Cartagena is on the Carribean coast of Colombia. Columbus sailed past in 1494, Spaniards first landed in 1502, and the city was founded in 1533. It became one of the richest in the New World -- the port from which gold, silver, and emeralds were exported to Spain. So it became a prime target for pirates and for European naval forces. The city was pillaged a number of times, until Spain poured huge resources into the building of fortresses, after which the city was impregnable. Cartagena was one of the first Spanish colonies to declare its independence, in November 1811, and was finally liberated by Simon Bolivar in 1822. No longer important to Spain, it went into severe economic decline. The old walled city is filled with Spanish colonial and later Colombian republic-period buildings.