Magdalena
South America, northernmost province of Colombia, bounded by the Caribbean Sea, Venezuela, and the provinces of Santander and Bolivar.
Area is 20,463 square miles, and many tropical products are grown, including coffee, sugar, cacao, hardwoods, etc.
Pop. about 150,000, of which 40,000 are barbarian Indians.
MAGDALENA (mäg-dä-la'nä), the principal river of Colombia, rising in the Central Cordillera, lat. about 2° N., and only 8 miles from the source of the Cauca. These streams flow N. on either side of the Cordillera, uniting about 130 miles from the sea. The Magdalena, which ends in a large delta, is closed to sea-going vessels by a bar with dangerous shifting sands; merchandise is con- MAGDEBURG veyed by a railway (18 miles) from Barranquilla to Puerto Colombia, the shipping port, where a pier has been built. The river is navigable to Honda, 500 miles, where the rapids begin; above these it has been navigated by a German steamer to Neiva since 1875, and a railway (20 miles) alongside the rapids connects the upper and lower sections.
The Magdalena's drainage area is calculated at 92,900 square miles.