San Andres Island  The Island of San Andres Colombia
 

San Andres Island

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San Andres is the capital of the Colombian department of San Andres and Providence / y Providencia. It is situated at the north end of San Andrés Island. The population is considered to be about 20% Raizals and 80% mainland Colombians. It’s known as the 7 colors sea, because you can see that the water has several tones of green, blue and turquoises among others. This Island is dedicated mainly to the tourism and commercial fishing.

The economy is mainly sustained by the tourism and the commercial fishing, the touristic points are:  The Blowhole  The aquarium  Johnny Kay  The commercial area and plaza.  San Luis  The natural pool. The main activities for the tourist are  Snorkeling  Diving  The the natural pool and the aquarium   The crystal bottom vessels.
 

 
  Isla de San Andrés, Colombia map - San Andres area map location View Larger Map
 
History - Archipelago of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina
In 1630, Providence Island was settled by English Puritans, under the aegis of the Providence Island Company. These Puritans decided to settle this tropical island rather than promising than cold, rocky New England, but they did not succeed in building a colony similar to New England. They established slave-worked plantations and engaged in private ring, which led to the capture of the colony by the Spanish in 1641. In the 1640s, the Puritan-controlled Commonwealth government of England tried to regain the island, but without success. In 1670, English buccaneers led by Henry Morgan took over the islands. The buccaneers controlled the islands until 1689.

Colombia-Nicaragua relations
In 1803, Spain assigned the islands and the province of Veraguas (western Panama and the east coast of Nicaragua) to the Viceroyalty of New Granada. The territory was administered from the province of Cartagena.

On July 4th 1818, French Corsair Louis-Michel Aury, flying the Argentine flag, captured Old Providence and St. Catherine islands with the help of 400 men and 14 ships. He found the island populated by English-speaking Protestant white persons and their slaves. Aury and his team used the islands as his new base from which to pursue independence for Central American independence. His efforts to also support Bolivar in his fight for Venezuelan and Colombian independence were repeatedly turned-down.

After the Spanish colonies became independent, the inhabitants of San Andres, Providence and St. Catherine voluntarily adhered to the Republic of Gran Colombia in 1822, who placed them under the administration of the Magdalena Department. The United Provinces of Central America (UPCA) also claimed the islands. Gran Colombia in turn protested the UPCA's occupation of the eastern coast of Nicaragua. The UPCA broke up in 1838–1840, but Nicaragua carried on the dispute, as did Gran Colombia's successors, New Granada and Colombia. Colombia established a local administration (intendencia) in the islands in 1912.
 
In 1928, Colombia and Nicaragua signed the Esguerra-Bárcenas treaty, which gave control of the islands to Colombia. However, when the Sandinista government assumed power in the 1980s, Nicaragua repudiated the treaty. Nicaragua claims that the treaty was signed under United States pressure and military occupation and thus does not constitute a sovereign decision. Colombia argues that the treaty's final ratification in 1930 (when U.S. forces were already on their way out) confirms its validity. Colombia and Honduras signed a maritime boundary treaty in 1999 which implicitly accepts Colombian sovereignty over the islands.
 
In 2001 Nicaragua filed claims with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the disputed maritime boundary, claiming 50,000 km² in the Caribbean, including the San Andrés and Providencia archipelagoes. Colombia responded that the ICJ has no jurisdiction over the matter, and increased its naval and police presence in the islands. Colombia also defended its claim in the ICJ. On December 13, 2007 the ICJ ruled that the islands were Colombian territory, but left the maritime border dispute unresolved. Colombia and Nicaragua will go through another trial to resolve these claims.
 
The island of Providencia was hit by Hurricane Beta on October 29, 2005, inflicting minor to moderate damage.
 
U.S. claims
In the 1800s, the U.S. claimed several uninhabited locations in the area under the Guano Island Act, including several now claimed by Colombia. In 1981, the U.S. ceded its claims to Quita Sueño Bank, Serrana Bank, and Roncador Bank to Colombia[5]. Serranilla Bank and Bajo Nuevo Bank remain U.S.-claimed.
 
Separatism
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. They are recognized by the Colombian authorities as one of the Afro-Colombian ethnic groups under the multicultural policy led since 1991. -
 
In 1903 the local Raizal population (rejected an offer from the USA to separate from Colombia, in the wake of Panama. However, the policy followed by successive Colombian governments, trying to modify the ethnic composition through extensive migration of Spanish-speaking mainland Colombians, resulted in heightening discontent, even more when the assimilation policy was led by Catholic missions in 1947.
 
Island of San Andrés, Colombia
San Andres  is the main island of the San Andrés group, and the largest of the Department. It is located at 12°33′N 81°43′W / 12.55, -81.717 (San Andrés Island). It measures 12 km in length with a width of 3 km and covers an area of 26 km². There is a tiny lagoon in the center of the island called Big Pond. The principal town is San Andrés in the north of the island. Another town is San Luis on the east coast. Cayo Johnny (Cayo Sucre) lies 1.5 km ENE of German Point (Punta Norte), the island's northern tip, and Haynes Cay about the same distance east of the island. Cotton Cay is less than 1 km south of San Andrés town, on the northeastern coast.
 
Cayos de Albuquerque (Cayos de S.W., Southwest Cays)
This atoll is southwest of San Andrés at 12°10′N 81°51′W / 12.167, -81.85 (Cayos de Albuquerque). It is the westernmost point of Colombia. The fringing reef is about 7 km across. In the southern part are Cayo del Norte and Cayo del Sur. Cayo del Norte, the larger of the two, is up to 2 m high and overgrown with palm trees and bushes. Cayo del Sur, a few hundred metres further South, reaches a height of a little more than 1 m and is vegetated with a few bushes, and in the South with mangroves. There is a lighthouse on Cayo del Norte, at 12°10′N 81°50′W / 12.167, -81.833 (Cayo del Norte), operating since 1980. It is maintained by the Colombian Navy.
 
Cayos del Este Sudeste (Courtown Cays, Cayos de E.S.E.)
This atoll is 22 km east-south-east of San Andrés Island and 35 km northeast of Cayos de Alburquerque, at 12°24′N 81°28′W / 12.4, -81.467 (Cayos del Este Sudeste). It is 14 km long and 4 km wide. There are a few sand cays in the southeast. The largest ones are Cayo del Este, Cayo Bolivar, West Cay, and Cayo Arena, none of which are higher than 2 meters. All cays are overgrown with palm trees and bushes, and surrounded by mangroves. There is a Colombian Navy lighthouse on Cayo Bolivar. The cays are regularly visited by fishermen from the Colombian mainland and San Andrés. There are two concrete buildings on Cayo Bolivar, and a few wooden huts on the other cays.
 
Municipality of Providencia y Santa Catalina (Providencia Archipelago)
Providencia Island (with Santa Catalina Island)
Main article: Providencia Island
This is the main island of the Providencia group, and the second largest of the department. It is located at 13°21′N 81°22′W / 13.35, -81.367 (Providencia Island). Providencia and Santa Catalina Island (a small satellite island close off its northern end) extend 7.2 km in a north-south direction. The land area of Providencia Island measures 17 km². The mountainous center of Providencia Island rises to three peaks of about the same elevation: roughly 363 meters. The island consists of sedimentary rocks laid down on a former volcano. The chief settlement is Santa Isabel Village aka 'Town' in the north, near Santa Catalina Island. Other villages are Lazy Hill on the west coast, and Bottom House in the southeast.

Low Cay, a very small islet, lies more than 10 km further north, at 13°32′N 81°21′W / 13.533, -81.35 (Low Cay).
 
San Andres Island
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