Department of Antioquia
Antioquia is one of the 32 Departments of the Republic of Colombia located in the central northwestern part of this country with a narrow section that borders the Caribbean sea. Most of its territory is mountainous with some important valleys, part of the Andes mountain range. Antioquia has been part of many territorial divisions of former countries created over the present day territory of Colombia and prior to the constitution of 1886, Antioquia and the other states were sovereign governments in their own right.
The department covers an area of 63,612 km² (24,427 sq mi), and has an estimated population of 5,819,358 (2006 estimate). Antioquia borders with the Cordoba Department and the Caribbean Sea to the north, Chocó Department to the west, to the east it borders the departments of Bolivar, Santander and Boyaca, and to the south the departments of Caldas and Risaralda.
Is one of the most touristic departaments in Colombia, and keeps increasing the number of hotels and visitors from all over the world.
Medellín is Antioquia's capital city, and the second largest in the country. Other important towns are Santa Fe de Antioquia, the old capital located on the Cauca, and Puerto Berrío on the Magdalena.
[edit] History
[edit] Pre-Colombian
The first inhabitants of today's Antioquia Department were believed to have arrived c. 10,500 years BC. At the time of the Spanish conquerors in the 16th Century, Antioquia was populated by the Indigenous peoples named Caribs. According to archeological data tribes pertaining to this ethnic group began to extend through the Caribbean coast near the Gulf of Uraba and later extended to the south mainly living in the basins of the rivers Cauca and Magdalena.
There is little clarity over the culture of the Caribs, since the Spaniards classified as Caribs any Indigenous ethnic group that showed violence resistance to them, using bows and poisoned arrows, and practiced cannibalism or sodomy. Two families descended from the Caribs inhabit the Anqioquia Department; Catíos and Nutabes, mainly living in the basin of the Cauca River and the Aburra Valley (Now Medellín), and the Tahamíes that lived between the Porce River and the Magdalena River. In the Gulf of Uraba two sub-groups pertaining to the Caribs lived; the Urabáes and Cunas (which spoke Chibcha.
[edit] Colonization
 Don Gaspar de Rodas, First Governor of Antioquia. The first European to explore the area was the Spanish Rodrigo de Bastidas who in 1500 explored the Uraba region. Ten years later, Alonso de Ojeda founded a village named San Sebastián de Urabá, 2 km from the present-day town of Necoclí), which would be destroyed later by the natives. The area of present day Antioquia would not be recolonized until c. 1536 onwards. A Spanish Captain named Jorge Robledo was the first one to arrive to the Aburra Valley where he founded the village of Antioquia, but was not officially established until 1546 in what is now Santa Fe de Antioquia.
[edit] Geography
Antioquia is the 6th largest Department of Colombia. It is predominantly mountainous, crossed by the Cordillera Central and the Cordillera Occidental of the Andes. The Cordillera Central, further divides to form the Aburrá valley, in which the capital Medellín is located. The Cordillera Central forms the plateaus of Santa Rosa de Osos and Rionegro.
Despite 80% of the department's territory being mountainous, Antioquia also has a coast on the Caribbean Sea, in the lowland area of the Urabá. This area has a tropical climate and is of high strategical importance due to its location.
[edit] Administrative divisions
[edit] Regions and Municipalities
Antioquia is divided into 9 subregions[1] to facilitate the Department's administration. These 9 regions contain a total of 125 municipalities. The 9 subregions with their municipalities are:
[edit] Demographics
[edit] People
The local inhabitants of Antioquia are known as antioqueños. Of the five main regional groups in Colombia, the predominant group in Antioquia are known as paisa, referring to those living in the Paisa region, which covers most of Antioquia, as well as the departments of Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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