quality:correction, linguistic:voice_change, structural:expansion, structural:scholar_edition
20th century

As part of the country's restructuring, President General Rafael Reyes, of the National Constituent and Legislative Assembly, through Act April 17, 11, 1905 created the Atlántico department, consisting of the provinces of Barranquilla and Sabanalarga, the department of Bolivar, and Barranquilla as the capital. However, in 1908, Atlántico department was changed to the Department of Barranquilla by Act 1. With the fall of General Reyes in 1909, the Department of Barranquilla was abolished by Act 65 of that year, with Barranquilla again integrating into the department of Bolivar. The National Constituent Assembly of 1910 enacted Law 21 on July 14, which definitively established the Department of Atlántico with Barranquilla again as capital.

With the city's economic boom, the Chamber of Commerce of Barranquilla was created on June 28, 1905. On September 7, 1909, a bill was passed by Congress recognizing the opening of Bocas de Ceniza as a national necessity. In June of the same year, "The Barranquillazo" coup was attempted by followers of General Ramón González Valencia against the General Jorge Holguín who was designated the rank of president of the republic after the resignation of the incumbent, General Reyes. The first flight of a Colombian airplane occurred in Barranquilla in December 1912, the plane being flown by the Canadian pilot George Schmitt. On December 10, 1919, the first commercial airline arrived in the Americas, and second in the world; Scadta later became Avianca. In June 1919, U.S. pilot William Knox Martin and Mario Santo Domingo inaugurated industrial airmail in Colombia with a flight between Barranquilla and Puerto Colombia, where Santo Domingo delivered the mail sack.

With the connections of the river and seaport reaching the country's interior and abroad, the city became in the second half of the 19th century through the early decades of the 20th century, one of the most cosmopolitan and multicultural cities of Colombia. Puerto Colombia became one of the longest piers in the world and the principal port of Colombia, nicknamed the "Golden Gate of Colombia".

A major inflow of Jewish immigrants, as well as foreigners from Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, France, Germany, the United States, Italy, China and Japan, invigorated the industry and helped to make Barranquilla a modern city. Of these immigrants, the Arab and Jewish from the Middle East immigrants were prominent, referred to wrongly as "Turks" by the Colombian people. As a result, during the first half of the twentieth century, Barranquilla became one of the fastest-growing cities of Colombia, growing at rates well above others; this was maintained until the 1970s.

In this context, the office of Salgar was moved to Barranquilla, the Customs Administration of Barranquilla was constructed between 1919 and 1921, designed by the English architect Leslie Arbouin. Under economic dynamism, the city's business strength grew. This was attributed to its point of entry to the country by thousands of immigrants and many advances such as aviation. The city received from President Marco Fidel Suarez the title of "Golden Gate Republic". On January 12, 1919, amid great excitement in the Costa Caribe against Bogotá, Barranquilla joined the Costeña League.

In 1920, archaeologists revealed that Barranquilla is located on a vast historic necropolis. On June 8, 1924, while distributing flyers for the work of Bocas de Ceniza, the Tolima A-16 airplane, flown by German aviator Helmuth Von Krohn crashed, killing all six people aboard, including Ernesto Cortissoz, president of SCADTA.

In 1925, the first public companies based in the country were established in Barranquilla. The initial effect of the aqueduct that was built in 1929 was the arrival of piped water to 80% of the homes, while water supply coverage in Bogotá was 59%, and decreasing to 57.3% in Medellín, 74.8% in Cali, 21.4% in Cartagena, and 36.2% in Santa Marta. In 1927, the electricity service provided by the Electric Power Company Barranquilla addressed the needs of 10,300 homes, equivalent to 74% of the total. On February 4, 1925, Scadta acquired the planes large enough to make the first international flights, which took place in August of that year between Barranquilla and Key West, Florida, with stops in Central America, Mexico and Cuba.

In an era of significant progress for the city, the first private commercial radio station was founded in the country, the first station being the state HJN Colombia Bogotá. Elías Pellet Buitrago started commercial radio in Colombia with the first issue of La Voz de Barranquilla on December 8, 1929. On April 10, 1931, in a mutiny against hunger and unemployment, the people of Barranquilla destroyed the Theatre Columbia. On August 16, 1933, the Senate approved the contract for Bocas de Ceniza and work was completed in 1936 with President Alfonso Lopez inaugurating the Maritime Terminal Barranquilla. In 1935, the construction of a municipal football stadium enabled hosting of the National Game III.

From the 1960s until the early 1980s, the city plunged into an economic decline, largely due to the failure of the political class as well as the collapse of major sectors of industrial activity. In 1958, the government created the first zone of Colombia in Barranquilla. The city's expansion to reach neighboring towns led to the creation of the Metropolitan Area of Barranquilla in 1981. On August 18, 1993, the Congress of Colombia, through Legislative Act Number August 1, 17, 1993, conferred to Barranquilla the category of "Special District, Industrial and Port".