Arboletes is a town and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the subregion of Urabá in

Antioquia Department Antioquia () is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders the Caribbean Sea. Most of its territory is mountainous with some valleys, much of which is part o ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. The municipality is bounded by the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

to the north, the department of Córdoba to the north and east, the municipality of San Pedro de Urabá to the south and west, and the municipalities of Turbo and Necoclí. The town is 502 km from the city of Medellin, capital of the department of Antioquia. The municipality covers an area of 710 km². Arboletes has 8 rural townships (corregimientos): El Carmelo, La Trinidad, Naranjitas, El Guadual, La Candelaria, Buenos Aires, Las Platas and Pajillal.

Etymology

The name "Arboletes" means "land of trees", though this is purely historical. Almost all forests in the area were cleared for a thriving cattle industry, an activity on which the municipality depends. However, there are wilderness areas in the municipality, formed by the rain forests that gave rise to the name of the municipality.

History

Arboletes is now a municipality of the department of Antioquia, born of a land dispute between that department and its neighboring department of Córdoba. The town of Arboletes was founded in 1920 by José Torres Vargas y José María Reales, and was a township (corregimiento) of the municipality of Turbo, Antioquia. The municipality of Arboletes was established in August 1958.

Economy

Arboletes is primarily a livestock region, and ranching occupies 90% of the land of the municipality. Cattle, swine, goats, and horses are raised in the area. Agriculture in the area includes Bananas, Yams, Cassava, Maize, Rice, and Fruit.

Mud Volcano

Arboletes has a

mud volcano A mud volcano or mud dome is a landform created by the eruption of mud or Slurry, slurries, water and gases. Several geological processes may cause the formation of mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes are not true Igneous rock, igneous volcanoes as th ...

located in the Santa Fe de la Plata corregimiento. The mud volcano has had eruptions in 2006 and 2010. The mud density allows people to float and swim on the surface. This place is visited by tourists from around the world and is renowned for its medicinal benefits.

Climate

Arboletes has a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than ...

(Aw) with moderate to little rainfall from December to March and heavy rainfall from April to November.

References

{{Coord, 8, 51, 06, N, 76, 25, 42, W, region:CO_type:city, display=title Municipalities of Antioquia Department Populated places established in 1920