Cauca (Colombia)

Cauca is one of the thirty-two departments that, together with the Capital District of Bogotá, make up the Republic of Colombia. Its capital and most populated city is Popayán. It is located in the southwest of the country between the Andean and Pacific regions, bordering Valle del Cauca and Tolima to the north, Huila to the east, Caquetá to the southeast, Putumayo and Nariño to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the northwest.

It has a surface area of 29,308 km², which represents 2.56% of the national territory. It is politically and administratively divided into 42 municipalities. Its economy generates 1.82% of Colombian GDP. According to DANE, it has an estimated population (2020) of 1,436,916 inhabitants.

History

In the pre-Columbian period numerous indigenous tribes inhabited the region, mainly the Paeces, Guambianos, Aviramas, Totoroes, Polindaras, Paniquitaes, Coconucos, Patías, Bojoles, Chapanchicas, Sindaguas, Timbas, Jamundíes and Cholos. The first conqueror who recognized the Cauca territory was Sebastián de Belalcázar in 1536, who came from Peru in search of "El Dorado" accompanied, among others, by the captains Pedro de Añazco and Juan de Ampudia.

Province of Popayán in 1810.

Belalcázar initially toured the Patía river valley and then sent the two captains Añazco and Ampudia to explore the Pubenza valley, where the city of Popayán is currently located; the latter was founded by Belalcázar on January 13, 1537; From there he recognized the sources of the Cauca and Magdalena rivers and the Buey lagoon. Carlos V granted Belalcázar on May 10, 1540, the title of advance and life governor of the province of Popayán, whose jurisdiction initially included the present departments of Nariño and Cauca; In 1541 the domains of Popayán were extended to most of the Colombian territory (except the north and northeast), ranging from San Juan de Pasto to the Abibe mountain range. During the first half of the XIX century, Popayán continued to be an important political and commercial center of New Granada.

In 1819 the province of Popayán became part of the department of Cundinamarca of Greater Colombia and in 1821 it became the center of the department of Cauca; between 1831 and 1857 it was again the province of Popayán. In 1857 it was renamed the Sovereign State of Cauca, which had power over the former provinces of Pasto, Cauca, Chocó, Buenaventura and Caquetá. In 1886 the status of Cauca was changed to a department and this condition was ratified in 1910, while the aforementioned annexed territories were segregated at the beginning of the century XX.

Geography

Physiography

Physical map of Cauca.

The Andean cordilleran knot of the Colombian Massif is located in Cauca. The central and western mountain ranges of Colombia are born there, as well as the two great Colombian inter-Andean rivers, the Cauca and the Magdalena. This makes the department of Cauca one of the regions with the most water sources in Colombia and with the greatest potential for the generation of hydraulic energy. The warm valleys of the Patía rivers that flow into the Pacific and Cauca oceans and the Pacific plain, covered with tropical rain forest, complete the natural regions of the department. Most of the population settles in the valley of the Cauca River, between the Central and Western mountain ranges.

The capital, Popayán, is located in this valley, called Pubenza. Popayán is a city with a historic center that preserves the architecture of the colony.

Cauca limits to the south with the departments of Nariño and Putumayo, to the east with Huila, to the north with Valle del Cauca and Tolima, and to the west with the Pacific Ocean.

Hydrography

Birth of the Cauca River.

In the department of Cauca, it is bathed by five large basins: Alto Cauca, Pacífico, Alto Magdalena, Patía and Caquetá.

• The Alto Cauca basin is made up of the Cauca River and its tributaries, the Palo, Guengué, Negro, Teta, Desbaratado, Quilichao, Mondomo, Ovejas, Pescador, Robles, Piedras, Sucio, Palacé, Cofre, Honda, Cajibío, Piendamó, Tunia, Molino, Timbío and Blanco.
• The Pacific basin is mainly made up of the Guapi, Timbiqui, Saija and Micay rivers.
• The Alto Magdalena basin has as its main source of drainage to the Páez River to which the rivers San Vicente, Moras, Ullucos, Negro and Negro de Narváez converge, and the ravines Tóez, Símbola, Salado, Gualcar, Gallo, Macana, Honda and Totumo.
• The Patagonia basin is made up of the river Patía and its tributaries: the rivers Guachinoco, Ismita, Bojoleo, El Guaba, Sambingo and Mayo.
• The Caquetá basin is mainly made up of the Caquetá River, to which the Cusiyaco, Cascabelito, Verdeyaco, Mandiyaco, Fragua, Cascabel, Curiaco and Pacayaco rivers flow.

Natural parks

The department of Cauca is home to some natural parks in Colombia:

• National Natural Park Munchique, in the Western Cordillera.
• Puracé National Park, Cordillera Central.
• National Natural Park Island Gorgona, Colombian Pacific.

Economic activity

Its economy is based mainly on agricultural production, especially fique, sugar cane, sugar cane, coffee, potatoes, corn, cassava, beans, tomatoes, blackberries and asparagus. Livestock is also very important, and its derivations of meat and dairy products. Remarkable development has had in recent times fish farming. In the region of the Pacific coast is one of the largest forest reserves in the country. In the Naya River region there are large gold reserves, much of which is exploited illegally and ends up being a source of money for the subversive groups and criminal gangs that dominate the area, and in Bota Caucana there are oil fields. According to the UN, it is one of the departments with the largest illicit coca leaf crops, raw material for the production of cocaine, which has made this department one of the hardest hit by the Colombian armed conflict between the public forces, who by order of the Colombian government seek to eradicate these crops, and illegal armed groups, who seek to control this illegal activity. However, since this department is the one with the largest indigenous population in Colombia, these coca leaf crops are also part of the aboriginal cultures, who prepare their ancestral remedies and food based on this product, whose cultivation is illegal by state order. Colombian.

El Cauca is also home to the University of Cauca, an important public higher education center in southwestern Colombia that has had relevance in the history of the formation of the Republic of Colombia.

Political-administrative division

Popayán

Almaguer

Algeria

Balboa

Bolívar

Buenos Aires

Cajibío

Caldono

Caloto

Corinth

The Tambo

Florence

Guachené

Guapi

Inzá

Jambaló

The Sierra

La Vega

López de Micay

Mercaderes

Miranda

Morales

Padilla

Páez

Patia

Piedmont

Puerto Tejada

Puracé

Roses

San Sebastián

Santa Rosa

Sant.de Q.

Silvia

It will

Suárez

Sucre

Timbio

Timbiqui

Totoró

Toribío

Villa Rica

Gorgona Island

The department has 42 municipalities divided into 5 provinces, which are not relevant in terms of government, and which were created to facilitate the administration of the department: Center, North, West, East and South.

Demographics

Evolution of the population of the department of Cauca (1912-2016)

Population by census.Population by projection.Source: Statoids. DANE.

Ethnography

Cauca is a Colombian department with a large proportion of indigenous people. The two most numerous ethnic groups are the Paeces and the Guambianos. Since colonial times they have been in conflict over land tenure. One of the most important Páez leaders was Manuel Quintín Lame.

• Mestizos & Blancos (56.3%)
• Black or Afro-Colombian (22.2 per cent)
• Amerindians or Indigenous people (21.6 per cent)

In a study published in 2012, where a panel of 34 variants with δ ≥ 0.30 was used to estimate the autosomal genetic mixture, the recommended value to make reliable estimates from them (Bonilla et al. 2004; Martínez- Marignac et al. 2007), with these polymorphisms it was determined that the study sample currently has a:

• European sport (48.2%)
• Amerindium (41.1%)
• African sport (10.7 per cent)

Places of interest

• Silvia, center of the community of the indigenous Guambianos or Misak, one of the most organized in Colombia; Guambians keep alive their millennial traditions dressed in a typical way in costumes and fabrics that they themselves make manually. They speak their own language, which they use for primary and secondary education, as well as their radio stations. The Misaks retain and obey their millennial laws dating from the pre-inca period. In nearby municipalities, such as Jambaló, Inzá, Páez and Toribío, live a hundred thousand Nasa or indigenous people nuts, also very organized, who speak their language nasa yuwe and have their own political organization.

• Puracé National Park, 30 km east of Popayán. There is the Puracé Volcano (4780 m n. m.) whose snow-covered top and crater are visible from Popayán, the park offers natural attractions such as thermal waters, geysers and waterfalls. The most popular thermal baths are Pisimbalá and Coconuco.

• The Archaeological Park of Tierradentro, in the territory of the nuts, is one of the biggest pre-Columbian attractions in Colombia and the department. It includes an extensive area of tombs dug under the surface of the earth and painted in red and black colors in different shades. The most important archaeological sites in this park are El Duende, Alto de San Andrés and El Aguacate.

• The National Park of Gorgona Island, in the Pacific, 46 km from Guapi, where you can travel to the island in boats with capacity for 10 passengers. Gorgona is rich in freshwater flows, in the southwest are the Tunapuri Lagoon. It is covered by 85% by thick rainforest; 40 botanical families have been identified, where trees such as oak and laurel and coconut trees stand near the beaches. The fauna is rich in reptiles of great variety, sea turtles and saps; there are diversity of marine species due to the optimal conditions of the waters: dolphins, marsopas, cachalotes and humpback whales. Coral species are the basis of marine biological wealth. The reserve has 49.200 hectares; it includes the island of Gorgonilla, three islets and the surrounding marine sector.