Canal del Dique - Dike Canal

If you travel by road between Cartagena and Mompox then, after around 40kms, you will cross the Canal del Dique on a modern bridge at Gambote. By all means stop and have a look at it but, based on our experience (photo), it won’t yield much “value” other than another T List “tick”!! The Canal does however provide an entrée to some interesting aspects of Colombia’s history. Even if a visit to it isn’t really worthwhile, an understanding of why and how it came into being, together with its current and possible future state, will, IMO, add to one’s understanding of the country. It is for that reason that I have done the following review – as well as to cover yet another T List site towards our objective of full coverage!

The Magdalena River is Colombia’s major historic transport artery. Navigation was possible along it up to Honda, 1000kms from the Caribbean, and only 160kms from Bogota (which isn’t situated on the river). Upstream of the rapids there, smaller vessels could travel a further 300 kms to Neiva.  This extract from the US Army Handbook of 1964 gives an idea of the importance of the river route in earlier years and also refers to the “Canal del Dique” as a part of it. From the earliest days of Spanish settlement it proved a problem that neither of the great historic Caribbean ports (Cartagena and Sta Marta) were situated where the Magdalena reached the sea. Action to overcome this …