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Colombian Food History

Historical period

Pre-Columbian: MUISCA maize-and-potato agriculture on the Cundiboyacense plateau with salt mining at Zipaquirá and a dense trade network; the ZENÚ hydraulic canals of the Sinú-San Jorge; Tairona terraces in the Sierra Nevada; Quimbaya, Calima and San Agustín; Amazonian and Orinoco cassava systems. Conquest from 1499 and the founding of Santa Marta, Cartagena, Bogotá and Popayán, with cattle, pigs, chickens, wheat, sugarcane, rice, plantain (an African crop) and onion. ⚠ CARTAGENA WAS ONE OF THE TWO LEGAL SLAVE PORTS OF SPANISH AMERICA, and African food knowledge — rice, plantain, coconut technique, okra, the palenque — entered Colombia through it. Independence 1810-19. TOBACCO, then QUININE, then COFFEE as successive export booms; the banana enclave at Santa Marta and the 1928 massacre; La Violencia and the rural displacement that emptied and refilled regions; the long armed conflict and its effect on land; and the 2016 accord.

Atlas — where and when

What is recorded

  • Cartagena de Indias was one of two authorised slave-trading ports in Spanish America. African food knowledge entering Colombia through it includes rice cultivation and preparation, plantain, okra and coconut technique, and the palenque as a settlement form. The Muisca maintained dense maize-and-potato agriculture with salt production at Zipaquirá; the banana enclave at Santa Marta was the site of the 1928 massacre of striking workers. documented
  • Muisca society on the Cundiboyacense plateau: maize and potato agriculture, salt production at Zipaquirá, and a dense regional trade network. documented
  • Spanish conquest and the founding of Santa Marta, Cartagena, Bogotá and Popayán, bringing cattle, pigs, chickens, wheat, sugarcane, rice and plantain. documented
  • Cartagena de Indias operates as one of the two authorised slave-trading ports of Spanish America, through which African food knowledge — rice, plantain, okra, coconut technique — entered. documented
  • The banana enclave at Santa Marta, ending in the massacre of striking workers in December 1928. documented
  • La Violencia and the rural displacement that emptied and refilled whole regions, resettling crops and kitchens with the people who fled. documented

Related foodways

Recorded as relating to this foodway

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.