Aracataca (colloquially sometimes referred to as "Cataca") is a municipality located in the Department of Magdalena, in Colombia's Caribbean Region. Aracataca is a river town founded in 1885. The town stands beside the river of the same name, the Aracataca river, that flows from the nearby Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range into the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta. Aracataca is south of the Department capital Santa Marta. The town is best known as the birthplace of Nobel literature laureate Gabriel García Márquez. Geography and climate The municipality borders to the north with the municipalities of Zona Bananera, Santa Marta and Cienaga, to the east with the Cesar Department, to the south with the municipality of Fundación, and to the west with the municipalities of El Retén and Pueblo Viejo. Aracataca's climate is tropical: warm and humid year-round. History Aracataca was founded in 1885. It achieved the status of municipality on 28 April 1915, when it separated from the municipality of Pueblo Viejo. In the late 19th century, companies that would later merge into the United Fruit Company colonized the land and started to cultivate bananas in the wide region. After some decades, the downfall of the company initiated and completed soon after, partly because of the worldwide recession and the war soon after. On June 25, 2006, a referendum to rename the town "Aracataca-Macondo" failed due to a low turnout. Politics Administrative divisions Rural Corregimientos Buenos Aires Cauca Sampues La Fuente Veredas Aracataca contains 13 veredas: Tehobromina El Torito Macaraquilla La escondida Bocatoma La Ribiera La Fuente Cerro Azul El Volante El porvenir Marimonda Caserios Aracataca has 3 caseríos: Serankua Yechikin Dwanawimaku Urban Neighborhoods The town of Aracataca has 33 Barrios: La Esperanza, La esmeralda, Zacapita, 2 de febrero, 20 de Julio, Ayacucho, Nariño, Loma Fresca, 7 de Agosto, El Carmen, Cataquita, Macondo, El Suiche, El Pradito, 11 de Noviembre, 7 de Abril, Ciudadela macondo, San José, Base, Marujita, Las delicias, Centro, Boston, El Porvenir, 1 de Mayo, Galán, San Martín, Bello Horizonte, Raíces, Macondo, Villa del Río I y II. Economy Aracataca relies heavily on agriculture, mainly producing Oil palm, rice, cotton, sugar cane, common bean, plantain, bananas, yuca, tomato and on livestock raising like cattle, equines, mules, donkeys, domesticated birds, goats and pigs. Commerce represents another form of income and is mostly done informally, especially along the main highway to Santa Marta where large lines of