Riohacha is a city in the Riohacha Municipality in the northern
Caribbean Region of Colombia by the mouth of the Ranchería River and the
Caribbean sea, capital city of the La Guajira Department. Founded by
conquistador Nikolaus Federmann in 1535, Riohacha was named after a local
legend "The legend of the Axe". Owing to the powerful rain shadow of
the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the area is mostly desertic and inhabited by
Amerindians, predominantly by members of the Wayuu ethnic group. During
colonial times Riohacha was a very important port due to the discovery of vast
numbers of pearls. In the second
