TheMagdalena River (Spanish:Río Magdalena,Spanish pronunciation:[ˈri.omaɣðaˈlena]; less commonlyRio Grande de la Magdalena)[5] is the mainriver ofColombia, flowing northward about 1,528 kilometres (949 mi) through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figureMary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, in spite of the shifting sand bars at the mouth of itsdelta, as far asHonda, at the downstream base of its rapids. It flows through the Magdalena River Valley.
Itsdrainage basin covers a surface of 273,000 square kilometres (105,000 sq mi), which is 24% of the country's area and where 66% of its population lives.
The Magdalena River is the largest river system of the northern Andes, with a length of 1,528 km.[6] Its headwaters are in the south of Colombia, where theAndean subrangesCordillera Central andCordillera Oriental separate, inHuila Department. The river runs east then north in a great valley between the two cordilleras. It reaches the coastal plain at aboutnine degrees north, then runs west for about 100 km (62 mi), then north again, reaching theCaribbean Sea at the city ofBarranquilla in the zone known asBocas de Ceniza.
The Magdalena River Valley was formed after a series of tectonic formed depressions that filled up with continental sediment in theTertiary period. These sediments came from theCentral Ranges of the Colombian Andes.[7] The Magdalena Valley, subdivided into theUpper (VSM),Middle (VMM) andLower Magdalena Valleys (VIM), is an important area for oil exploration in Colombia.[8]
The most productivefishing areas in Colombia are in the basin,[14] but there has been a drastic decrease in the annual harvest with a fall of about 90% between 1975 and 2008.[15] The primary threats are pollution (such as human waste, mining, farming and deforestation causingsiltation) and habitat loss (such adams). Additional dams are being constructed, includingEl Quimbo (opened in 2015) andItuango (expected operational in 2018), which has caused some controversy.[16][17] As a result of the pollution,heavy metals have also been detected in some commercially important fish in the river.[18] As of 2002[update], 19 fish species in the river basin were recognized as threatened.[14]
In addition, there is a possible risk posed byinvasivehippopotamus. Originally imported byPablo Escobar, these hippopotamuses became feral following his demise, and have since expanded beyond their original home onHacienda Napoles into nearby regions of the Magdalena River.[21][22]
The first recorded European contact with thepotato was in 1537 in the Magdalena Valley. The Spanish invaders became familiar with the crop and it was probably around 1570 when a Spanish ship first introduced potatoes to Europe.[24]
Due to its geographical position in the north ofSouth America, the Magdalena River was sinceprecolumbian times a route towards the interior of present-day Colombia andEcuador. SeveralCarib-speaking peoples such as thePanche and the Yariguí ascended through the western bank of the river, while its eastern portion was inhabited by theMuisca civilization, which called the riverYuma.
Likewise, the Spanishconquistadores who arrived to today's Colombia early in the 16th century used the river to push to the wild and mountainous inland afterRodrigo de Bastidas discovered and named the river on April 1, 1501. During theSpanish colonization of the Americas, the river was the only transport link communicatingBogotá with the Caribbean Sea portCartagena de Indias and thus with Europe.
In 1825, theCongress of Colombia awarded a concession to establish steam navigation in the Magdalena River to Juan Bernardo Elbers,[25] but his company closed shortly after. By 1845,steamboats regularly travelled on the river[26] until 1961, when the last steamers ceased operation.[25]
Overnightriver cruising returned to the Magdalena River in 2025, marking the first regular passenger cruises since the early 1970s.AmaWaterways, in partnership with Metropolitan Touring, launched seven-night itineraries betweenBarranquilla andCartagena with calls at towns such as Mompox, Magangué and Calamar.[27][28] The company's first ship,AmaMagdalena, began service in April 2025, followed by sister shipAmaMelodia later that year.[29][30] Multiple operators are planning to launch Magdalena River cruises in 2026 and 2027.[31] Colombia's national tourism site highlights Magdalena River cruise experiences as part of the country's growing river tourism offerings.[32]
The General in His Labyrinth, by Gabriel García Márquez, is a fictionalized account of the final voyage ofSimón Bolívar down the Magdalena River, where he revisits many cities and villages along the river.
InMagdalena: River of Dreams (Knopf, 2020), Canadian writer, anthropologist, and explorer Wade Davis travels the length of the river by boat, on foot, by car, and on horseback combining descriptions of nature with episodes from Colombian history.[33]
^ab"Chapter 14"(PDF).The Pacific and Caribbean Rivers of Colombia: Water Discharge, Sediment Transport and Dissolved Loads. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2012-03-25. Retrieved2011-07-13.
^Restrepo, Juan D.; Escobar, Rogger; Tosic, Marko (February 2018). "Fluvial fluxes from the Magdalena River into Cartagena Bay, Caribbean Colombia: Trends, future scenarios, and connections with upstream human impacts".Geomorphology.302:92–105.Bibcode:2018Geomo.302...92R.doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2016.11.007.hdl:10784/26918.
^Maldonado-Ocampo; Vari; and Usma (2008).Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of Colombia. Biota Colombiana 9: 143–237.
^Román-Valencia; Ruiz; Taphorn; Mancera-Rodriguez; and García-Alzate (2013).Three new species of Hemibrycon (Characiformes: Characidae) from the Magdalena River Basin, Colombia. Rev Biol Trop. 61(3): 1365–1387.
^Taphorn; Armbruster; Villa-Navarro; and Ray (2013).Trans-Andean Ancistrus (Siluriformes: Loricariidae). Zootaxa 3641(4): 343–370.
^Ballen; and Mojica (2014).A new trans-Andean Stick Catfish of the genus Farlowella Eigenmann & Eigenmann, 1889 (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) with the first record of the genus for the río Magdalena Basin in Colombia. Zootaxa 3765(2): 134–142.
^abGranado-Lorencio; Serna; Carvajal; Jiménez-Segura; Gulfo; and Alvarez (2012).Regionally nested patterns of fish assemblages in floodplain lakes of the Magdalena river (Colombia). Ecol Evol. 2(6): 1296–1303.
^Lasso; Agudelo-Córdoba: Jiménez-Segura; Ramírez-Gil; Morales-Betancourt; Ajiaco-Martínez; Gutiérrez; Usma-Oviedo; Muñoz-Torres; and Sanabria-Ochoa (2011).I. Catálogo de los recursos pesqueros continentales de Colombia. Serie Editorial Recursos Hidrobiológicos y Pesqueros Continentales de Colombia. Bogotá (Colombia): Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt (IAvH).
^Noreña; Arenas; Murillo; Guío; and Méndez (2012).Heavy metals (Cd, Pb and Ni) in fish species commercially important from Magdalena river, Tolima tract, Colombia. Tumbaga 2(7): 61–76.
