Santa Cruz del Islote
Built up by fishermen who settled the islet · San Bernardo Islands, BolĂvar, Colombia
Photo: Vaido Otsar / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0), as also published in Street Art Utopia.
Santa Cruz del Islote is a tiny, largely man-made island of about one hectare in the San Bernardo Archipelago, off Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Fishermen settled it and widened it with coral, shells and rubble to make room for their houses. Today around 800 people live there, making it one of the most densely populated islands on earth, and they live mainly from fishing and tourism. Source Source Source Source Checked
Standing Jul 2025: Noticias Caracol (8 Jul 2025) describes the island as inhabited by more than 800 people and explains how visitors reach it by boat from Cartagena. Source Source Checked
More photos
đź’ˇ 4 things to know
- An island made by handThe first settlers filled in the coral shallows with shells, rubble and other material to raise their houses, slowly gaining ground from the sea. Source Source Source Checked
- No room for a cemeteryThere is no cemetery on the island, so residents bury their dead on the neighboring island of Tintipán. Source Source Source Checked
- One meter above the seaThe islet rises only about one meter above sea level, Voz de América reports. Source Reported
- How many people?Counts differ: Radio Nacional’s local estimate gives about 816 people in some 160 houses and Voz de AmĂ©rica about 800 residents, while a mid-2010s census counted 492 and an often-repeated figure of 1,247 is likely exaggerated. Source Source Source Conflicting
đź“Ť Where it is
Boats run to the island in about one to two hours from the Gulf of Morrosquillo (Coveñas, Tolú, Berrugas) or from Cartagena, according to Noticias Caracol. Source Source Checked
Opens a Google Maps search for the coordinates (9.78609, -75.85888); no Street View panorama was checked for this file.
🗓️ Sightings
- 1860s
Fishermen from Cartagena and Tolú begin settling the islet · Wikipedia
- 20091 Oct
Stilt houses at the waterline (Juan Sebastián Echeverry) · camera date
- 201430 Mar
The whole island seen from the sea (Uhkabu) · camera date
- 201711 Apr
Island skyline in evening light (Carlos Felipe Pardo) · camera date
- 202029 Jan
Island with over 700 residents keeps captive sharks for tourists · La FM
- 202318 Jun
About 816 people in some 160 houses · Radio Nacional de Colombia
- 20238 Aug
About 800 residents, island one meter above the sea · Voz de América
- 202412 Aug
800 residents on 0.01 km² · Noticias Caracol
- 20258 Jul
More than 800 people on one hectare; how to get there · Noticias Caracol
Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark dated records and reports. Publication dates are not camera dates.
🗞️ In the sources
La cruz y la felicidad de vivir en la isla más densamente poblada del mundo
“Pero estimamos que somos alrededor de unas 816 personas y unas 160 casas.”
But we estimate there are around 816 of us and some 160 houses.
Santa Cruz del Islote: una isla sobrepoblada en el Caribe colombiano en peligro de desaparecer
“No existe un cementerio local por lo que los pobladores de Santa Cruz dan sepultura a los suyos en la isla vecina de Tintipán.”
There is no local cemetery, so the people of Santa Cruz bury their dead on the neighboring island of Tintipán.
La isla más sobrepoblada del mundo está a 5 horas de Bogotá: cómo llegar y cuánto cuesta en 2025
“Con apenas una hectárea de extensión y más de 800 habitantes, esta isla es reconocida como la más densamente poblada del planeta.”
With barely one hectare of land and more than 800 inhabitants, this island is recognized as the most densely populated on the planet.
âś… The facts
- Original name
- Santa Cruz del Islote, named after a cement cross the tide brought in, according to photographer Charlie Cordero (Wikipedia) Source Reported
- Settled
- 1860s per Wikipedia; c. 1870 per Spanish Wikipedia; ‘about 200 years ago’ per Radio Nacional Source Source Source Conflicting
- Population
- About 800 (local estimates 2023 to 2025); 492 in a mid-2010s census Source Source Source Source Conflicting
đź”— Related
All sources & image credits
- Wikipedia: Santa Cruz del Islote (accessed Nov 2026)
- Wikipedia (es): Santa Cruz del Islote (accessed Nov 2026)
- Radio Nacional de Colombia: La cruz y la felicidad de vivir en la isla más densamente poblada del mundo (18 Jun 2023)
- Voz de América: Santa Cruz del Islote: una isla sobrepoblada en el Caribe colombiano en peligro de desaparecer (8 Aug 2023)
- Noticias Caracol: La isla más sobrepoblada del mundo cuenta con 800 habitantes: ¿cuánto cuesta visitarla? (12 Aug 2024)
- Noticias Caracol: La isla más sobrepoblada del mundo está a 5 horas de Bogotá: cómo llegar y cuánto cuesta en 2025 (8 Jul 2025)
- La FM: Tiburones en cautiverio en isla de Cartagena serán liberados en febrero (29 Jan 2020)
- Hero photo: Vaido Otsar / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- More photos: Juan Sebastián Echeverry from Manizales, Colombia / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (camera date 2009-10-01)
- More photos: Uhkabu / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (camera date 2014-03-30)
- More photos: Carlos Felipe Pardo from Bogota, Colombia / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (camera date 2017-04-11)
- Share image: the hero photo on a 16:9 canvas, made from the WAU media copy.
Last checked: 5 November 2026. How we verify art