Buenaventura

Buenaventura is located in the department of Valle del Cauca of Colombia in South America. Buenaventura is on the Pacific Ocean coast and it is the main Pacific port for Colombia. It is a city with a population of 300,000; 2005 estimate (most of city development lies on Cascajal Island) and it is the size of Los Angeles' metropolitan area; most of the city's land is rural with scattered small villages throughout. It is located a few miles from the western cordillera of the Andes mountain range and the major city of Cali, the department's capital. Founded about 1545, the city was destroyed by Native Americans before 1600. Later rebuilt, Buenaventura thrived after the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914. Today, the city is crucial for sending raw materials to nearby areas; this has brought prosperity and allowed recent new development to occur.