This page is for lighthouses of Colombia's island territories in the southwestern Caribbean Sea, including the inhabited islands of San Andrés and Providencia and a wide scattering of uninhabited banks, reefs, and cays.
The islands of San Andrés and Providencia were settled by English sailors, and English is still spoken commonly in the islands as well as Spanish. The islands have a population of about 60,000. They were formerly isolated and poorly known, but in recent years they have become a regular stop on the Caribbean cruise ship circuit. Nicaragua formerly claimed the islands but surrendered its claims in 1928 in return for Colombia's recognition of Nicaragua's sovereignty over the Islas del Maíz (Corn Islands) and the Mosquito Coast of the mainland. Later Nicaragua attempted to renounce this agreement, but in 2007 the International Court of Justice upheld the 1928 treaty establishing Colombian sovereignty. The Court is continuing to consider the question of the maritime border between Nicaragua and Colombia, and in the meantime Nicaragua is continuing its claims to various uninhabited islands including the Serrana and Roncador Banks. Colombia has incorporated all the disputed banks into its Departamento del Archipiélago de San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina.
The Quitasueño, Serranilla, Serrana, Bajo Nuevo, and Roncador Banks were formerly claimed and occupied by the United States. The U.S. gave up its claims to the Quitasueño, Serrana and Roncador Banks in a 1981 treaty with Colombia. The U.S. claims to Serranilla and Bajo Nuevo are still in force. All four islands are also claimed by Nicaragua; Bajo Nuevo is claimed by Jamaica and Serranilla by Honduras.
Aids to navigation in Colombia are owned by the Autoridad Marítima Colombia and maintained by the Dirección General Marítima (DIMAR). There are a number of lighthouses, but almost no information is available about them. The U.S. NGA lists for Colombia are sketchy and out of date, and DIMAR's web site has very little information about the nature of the light towers. This listing includes only those sites where it is certain or probable that a lighthouse exists. I am sure there are other lighthouses, and we need information about them.
ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. DIMAR numbers are from DIMAR's Lista de Luces de la República de Colombia. Admiralty numbers are from volume J of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals and U.S. NGA numbers are from Publication 110.
- General Sources
División Señalización Marítima - Web site of the navigational aids division of DIMAR.
- Derrotero de las costas and áreas insulares de Colombia
- An informative site posted by DIMAR's oceanographic and hydrographic center (Centro de Investigaciones Oceanográficas e Hidrográficas, or CIOH).
- Online List of Lights - Vol. J - Columbia
- Photos by various photographers posted by Alexander Trabas.
- South American Lighthouses
- Photos taken in December 2008 by Rosalie Beasley; the last 14 photos are from San Andrés.
Punta Evans Light, San Andrés, November 2008
photo copyright Rosalie Beasley; used by permission
