History of Sincelejo

of San Francisco de Asís de Sincelejo, the saint day of Francis of Assis. It was located on the site of a small Zenú indigenous settlement. The village used to be a part of Alonso Padilla's encomienda between 1610 and 1640. In those times the native indigenous people from that region were overpowered and exploited by the Spanish colonizers or encomenderos.

On November 21, 1775 Sincelejo was refounded by the Spanish captain and engineer, Antonio de la Torre y Miranda following the orders from Cartagena's governor Juan de Torrezar Díaz Pimienta. The building of the town started with a church and the lands around it was given to people who used to live spread all over the region in order to consolidate a religious and political center in the zone. Sincelejo was supposed to follow the classical Spanish colonial grid with the main church and its square in the center, but it was not possible because of the several creeks that break through the town.

It is still unknown where the name "Sincelejo" comes from, some historians claim the name to be indigenous, coming from an indigenous word Sinçel or Çincel, but another theory