| Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th Edition | Public Domain via Project Gutenberg |
a Pacific port of Colombia, in the department of Cauca, about 210 m. W.S.W. of Bogotá. Pop. about 1200. The town is situated on a small island, called Cascajal, at the head of a broad estuary or bay projecting inland from the Bay of Chocó and 10 m. from its mouth. Its geographical position is lat. 3° 48′ N., long. 77° 12′ W. The estuary is deep enough for vessels of 24 ft. draught and affords an excellent harbour. Buenaventura is a port of call for two lines of steamers (English [v.04 p.0752]and German), and is the Colombian landing-place of the West Coast cable. The town is mean in appearance, and has a very unhealthy climate, oppressively hot and humid. It is the port for the upper basin of the Cauca, an elevated and fertile region, with two large commercial centres, Popayan and Cali. In 1907 a railway was under construction to the latter, and an extension to Bogotá was also projected.