Barranquilla is the major industrial city on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. It lies at the mouth of the river Magdalena. It is known as the "Golden Gate" of Colombia. Its settlement or initial founding can be traced back to at least 1629. However, its residents have come to traditionally conmemorate the city's "birthday", the date in which Barranquilla was legally erected as a village, April 7th 1813.

The climate is rather hot, but in December the Alisios winds cool it to a more comfortable temperature. Barranquilla is a modern, industrial city, with more than 1,700,000 inhabitants.

Barranquilla has several universities, including the first one, Universidad del Atlántico a govermental funded educational organization and Universidad del Norte, a private institution. The Ernesto Cortissoz International airport(the first South American Airport) is served by domestic and international flights.

El Carnaval de Barranquilla , from February 21st to the 24th, is broadly recognized as one of the world's largest Carnivals, second only to the Carnival do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In November of 2003,UNESCO proclaimed it as one of 28 different "masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity".