RESUMEN DE LA ISLA DE GORGONA EN INGLES

The terrain is mountainous Gorgon, which ends in the Cerro La Trinidad with a height of 338 msnmes the highest mountain on the island. Forming the backbone of the island, in addition to La Trinidad, they are the hills The Micos, La Esperanza and El Mirador.

On the eastern side are white sand beaches, coral presence, while on the western side flogged by the sea cliffs are given. This is because in the east of Gorgona the ocean is calmer than in the west and therefore allows coral outcrops protect beaches from the constant sea erosion. Pizarro Beach is located northeast of Gorgona and the site where Francisco Pizarro landed supposed.

Southwest of the island Gorgona another much smaller island called Gorgonilla, whose maximum height is 90 meters, [citation] and three islets, of which the largest is called "islet The Widower" is located. These islands are separated by Gorgon 'Tasca step ", about 400 meters long and about 5 to 10 m deep. Before the passage could be crossed on foot at low tide, but due to the sinking of the ocean floor in the earthquake of 1980 is no longer possible.

To the northeast lies the islet Rocas del Horno, separated from Gorgon for the "passage of the oven."

First human settlements 

The island was inhabited by a pre-Columbian culture around 1300 BC. C. [citation needed] For their archaeological remains are known were experienced sailors and specialized in fishing. In an era before the Spanish conquest the aborigines Sindagua, under the leadership of chief Yundigua, populated the island. [Citation needed] This tribe was coming from the territory of the present departments Nariño and Cauca.

In 1527, 3 years after the discovery by Almagro, the Spanish conquistador Pizarro arrived on the island fleeing from the Indians who inhabited the Rada of Tumaco. It happened in Gorgona about 7 months, in which many of his men died of snakebites. So he named the island as Gorgon.

Since Pizarro until the time of Latin American independence the island served as a supply station for ships ranging from Panama to Peru and vice versa. In the 1820s Simon Bolivar gave the Gorgon and Gorgonilla Federico D'Croz islands, a sergeant major of the British Legion, in recognition of his work in the Vargas Swamp Battle for the cause of Independence (Legislative Decree 2 June 1846 and executive Decree of June 4, 1846). D'Croz established a farm there. The islands belonged to Federico D'Croz and his heirs until the late nineteenth century when their children sold the islands Gorgona and Gorgonilla gold trader Ramon Payan.

After the outbreak of the civil war or Thousand Days' War (1899-1902), Fidel D'Croz, the grandson of Federico D'Croz lived in the northern part of Gorgon, and Ramon Payan (Payan Anchico Paulino father, who he established sawmills in the Pacific, and built several transport ships, one of the most prosperous sawmill was the Las Mercedes in Poija) lived in the southern part. Ramon Payan built a prosperous farm on the island.

The D'Croz Payan family and the family lived on the island Gorgona until 1960, when President Alberto Lleras Camargo of Colombia (1958-1962) seized the islands, with the pretext that the islands of the nation could not belong to individuals, and he built there one maximum security prison. The main house of the estate of Ramon Payan was used to accommodate the direction of the prison. The Gorgona island was a prison from 1960 until 1984, when President Belisario Betancur (1982-1986) the closed; and the islands were declared a National Natural Park, mainly for scientific research. The two-story house built by Ramon Payan was turned into a museum and auditorium. However, since 1985 the entrance to individuals has been restricted. It was not possible to visit the islands without a permit, but at the beginning of this century the government granted a concession to the travel agency Aviatur to direct sightseeing and manage an exclusive private hotel.