QUINDíO DEPARTMENT

'Quindío' is a department of Colombia. It is in the western central region of the country, crossed by the Andes mountains. Its capital is Armenia. It is famous by the quality of the coffee plantations, colourful architecture, benign weather, plenty of options in hotel accomodations and touristic landmarks. This department is located in a strategic area, in the center of the triangle formed by the three main cities of the country: Bogotá, Medellín and Cali. Quindio is the smallest Colombian department (0.2% of the national territory) with 12 municipalties. Etnographically and culturally it belongs to the Paisa region.

Contents

History

Geography

Quindío Wax Palm Tree

Economy

Municipalities

Places of interest

Events

Native species

Cuisine

References

External links

History

The entire area was inhabited in the precolumbian period for the people of the Quimbaya civilization untill the 10th century B.C. At the time of Spanish conquest the area was inhabited by indigenous people of carib language known as the Pijao tribes. The native population was reduced due to slavery and armed confrontations, causing that the territory remainded nearly inhabited the next centuries. At the present time, only has been left a small population of near 2000 amerindians in an Indigenous reservation near La Tebaida.
The first settlement in the area was Salento in 1842. This territory was, in the XIX century the goal of the peasants of northern areas such Antioquia, who settled in the area in a process known as Colonización antioqueña Antioquian Colonissation. Due to the unaccesibility of the territory and the lack of roads, the trade and communications were made through mule caravanes (arriería).
The capital city, Armenia was founded in October 14th, 1889 by colonists leaded by Jesus Maria Ocampo. In 1905, the old Department of Antioquia was divided, and was created the Caldas. department, which at the time included the modern department of Risaralda. In 1908 the territory, then in jurisdiction of the Cauca department, it's annexed to Caldas department. Starting in 1948, this was one of the most affected by the armed conflict La Violencia, with casualties and damages to property in all the municipalities.
In 1966, (January 16th) it's separated as an autonomous department itself. The project for the creation of the new department was developed by the local politician Ancizar López who became the first governor. In 1999 the capital city and many villages and towns were partialy destroyed by an earthquake. The rebuilding was financiated by national and international donations managed by a public organization, the FOREC (acronym for Fund for Reconstruction of Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis).
also see list of Governors of the Department of Quindío.

Geography

Most of its surface is occupied for the western face of the Cordillera Central. Highest mountain: Nevado del Quindío, (Snow Mountain of Quindio) 5.150 m high. The lowest area is the valley of la Vieja River, 1.100 m high.
There are in this department about 1.845 km² of mountain landscapes, with many Rainforests and Guadua bamboo forests. The ground is enriched with ancient volcanic eruptions, rising its fertility, there are also many rivers and minor water streams, including the Quindio river and the Cocora valley located in this river origin.
The weather has a wide range, given the variations on termic floors. It has a high annual rain precipitation (around 2500 mm/year) because the humidity of winds from the Pacific Ocean stopped by the Andes. There are two rainy seasons (april and november). The average of temperature is between 24ºC in La Vieja river and 16ºC in Salento.

Quindío Wax Palm Tree

With law 61 of 1985, the Colombian Congress adopted Quindío Wax Palm Tree [ Ceroxylon quindiuense (Karsten) Wendl.], a local endangered species of high-altitude-adapted palm tree, as the National Tree. As ratified on September 16 for the current president of Colombia, Belisario Betancur, in the following terms: "1º. It's declared as national tree and symbol of our fatherland the species commonly known as quindio wax palm tree, scientific name ceroxylon quindiuense. 2º. National Government Is faculted to buy as many lands as needed to create wildlife sanctuaries with the purpose of preserve this national symbol and its natural environment. 3º. Chopping down the wax palm tree is forbidden and punished with fine and jail"."
The wax palm tree was nearly extincted for the extraction of the resinous substance that it exudes. Furthermore, its leaves were widely used for the celebration of Holy Week processions, especially Palm Sunday.

Economy

Economy is mainly based in the harvest of coffee plant. It is one of the most important producers od Colombian coffee. The department belongs to the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis which is the center of production and exportation of the highest quality coffee in Colombia. Plantain, cassava, Salentune potato and sugarcane are also cultivated, mostly for consume in the local markets.
In recent years, due to unstability in the international coffee market, and the attack to the coffee cultives by plagues such as Roya (Hemileia vastatrix) and Broca (Coffee borer beetle) (Hypothenemus hampei), interest has ben directed to alternative options like citrus fruits and macadamia nuts. There is, however a growing tourism industry based in the interest of traditional peasant culture, natural resources, and typical landscapes.
Nevertheless, since the Tourism industry is seasonal and the agriculture is debilitated, there is lack of steady jobs and sources of income, and as result the department has the highest rates of unemployment in the country (data from the National department of Statistics DANE 2003).

Municipalities

Central zone:
# 'Armenia'. Capital city.
# Calarcá Distance to Armenia: 6Km.
Northern zone:
# Filandia Distance to Armenia: 26Km.
# Salento Distance to Armenia: 24.1Km.
Western zone:
# Circasia Distance to Armenia: 10Km.
# La Tebaida Distance to Armenia: 17Km.
# Montenegro Distance to Armenia: 10.4Km.
# Quimbaya Distance to Armenia: 20Km.
South-eastern zone:
# Buenavista. Distance to Armenia: 33.3Km.
# Córdoba Distance to Armenia: 35Km.
# Génova Distance to Armenia: 51.9Km.
# Pijao Distance to Armenia: 30.9Km.

Places of interest

★ Quimbaya museum

★ Colombian National Coffee Park

★ PANACA park

★ Cocora Valley

★ Mariposario (Butterfly vivarium)

★ National Bamboo and Guadua Investigation Center

★ Peñasblancas

★ Snow Mountain of Quindio

Events

★ The National Coffee Party is the main event of the department. It is celebrated each year since 1960 in Calarcá, the last days of june. The event includes the national beauty contest of coffee.

★ The international fair of handcrafts, each may in Armenia.

★ The day of St. Isidro (july).

★ The National festival of kites (august).

★ The anniversary of Armenia (October).

★ The candlelight festival of Quimbaya (December) .

★ The Bullfighting season of La Macarena (January).

Native species

Quindio is the natural habitat of 520 species of birds and about 60 species of mammals. Many of them are endemisms. The area has the largest number of heliconia species in the world and a large numbers of species of orchids, mainly of the genera cattleya, odontoglossum, miltonia, phragmipedium and peristeria. Due to agricultural activities the amount of natural forests typical of the area, such the páramo, the cloud forest are decreasing progressively. This has caused that many of the endemic species are threatened, endangered or critically endangered. Some of them are:

★ Yellow-eared Parrot

★ Andean Guan

★ Colombian Weasel

★ Mano de oso tree.

Cuisine

some of the typical food and drinks are:

★ The Salentune Patacón, which is made with plantain, smashed in a thin layer, fried and covered with grinded cheese and pineapple sauce.

★ The Quindian arepa filled with shredded chicken and pieces of pig chicharrón.

★ The Cocora baked trout.

★ The Maduro is a broiled plantain filled with cheese and Bocadillo (thick guava jam).

★ The roasted gurre

★ The guatin stew

★ The coffee wine (obtained from fermentation of coffee berries) with kahlua-like flavor

★ The coffee arequipe

★ The corn chicha fermented in a large pottery recipient containing a horseshoe to enhance the flavor.

★ The Carajillo, typical cocktail made of one part of hot coffee, one part of sugarcane aguardiente and cinnamon sticks.

References

1. http://www.dane.gov.co/files/censo2005/regiones/quindio/quindio.pdf

External links

★ Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango/Quindío
http://www.turismoquindio.com