Magdalena Department in the context of "Magdalena River"

Santa Marta (Spanish pronunciation: [ˌsanta ˈmaɾta]), officially the Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta (English: Historic, Cultural & Tourist District of Santa Marta), is a port city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena Department and the fourth-largest urban city of the Caribbean Region of Colombia, after Barranquilla, Cartagena, and Soledad. Founded on July 29, 1525, by the Spanish conqueror Rodrigo de Bastidas, it was one of the first Spanish settlements in Colombia, its oldest surviving city, and second-oldest in South America. This city is situated on a bay by the same name and as such, it is a prime tourist destination in the Caribbean region.

The Guajira Peninsula [ɡwaˈxiɾa] (Spanish: Península de La Guajira, also spelled Goajira, mainly in colonial period texts, Wayuu: Woumainpa’a) is a peninsula in northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela in the Caribbean. It is the northernmost peninsula in South America and has an area of 25,000 km (9,700 sq mi) extending from the Manaure Bay (Colombia) to the Calabozo Ensenada in the Gulf of Venezuela (Venezuela), and from the Caribbean to the Serranía del Perijá mountains range.

It was the subject of a historic dispute between Venezuela and Colombia in 1891, and on arbitration was awarded to the latter and joined to its Magdalena Department. Nowadays, most of the territory is part of Colombia, making it part of La Guajira Department. The remaining strip is part of the Venezuelan Zulia State. The northernmost part of the peninsula is called Punta Gallinas (12° 28´ N) and is also considered the northernmost part of mainland South America.

Atlántico (Spanish pronunciation: [aðˈlantiko], English: Atlantic) is a department of Colombia, located in northern Colombia with the Caribbean Sea to its north, the Bolívar Department to its west and south separated by the Canal del Dique, and the Magdalena Department to its east separated by the Magdalena River. Despite being the third smallest in the country, the department is among the most densely populated, with a population of 2,535,517.

The department's capital and most-populous city is Barranquilla with a population of 1,327,209. Soledad and Malambo are also significant population centers within Atlántico, constituting integral parts of the Barranquilla metropolitan area.

The Caribbean region of Colombia or Colombian Caribbean is the northern, coastal region of Colombia located contiguous to the Caribbean. It is mainly composed of 8 departments. It is the second most populated region in the country after the Andean Region with approximately 11 million residents according to the Colombian Census 2018. The area covers a total land area of 110,000 km (42,000 sq mi), including the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina in the Caribbean Sea.

The Caribbean region coast extends from the Gulf of Urabá to the Gulf of Venezuela. Straddling the coast are Colombia's two main Atlantic port cities of Barranquilla and Cartagena. The administration of the region is covered by eight department governments: Atlántico, Bolívar, Cesar, Sucre, Córdoba, Magdalena, La Guajira and San Andrés and Providencia. These eight departments also cover approximately 182 municipalities according to the 2018 Census by DANE Colombia. Most of its inhabitants speak a dialect of Caribbean Spanish with variations within its subregions.

Bolívar (Spanish pronunciation: [boˈliβaɾ]) is a department of Colombia. It was named after one of the original nine states of the United States of Colombia. It is located to the north of the country, extending roughly north–south from the Caribbean coast at Cartagena near the mouth of the Magdalena River, then south along the river to a border with Antioquia Department. The departments of Sucre and Córdoba are located to the west, and Atlántico Department to the north and east (most of the border formed by the Canal del Dique). Across the Magdalena River to the east is Magdalena Department. The flag of the department bears a resemblance to the flag of Lithuania.

Its capital is Cartagena de Indias. Other important cities include Magangué, El Carmen de Bolívar and Turbaco.

Ciénaga (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈsjenaɣa]) is a municipality and city in the Magdalena Department, Colombia, the second largest population center in this department, after the city of Santa Marta. It is situated at 11° 00' North, 74° 15' West, between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the Caribbean Sea and the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta marsh in northern Colombia. The city is situated in the northern part of Magdalena, 35 km from Santa Marta. According to estimations in 2020, the city had a population of 110,303. The mean annual temperature is 34 °C.

Tairona or Tayrona was a Pre-Columbian culture of Colombia, which consisted in a group of chiefdoms in the region of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in present-day Cesar, Magdalena and La Guajira Departments of Colombia, South America, which goes back at least to the 1st century AD and had significant demographic growth around the 11th century.

The Tairona people formed one of the two principal linguistic groups of the Chibchan family, the other being the Muisca. Genetic and archaeological evidence shows a relatively dense occupation of the region by at least 200 BC. Pollen data compiled by Luisa Fernanda Herrera in 1980 shows considerable deforestation and the use of cultigens such as yuca and maize since possibly 1200 BC. However, occupation of the Colombian Caribbean coast by sedentary or semi-sedentary populations has been documented to have occurred by c. 4000 BC.