The area of present-day municipality of Dibuya was inhabited predominantly during the
Pre-Columbian era by indigenous tribes pertaining to the
Koguis and
Guanebucanes ethnic groups descendants of the
Tairona civilization with a direct influence from the
Wayuu ethnic group. During the
Spanish colonization of the Americas, the indigenous village of Yaharo was first seen by Spanish explorers upon reaching the coasts of the
Guajira Peninsula in 1502. In 1525, Spanish explorer
Rodrigo de Bastidas visited the Yaharo Town and registered an account of the village. A year before, in 1524 Bastidas had created the Government of Santa Marta which covered an area from
Cabo de la Vela to the mouth of the
Magdalena River. Between 1609 and 1640, the Spanish colonizers imported some 800 or more African slaves. Most of these later escaped and formed
Palenques. In 1679 the Government of Santa Marta offered these palenques their freedom in exchange of protecting the territory from English pirates. In 1846 then
President of Colombia, Gen.
Tomas Cipriano de Mosquera ordered the reestablishment of the government after the
War of the Supremes civil war. Yaharo was renamed to Dibuya which translates from the
Guanebucan language to "lagoon by the sea", lagoon which is located in the region of the Ramada. In 1872 Dibuya became a municipality seat or district by law 216 of this same year and was part of the
Department of Magdalena. In 1886 this category was removed by interim governor of the department Luis Cotes by Decree 377 of February 17, 1886 when the
United States of Colombia was dissolved. The Council of Riohacha formally created the Corregimiento of Dibuya on April 1, 1887. From the 1970s and until approximately 1989 two families from the
Department of La Guajira; the Cárdenas and the Valdeblánquez engaged in a war for the control of the
marijuana. The confrontation between the two families gained national attention and directly affected those family members living in Dibuya, as well as those living from
Barranquilla and
Santa Marta to
Riohacha,
Maicao and
Valledupar in the
Caribbean Region of Colombia. On December 5, 1995 the
Department Assembly of La Guajira created the Municipality of Dibuya by Ordinance 030 of that same year.
Cristian Montero Córdoba became its first appointed mayor by Decree 350 of December 28, 1995. ==Climate==