pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US">On March 20, 1852, a law was passed by
the Congress of New Granada that separated the province of Cartagena from the
cantons of Barranquilla, Soledad, and Sabanalarga, which became part of the
province of Sabanilla, with Barranquilla as the capital.
On May 2, 1854, Tomás Cipriano de
Mosquera arrived at Barranquilla, and the inhabitants supported him in his fight
against the revolutionary
José
María Melo
in
Bogotá.
On October 7, 1857, Barranquilla was
granted the status of “ciudad” (“city”) by the Constituent Assembly of the
State of Bolívar; and in the same year, the Municipal Council of Barranquilla
designated three zones in the city: Abajo del Río, Arriba del Río, and El
Centro.
Barranquilla formed part
of the department of Sabanilla, one of the five departments that comprised the
Sovereign State of Bolívar, whose formation had succeeded the province of Cartagena
by law of June 15, 1857. During the time of the
Granadine Confederation, Conservative
General
Joaquín Posada Gutiérrez
attacked and defeated the city square
in Barranquilla defended by the Liberal leader
Vicente Palacio
on November 6, 1859. Subsequently, the
city would be recovered by the Liberal leader Manuel Cabeza on December 9.
