The Riohacha area was inhabited by American
Indians of the Wayuu culture, part of the larger Arawak group. The first
European to visit the area was the Spanish sailor Alonso de Ojeda in 1498,
though he never landed. A short time later, Juan de la Cosa, another Spanish
explorer, landed on what is today called Cabo de la Vela (Cape of the Sail, so
called because of its shape). In 1535, the German explorer Nikolaus Federmann
founded a city with the name Nuestra Señora Santa Maria de los Remedios del
Cabo de la Vela (Our Lady Saint Mary of the Remedies of the Cape of the Sail)
at the place de la Cosa
