north and the slopes to the Caribbean region, made it a human corridor of ancient migrations. Native Americans were present in what is today modern Colombia since about 15 thousand years ago. In the region of the municipality of Amalfi there are archeological traces dated 9 thousand years ago related to the cultures of Yamesíes, Guamocoes and Tahamíes. Although those peoples are considered today extinct, their descendants survived in the mestizo population of the region, as well as ancient traditions, names, believes and myths like the Jaguar cult, the petroglyphs, words and other elements that are object of current anthropological and archaeological studies. Land of pioneers The territory of the modern municipality of Amalfi was not of much interest for the Spaniards during the three centuries of colonial rule (16th to 18th centuries) as it was in neighbouring regions such as Segovia, Remedios and Yolombó, attracted by their rich gold mines. In 1580 the Spaniard conqueror of Antioquia, Don Gaspar de Rodas, made an excursion to the region following the Porce and Nechi rivers, but he did not make Spanish foundations. He would established the town of Zaragoza in 1581, while searching for a connection with the Magdalena River. During the 18th century groups of traders from Cartagena de Indias, Santa Marta and Mompox settled on the Lower Cauca of Antioquia searching for gold and founded the first town in the today Amalfi territory known as Cancán that is today known as Corregimiento de Portachuelo. They built a Catholic church and some persons lived there, depending their administration from Zaragoza, but it was abandoned few years later. After the Independence of Antioquia, General Julián Trujillo, acting governor, tried to recover the old foundation under the name of San Martín town, but it did not attract enough settlers and was abandoned in 1888. During the Antioquean Colonization, families from Rionegro, La Ceja and other towns of the Eastern Antioquia, Medellín, Copacabana, Yarumal, Santa Rosa de Osos and Santa Fe de Antioquia, migrated to the region in search of gold and other opportunities. Among these first Antioquean settlers, came also foreigners, especially German Jews, Arabs from the Middle East, Chinese that were working on the Antioquean Rail Constructions and Nordic Europeans (Norway.) Official foundation In 1838 Reverend Father José Santamaría y Zola, a Spaniard Catholic priest from Málaga, Spain that was living in Copacabana, led an expedition of families that were looking