bocas de Ceniza 's breakwater construction and ended with the strengthening and supremacy of Buenaventura's port, which became connected to the main export destination when the Panama Channel was completed. During this evolution process, Colombian government protectionist policies, Barranquilla's comparative advantages due to its geographic location, its cultural genesis and the weaknesses of other transportation modes at the beginning of the 20^th Century defined the conditions for the city's emergence in terms of modern industrial adaptation, capitalist rationale and the notion of "progress". Barranquilla's industrialization process left some interesting physical evidence that represents the efforts, attempts and paradigms that emerged from the architectural and urban discourse of the period in which modern industrialization was materialized in the city.

Keywords : Industrialization; Seaport and River Port; Modernization; Factories; Growth; Progress; Magdalena River.

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