Department of Cundinamarca (, ) is one of the

departments of Colombia Colombia is a unitary state, unitary republic made up of thirty-two administrative divisions referred to as departments (Spanish language, Spanish: ''departamentos'', sing. ) and one Capital District (''Capital districts and territories, Distri ...

. Its area covers (not including the Capital District) and it has a population of 2,919,060 as of 2018. It was created on August 5, 1886, under the constitutional terms presented on the same year. Cundinamarca is located in the center of Colombia. Cundinamarca's capital city is

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

, the capital of Colombia. This is a special case among Colombian departments, since Bogotá is not legally a part of Cundinamarca, yet it is the only department that has its capital designated by the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

(if the capital were to be ever moved, it would take a constitutional reform to do so, instead of a simple ordinance passed by the Cundinamarca Assembly). In

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

es, the populations for Bogotá and Cundinamarca are tabulated separately; otherwise, Cundinamarca's population would total over 11 million.

Etymology

The name of Cundinamarca comes from ''Kuntur marqa'', an indigenous expression, probably derived from Quechuan and means "condor's nest".

Geography

Most of Cundinamarca is on the Eastern Cordillera (''Cordillera Oriental''), just south of Boyacá, bordered by the

Magdalena River The Magdalena River (, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, ...

on the west, reaching down into the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

basin on the east, and bordering on Tolima to the south. The capital district of

is nearly completely surrounded by Cundinamarca territory and was formed by carving up Cundinamarca. Because of this and other border changes, the present department of Cundinamarca is much smaller than the original state.

Demography and ethnography

Municipalities with over 50,000 inhabitants

Municipal population position

According to the latest census conducted in 2005, 2,280,037 people live in Cundinamarca, excluding 6,776,009 of the capital, Bogotá. The city of Bogotá and the municipalities of Soacha, La Calera,

Cota Cota or COTA may refer to: People Surname * Ava Michelle Cota (born 2002), American actress * Chad Cota (born 1971), American football player * Chase Cota (born 1999), American football player *Ed Cota (born 1976), American basketball player * H ...

, Chía,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Funza Funza () is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Western Savanna Province, of the Departments of Colombia, department of Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca. Funza is situated on the Bogotá savanna, the southwestern part of the Altiplano C ...

, Mosquera,

Fusagasugá Fusagasugá (; ) or Fusa is a city and municipality in the department of Cundinamarca, in central Colombia. It is located in the warm valley between the rivers Cuja and Panches, a central region of the Andes Mountains in South America. The mun ...

, Facatativá and Zipaquirá form a single metropolitan area.

Important cities

Cundinamarca is made up of 116 municipalities, six of which recorded a population of over 100,000 and could be considered as cities: Soacha, Fusagasugá, Girardot, Facatativá, Zipaquirá and Chia, while Bogotá District is in the category of capital. *

Metropolitan Area of Bogotá Metropolitan Area of Bogotá is the metropolitan area of the Colombian capital city of Bogotá, usually used for statistical analysis or technical use. It is not a formal administrative division and its limits are therefore not defined. The study ...

: Comprises the towns of Soacha, Facatativá, Chia, Madrid, Funza, and Mosquera, among others. Its activities are centered in the industrial sector. Estate activity is important especially in the suburbs closer to Bogotá: Chía, La Calera and Tocancipá. * Girardot: In the far southwest and bordering Department of Tolima, is the capital of the

Upper Magdalena Province Upper Magdalena Province () is one of the 15 provinces in the Cundinamarca Department, Colombia. Upper Magdalena borders to the west with the Magdalena River and the Tolima Department, to the north with the Central Magdalena Province, to the ea ...

. Its main economic activity is trade, as a result of a major tourist dynamics and its proximity to major agricultural areas of Tolima. It has a college and important trade fairs and events. *

is located between Bogotá and Girardot, and it is an hour of each city. The capital city of the Province of Sumapaz, it is an important focus of agricultural marketing and regional services, standing out as an educational city with a large university and an increasing population trend. Its economy is mainly focused on trade and agricultural marketing, with a significant production of ornamental plants and flowers for export, for which it is known as the garden city of Colombia. * Zipaquirá: Despite being part of the metropolitan area of Bogotá, it has managed to position itself as one of the most important centers of Colombia's

salt mining Salt mining extracts natural salt deposits from underground. The mined salt is usually in the form of halite (commonly known as rock salt), and extracted from evaporite Formation (geology), formations. History Before the advent of the moder ...

industry. Its economy is focused on commerce and services. Other major towns are Ubaté due to high livestock and dairy production. Guaduas, is an important cultural center. Chocontá and Fred are agricultural centers.

Provinces

Cundinamarca has 15 provinces and the Capital District (Bogotá), which simultaneously acts as capital of the Republic, capital of the Department and a separately administered District (or Department) in itself. 2018 Cundinamarca - carretera en el valle de Subachoque

2018 Cundinamarca - carretera en el valle de Subachoque

# Almeidas # Upper Magdalena (Alto Magdalena) # Lower Magdalena (Bajo Magdalena) # Gualivá # Guavio # Central Magdalena (Magdalena Centro) #

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

# Eastern (Oriente) #

Rionegro Rionegro () is a city and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia, located in the subregion of Eastern Antioquia. The official name of the city is Ciudad Santiago de Arma de Rionegro. Rio Negro means "Black River" in Spanish, as the cit ...

# Central Savanna (Sabana Centro) # Western Savanna (Sabana Occidente) # Soacha # Sumapaz # Tequendama # Ubaté

Tourism

* Chingaza National Natural Park * La Chorrera Falls, one of the tallest waterfalls in the world * Cucunubá, wool capital of Colombia * Lake Guatavita * Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá *

Sumapaz Páramo Sumapaz Páramo (Spanish: ''Páramo de Sumapaz'' - meaning "Utterly peaceful moorland" ) is a large páramo ecosystem located in the Altiplano Cundiboyacense mountain range, considered the largest páramo ecosystem in the world. It was decla ...

* Tequendama Falls * Tominé Reservoir

Sports

The department is home to the basketball team Cóndores de Cundinamarca, which plays its home games in the ''Coliseo de la Luna'' in Chía.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1857 establishments in the Republic of New Granada Departments of Colombia States and territories established in 1857