Behind the colorful houses and flower-filled balconies, Cartagena was one of the great ports of entry for enslaved Africans in Spanish America, and the seat of an Inquisition tribunal. Twelve stops from the dock where the ships arrived, by way of the Clock Gate, the square of the slave market, the saint who baptized in the ships' holds, the Palace of the Inquisition, the palenqueras, the city walls, the convent of the girl with endless hair, Las Bóvedas, Getsemaní, the Castle of San Felipe and La Popa hill. Approximate audio duration: 23 minutes.
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Cartagena oscura: el puerto de los esclavos y la Inquisición
Detrás de las casas de colores y los balcones con flores, Cartagena fue uno de los grandes puertos de entrada de africanos esclavizados en la América española, y sede de un tribunal de la Inquisición. Doce paradas desde el muelle donde llegaban los barcos, por la Puerta del Reloj, la plaza del mercado de esclavos, el santo que bautizaba en las bodegas, el Palacio de la Inquisición, las palenqueras, las murallas, el convento de la niña de cabellos larguísimos, las Bóvedas, Getsemaní, el Castillo de San Felipe y el cerro de La Popa. Duración aproximada de audio: 23 minutos.
Tour stops
12 stops · ~23 min of audio · 6.59 km on foot (~1 h 40 min walking) · about 2 h 15 min in total
You are on the Muelle de los Pegasos, facing the Bay of Souls. Look at the statues of winged horses, the launches waiting for tourists to take them to the islands, and behind them the city wall and the Clock Tower. This is where almost every visitor begins Cartagena.
Founded in 1533, Cartagena became one of the most important ports of the Spanish empire. Gold and silver left from here for Seville. And another cargo came in: people.
During the seventeenth century Cartagena was one of the main ports authorized for the arrival of enslaved Africans in Spanish America. They came on Portuguese shi…
2
The Mouth of the Bridge
You are in front of the Clock Gate. Look at the three arches in the wall, painted yellow, and above them the tower with the clock. It is the main entrance to the walled city.
In colonial times this was the Boca del Puente, the mouth of the bridge: the only gate joining the city to the Getsemaní suburb, via a drawbridge over a water-filled moat. At night it was closed. Those without the right to sleep inside stayed out.
The clock is much more recent: it was installed at the end of the nineteenth century, when Cartagena was already part of Colombia.
Think about who passed through this gate. S…
3
The Market of People
You are in the Plaza de los Coches. Look at the triangular square, the statue of the founder Pedro de Heredia in the middle, and under the arches of the Portal de los Dulces the stalls with jars of coconut sweets, tamarind candies and milk fudge.
Today it is one of the liveliest squares in the city. In colonial times it was the place where enslaved people were sold.
After weeks at sea and days locked in the depots, the Africans were brought here. Buyers examined them like animals: they looked at their teeth, their muscles, their skin. They made them jump and open their mouths. Then the price…
4
Slave of the Slaves
You are in front of the church of San Pedro Claver. Look at the greyish coral-stone facade with its dome, and next to it the old Jesuit convent.
Pedro Claver was a Catalan Jesuit who arrived in Cartagena in 1610. He lived here for some forty years, until his death in 1654. He signed himself: Pedro Claver, slave of the slaves forever.
Every time a slave ship entered the bay, Claver went aboard. He went down into the holds, among the sick and the dying, with water, food, fruit and medicine. He brought African interpreters to speak to them in their own languages. He treated sores, comforted, ba…
5
The Window for Denunciations
You are in front of the Palace of the Inquisition, on the Plaza de Bolívar. Look at the baroque stone doorway, with the arms of the Inquisition above it: a cross, a sword and an olive branch. Punishment and pardon.
In 1610 a tribunal of the Holy Office was established in Cartagena. It was one of only three in all of Spanish America, along with those of Lima and Mexico. Its jurisdiction reached across the whole Caribbean and the north of South America.
Walk around the building along the side street and look for a small window in the wall. Anonymous denunciations were left there. Anyone could …
6
The First Free Town
You are in the Plaza de Santo Domingo. Look at the oldest church in the city, the sculpture of a voluminous reclining woman by Fernando Botero, and the restaurant tables. And look for the palenqueras: Afro-descendant women in brightly colored dresses carrying large trays of tropical fruit on their heads.
Today tourists take photos with them. But it is worth knowing where they come from.
Not all Africans accepted slavery. Many fled the houses and haciendas for the swamps and the hills. They were called cimarrones, maroons. They formed fortified communities in the forest: the palenques.
The m…
7
The Walls Against Pirates
You are on top of the city wall, at the Santo Domingo bastion. Look at the open Caribbean Sea ahead, the cannons pointing at the horizon, and inward the tiled roofs and domes of the city. At sunset this is the busiest spot in Cartagena.
The walls surround the historic center for several kilometers. They were built over almost two hundred years, between the late sixteenth and late eighteenth centuries.
The reason was fear. Cartagena held the gold and silver waiting for the galleons to Spain, and that drew pirates and enemies. In 1586 the English privateer Francis Drake took the city, plundere…
8
Twenty-Two Meters of Hair
You are in front of the former convent of Santa Clara, in the San Diego quarter. Look at the colonial walls and, if you can go in, the cloister with its garden. It was a convent of Poor Clare nuns from the seventeenth century. Today it is a luxury hotel.
In 1949 a young reporter from a Cartagena newspaper was sent to cover the emptying of the convent's crypts, which was about to be renovated. His name was Gabriel García Márquez.
The workers opened the tombs and took out the remains. In one of them a skull appeared, from which flowed a mane of copper-colored hair more than twenty-two meters l…
9
The Cells That Flooded
You are in front of Las Bóvedas. Look at the long gallery of arches painted yellow and ochre, and behind each arch a thick, cool vaulted room. Today they are shops selling crafts, hats, hammocks and emeralds.
There are twenty-three vaults built into the wall at the end of the eighteenth century. It was one of Spain's last great military works in Cartagena. They served to store munitions and house troops, with walls able to withstand bombardment.
After independence they were given another use: a prison. During the nineteenth century, amid civil wars, political and common prisoners were locked…
10
The Lancers of Getsemaní
You are in the Plaza de la Trinidad, in the Getsemaní district. Look at the white church, the huge murals on the walls, the little colored flags strung above the streets, and at night the square full of vendors, musicians and backpackers.
Getsemaní was the arrabal: the district outside the main wall. Craftsmen, carpenters, blacksmiths and fishermen lived here, many of them free Black people and mulattoes. Many of the depots where newly arrived Africans were locked up were also here.
Cartagena's independence had a lot to do with this neighborhood. On 11 November 1811 a mulatto blacksmith name…
11
Half-a-Man
You are at the foot of the Castle of San Felipe de Barajas. Look at the huge stone fortress covering the whole hill, with ramps, bastions and sloping walls. It is the largest fortification the Spaniards built in the Americas.
In front of it is a statue of a man missing a leg, with one arm hanging useless. It is Blas de Lezo, the admiral who defended Cartagena in 1741.
Lezo had lost, in different battles, a leg, an eye and the use of an arm. They called him Mediohombre, Half-a-Man. In March 1741 an enormous British fleet under Admiral Edward Vernon arrived off Cartagena: some one hundred and …
12
The Goat's Leap
You are at the top of La Popa hill, at the convent. Look out from the terrace: below, the walled city like a toy; the Castle of San Felipe; the bay; the skyscrapers of Bocagrande; and around them, on the slopes, the working-class neighborhoods where much of Cartagena's population lives.
The convent was founded by Augustinian friars at the start of the seventeenth century. It is dedicated to the Virgin of La Candelaria, the city's patron saint.
There is a legend about its founding. It is said that on this hill escaped slaves and indigenous people gathered at night to worship an idol in the sh…
How long does the "Dark Cartagena: The Slave Port and the Inquisition" audio tour take?
It has about 23 minutes of audio across 12 stops and a 6.59 km walking route (~1 h 40 min on foot). Plan roughly 2 h 15 min in total, or split it up: you can pause and resume anytime.
Where does the tour start?
At stop 1, "The Bay of Souls" (coordinates 10.4213, -75.5475). The app guides you from stop to stop with a map.
Is it free?
Trevurs is a free app for iOS and Android. There is also an optional Premium version, from USD 1.99, with unlimited offline downloads, access to every tour and no ads. It also helps keep an independent app alive.
Why use an audio tour instead of a guided group tour?
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for. Start at any time of day, on your own schedule. Go at your own pace: pause, rewind or skip any stop. No need to commit 2 or 3 hours to a single tour: do one stop or the whole route. Works offline once downloaded.
What languages is this audio guide available in?
This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.
Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?
No. Download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.
How do I access this tour?
Download Trevurs on iPhone (App Store) or Android (Google Play), then open Cartagena and pick "Dark Cartagena: The Slave Port and the Inquisition". No account required to start.
Free app
No wifi needed · Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian
