Chapter 1 Summary

The Buendia family helps found the village of Macondo deep in the Colombian swamps. Over the next one hundred years the sleepy village becomes the seat of a national revolution, is connected to the country by railroad, and grows into a thriving banana plantation. Throughout this period the Buendia family extends through seven generations. Eventually the revolution ends, the banana plantation collapses, and the prosperity of Macondo vanishes as the fortunes of the Buendia family wane. Reduced to a single surviving member, the Buendia family and Macondo come to simultaneous ends as a huge windstorm blows the entire crumbling town away.

The town of Macondo is occasionally visited by a band of wandering gypsies who bring various wonders for the amusement and edification of the isolated town's citizens. One of the leading gypsies is named Melquiades and his objects of wonder include heavy...