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The primitive settlers were the ´´Cotecos´´, a tribe descended from the Motilones and belonging to the great Caribbean family. They were completely degenerate, since none of them reached one meter and fifty in height and they were called that because they suffered from hypertrophy of the thyroid gland; They were montunos and hardly went out to town for the feast of the blacks and the Holy Innocents.

Despite the fact that their culture was little developed, they left testimonies of their existence by engravings in stone and elements or utensils, also in stone.

They inhabited the banks of the Peralonso and Zulia rivers, a stream and a source of water, their physical appearance was very short and they were characterized by having a preserve and a goiter. They fed on corn and plants such as palm hearts, ledo cogollo de lucua; They seasoned the food with chili peppers and hunted armadillos, bucuas, guartinajas, deer, and guacharacas. Their agriculture was little developed, for having a semi-nomadic way of life. When their source of food was scarce, they emigrated to another region and belonged for another period of time.

The origins of what is now Santiago are legendary.

According to the old chronicles, the apostle Santiago, patron of Spain, ordered the rich landowner Ignacio Romero Camacho to found a town in his honor, on the banks of the Pedro Alonso River. From there the first twelve houses and a chapel arose, which over the years would become the municipal seat.





Full Name: Santiago

Foundation: 1742.

Founder: Ignacio Romero and Benedicto Rincón.

Population: DANE 2005 Census: 2,679 inhabitants

Altitude: 411 meters above sea level.

Extension: 173 Km2

Weather: 27 degrees C.

Distance to Cúcuta: 33 Km.

Geographic coordinates: Longitude west of Greenwich 72º 43´, North latitude 7º 52´

Limits: North: El Zulia,

South: Durania and Salazar,

East: El Zulia and San Cayetano,

West: Gramalote and Salazar.

Administrative Division: Composed of 12 trails.

Rivers: El Peralonso and El Zulia.

Region: Central

Economy:

Agricultural production in lines such as rice, corn, sugar cane, banana, coffee and cassava.

Livestock production such as cattle, pigs and poultry.





Holidays:

July 25: Festivities

August 15 to 20: Fairs and festivals in honor of San Roque

Market day: Sundays

Easter

December: Novena of Christmas bonuses.



Tourist sites:

La Laja Bridge

La Hamaca Bridge

Well of Doña Flor

Peralonso River

Parish church

Well of the Nuns

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