city, Caribbean port, northern Colombia, at the foothills of the Santa Marta Mountains. First called Aldea Grande (“Large Village”) by Fernandez Enciso in 1518, it was renamed for the nearby Great Swamp (Ciénaga Grande) of Santa Marta, a Caribbean inlet in the alluvial lowlands of the lower Magdalena River, in whose waters a Spanish fleet was destroyed in 1820.

Economic activities include shipping, fishing, marble quarrying, and agriculture (coffee, tobacco, sugarcane, African palms, bananas, cacao, and cotton). Pop. (2003 est.) 85,418.