Amphibious landings: Free people of color, food supply, and contested land tenure on the Magdalena River network (1796–1806)

Abstract

ABSTRACT The community of Chiriguaná sat east of the Magdalena River, Colombia’s main fluvial channel. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Chiriguaná was populated mostly by free people of color who worked as boatmen, farmers, and cattle ranchers. From 1796 to 1806, a land dispute unfolded between Don Domingo López Bordel and Chiriguaná. The community’s determination to engage in the dispute over land they inhabited was motivated by their amphibious culture, a culture that holds land and water to be interconnected and interdependent, both crucial to the livelihood of the community. This allowed them to supply their products to key Atlantic ports like Cartagena, Santa Marta, and Barranquilla. In this way, Chiriguaná configured interregional commercial networks, challenging colonial governmentality and land tenure bureaucracies. In reconstructing the life of an amphibious community that has yet to enter historiography as such, this research extends an invitation to broaden discussions about Atlantic amphibious cultures.