Jericho (Antioquia)

Jericó is a municipality in Colombia, located in the southwestern subregion of the department of Antioquia. It is part of the Network of heritage towns of Colombia.

It borders on the north with the municipalities of Tarso and Fredonia, on the east with the municipalities of Fredonia and Támesis, on the south with the municipalities of Támesis, Jardín and Andes and on the west with Andes and Pueblorrico.

Jericho is known as The Athens of the Southwest, given the progress and culture of its people; also called the "most beautiful town in Antioquia" for its topography, republican style and landscapes.

General information

• Foundation: 1850
• Erection in municipality: 1852
• Founder: Santiago Santamaría Bermúdez de Castro
• Appellatives: "The Athens of the Southwest, "The Kingdom of Carriel, 'The Cult City of Antioquia, The Table of God

Names of the Municipality

• Stone Village: for the amount of stones from the river that runs near the municipality.
• Aldea de Felicina: in 1852 he was given this name in memory of the virtuous patriot José Félix Restrepo at the suggestion of Don Santiago Santamaría, who professed him deep admiration for his work with the slaves.

• Jericho: from 1853 it adopts this name in honor of the first city that the Israelites found when stepping on Promised land, by indication of the bishop Juan de la Cruz Gómez Plata.

History

Jericó was founded by Santiago Santamaría and Bermúdez de Castro.

The municipality came into legal existence on September 28, 1850, under the name of “Aldea de Piedras”, through ordinance No. 15 of the Providential Chamber of Antioquia. Later it would be called “Felicina”, and finally it kept the name it bears today, “Jericó”. It was the second town in Antioquia to have electricity and the fifth in Colombia. In 1902 it had a Bank with its own currency and in 1908 it was separated from Antioquia as a Department (a large part of the Southwest) named Jericó and the capital Jericó. Cradle of renowned characters in the world: LAURA MONTOYA UPEGUI (Saint Laura de Jericó); HÉCTOR ABAD GÓMEZ, MANUEL MEJÍA VALLEJO, JOSÉ RESTREPO JARAMILLO, JESUSITA VALLEJO DE MORA, LEÓN LONDOÑO TAMAYO, LUIS FERNANDO PELÁEZ, JAVIER DARIO RESTREPO, JOSÉ MARÍA OSPINA, JULIO TORO, DOLLY MEJÍA, among others.

Primitive Settlers

About the prehistory of Jericho there are no very clear accounts, but it is said^[who?] that there were settlements of the Cori in regions between La Mama and El Chamí, in the Patios, Palenque, Volcán Colorado and Patio Bonito.

The original Jerichoan can be classified as follows:

Family: Caribbean ->Group: Chocó ->Branch: Emberá ->Tribe: Chamí.

They practiced monotheistic religion because they believed in a superior and protective being.

Their diet was based on hunting, fishing and tropical agriculture. They lived in huts with a conical shape. They dressed in guayucos, blankets and necklaces. They worked ceramics, spinning and weaving.

Conquest

According to historical accounts, it is said that the Spanish expedition Don Juan Badillo, an adventure-loving conquistador, gave the name Gori to this place that he found inhabited by indigenous people and Don Francisco César; who arrived in the territory of Jericho in the middle of the XVI century (1540), but did not inhabit it because they did not find large deposits of gold, Back then, these mountainous lands were covered by difficult jungles that were still unexplored.

Colonization and foundation

It was the year of 1825 when eleven gentlemen proposed to the government of the Province of Antioquia to buy the vacant lands of almost all of southwestern Antioquia.

In the year 1835, a response was given for the benefit of the four survivors of the eleven applicants. They were: Don Juan Santamaría Isaza, Don Gabriel Echeverri, Don Alejo Santamaría and Don Juan Uribe Mondragón, thus beginning the epic colonization of southwestern Antioquia.

Between the years of 1835 and 1840, Don Juan Santamaría traveled twice to the vacant territories, it was he who gave them the name "Piedras" and managed the entry of the first two settlers to the Jericano territory: Esteban Osorio and José María Bermúdez who began the clearing of the "Mama", place where the industrial and social life of the municipality began and the location of the first two families.

In 1849, the group of settlers established themselves in the area of "Roblecabildo" (today Palocabildo Corregimiento) until 1850, when they moved their homes to the place that the city occupies today and the "Aldea del Piedras" was born, created by the Provincial Chamber of Antioquia on September 28 of the year in question.

Jericó was then founded between 1845 and 1848 by Don Santiago Santamaría y Bermúdez de Castro, a rich, enterprising, noble and generous man, who had inherited these lands, purchases and changes; With the project of colonizing them, he brought under his command and direction a group of working and representative families from Sonsón, Abejorral, Rionegro, Guarne, Marinilla, El Retiro, Amagá, Fredonia, Caldas, Envigado, Yarumal and Medellín to start the process of colonization and foundation of this region. Surnames like Abad, Gómez, Restrepo, Mesa, Vallejo, Peláez, Mejía, Buitrago, Posada, Escobar...

Currently, it is a municipality with many and varied reasons to be visited. It has religious, cultural, natural attractions:

• The House where Laura Montoya was born,
• The Museum of Religious Art and its 16 chapels, some considered true jewels.
• Cemetery Park.
• The History Center, the most beautiful in the Department, a heritage house where the history of the city is preserved and several objects of antiquity and historical value.
• MAJA Museum
• Casa Museo José Tomás Uribe Abad
• Museum House of Music
• Botanical Garden
• Cerro El Salvador
• Teatro Santamaría
• Sanctuary of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
• Nature has also been generous with Jericho, and their guardians are a destination desired by walkers and lovers of ecology.
• Its main park, one of the most beautiful in Antioquia, preserves an architecture that evokes the best years of coffee culture.
• A great mountain, which in every corner of its streets evokes wonderful stories of Antioquia and its coffee and cattle splendor.

Demographics

Total Population: 13,640 hab. (2018)

• Urban population7 619
• Rural population: 6 021

Literacy: 87.8% (2005)

• Urban area: 90.4%
• Rural areas: 83.9%

Ethnography

According to the figures presented by DANE from the 2005 census, the ethnographic composition of the municipality is:

• White " mixed " (97.2%)
• Afro-Colombians (2.8%)

Geography

Jericó is located in the foothills of the western Andes, in the southwest of the department of Antioquia.

It has a broken and very mountainous topography and there are heights that reach more than 2500 meters above sea level.

This allows Jericó to have lands with different climates: warm in the Cauca area, temperate in the area occupied by the municipal capital, and cold in the higher areas.

Economy

The economy of the municipality is based on agriculture. The main products grown are: cardamom, banana, coffee, tomato and avocado.

Livestock is also of significant importance. So does the leather industry.

Since 2010, chonto tomato cultivation in greenhouses has been gaining momentum, and it is also estimated that 4 million trees are planted for exploitation.

This district is the so-called Cradle of the carriel, an exclusive clothing accessory of the paisa culture, of Antioquian origin and tradition.

Parties

• Festival de la cometa y la dulzura, in August, which is the most entrenched party in the municipality
• Holy Week in March or April.
• International Theatre Festival in August.
• Celebrate the Virgen del Carmen in July.
• Week of the Jericoanity in September.
• Patron Festivals of the Virgin of the Mercedes in September.
• Commemoration Birthdays of the Municipality, September 28th.
• Culture Week in October.
• Special day to Saint Laura Montoya in October.

Artistic historical heritage and ecological destinations

• Teatro Santa María, Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, Centro de Historia, Capilla de la Visitación, Palacio Municipal "Santiago Santamaría", Museo Municipal (MAJA), Normal Superior, Escuela Madre Laura Antiguo Batallón San Mateo, Monasterio de Santa Clara, Casa de la familia Restrepo y la casa de la Sra Isabel Peláez Estrada.

• The parish church of Our Lady of the Mercedes. Modern Romanesque work, has a traditional design with a modern architecture treatment. Its extension is 2.772 square meters, the height of its dome is 42 meters and that of the towers is 40 meters. In 1949 the first stone was blessed and on 20 September 1969 it was consecrated.

• Corridor of Palocabildo, it has beautiful landscapes and quiet places, rich in brittles suitable for bathing.

• Sanctuary of the Immaculate Heart of Jesus. Gothic-style work. It has three naves with ojivale doors and arches. In addition to two vertical towers and a "ojo de ox" or rosette on each side. It was finished in 1943.

• Church of San Francisco or La Pollita. Colonial style work, which was built with materials from the region.

• Church of Santa Clara.

• Chapels: from the Visitation, Santa Teresita, San Juan Eudes and the Immaculate. Southwest Archaeological Museum.

• Museum of Religious Art

Natural heritage:

• Natural Park La Nubes.

• Los Balsos Botanic Garden.

Culture

In 2017 Jericó was published, a documentary co-produced between France and Colombia of intimate portraits of women from the town of Jericó, in Antiquia, Colombia. A book on the subject was also published.

Featured Jerichoans

• Héctor Abad Gómez
• Francisco Luis Lema
• León Londoño Tamayo
• Dolly Mejía
• Manuel Mejía Vallejo
• Santa Laura Montoya
• Juan José Peláez
• José Restrepo Jaramillo
• Jesusita Vallejo

Access routes

• Medellín - Caldas - Fredonia - Puente Iglesias - Jericho.
• Medellín - Caldas - Santa Barbara - La Pintada - Thames - Jericho or from La Pintada through the marginal route of the Cauca River to Bridge Churchesand then go up the so-called The Cabaña.
• Medellin - Caldas - Bolomboloby the marginal of the Cauca River, and by the paved road The Cascadeor continue until Bridge Churches to go up The Cabaña.

Paved roads: Medellín - Caldas - Amaga- Bolombolo - Peñaliza - (road to the graffiti 14 km) Jamaica - canan (parts for tarsus) - Jericó.

O Medellín - Caldas - Camilo C - Fredonia - Puente Iglesias - (via Bolombolo 12 km) - Jamaica - (headings for tarsus) - Jericó.