San Andrés, San Andrés y Providencia

City and municipality in Insular, Colombia

12°35′5″N 81°42′2″W / 12.58472°N 81.70056°W / 12.58472; -81.70056Country

ColombiaRegionInsularDepartmentSan Andrés, Providencia y Santa CatalinaArea

• Total26 km² (10 sq mi)Population

(2005)

• Total55,426^[1] • Languages spoken

San Andrés Creole English Spanish • Ethnic groups

20% Raizals and 80% mainland ColombiansTime zoneUTC-5 (Colombia Time (COT))

San Andrés (Spanish pronunciation: [ˌsan anˈdɾes]) is the capital city of the department of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, in Colombia. As of 2005 its population was 55,426.^[1]

Overview

It is situated at the north end of San Andrés Island, on the Caribbean Sea. The population is considered to be about 20% Raizals and 80% mainland Colombians. The economy is mainly sustained by tourism and commercial fishing. Once a duty-free port, it still has a relatively vigorous shopping district selling various consumer goods at bargain prices, including Colombian gold and emerald jewellery, leather goods and other distinctively Colombian wares.

San Andrés has become such a byword for bargain shopping in Colombia that many towns and cities have a bargain shopping area known as a San Andresito ("little San Andres").