Sopetrán is a municipality of

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 ...

, located in the subregion west of the state of

Antioquia Antioquia is the Spanish form of Antioch. Antioquia may also refer to: * 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 th ...

. It is bounded to the north by the municipality of Olaya, to the east by the municipality of Belmira, to the south by the municipalities of San Jerónimo and

Ebéjico Ebéjico () is a town and municipality in the West of Antioquia Department, Colombia. The population was 10,338 at the 2018 census. Limits Ebéjico is bounded on the north by the municipality towns of Santa Fe de Antioquia, Sopetrán and St. ...

, and to the west by the municipality of

Santa Fe de Antioquia Santa Fe de Antioquia is a municipality in the Antioquia Department, Colombia. The city is located approximately north of Medellín, the department capital. The population was 23,216 at the 2018 census. History Founded in 1541 by Jorge Robled ...

. The population was 13,748 at the 2018 census. It is 59 kilometers from the city of Medellin, the state capital of Antioquia. The municipality of Sopetrán has an area of 223 square kilometers. , Sopetrán was one of three municipalities along the Route of the Sun in western Antioquia, along with the municipalities of San Jerónimo and Santa Fe de Antioquia, with which Sopetrán shares much of its history. Since the opening of the West Fernando Gomez Martinez Tunnel in 2006, tourism in the region has tripled. The area is particularly suitable for

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

History

Originally, the indigenous communities of the

Nutabe The Nutabe (or "Nutabae") are an indigenous people who inhabit the department of Antioquia in Colombia. Their numbers began to plummet around the first half of the 16th century due to the European colonization of the Americas. Spanish records indi ...

s and Tahamíes inhabited the municipality of Sopetrán. Before the arrival of the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, the region was called . On February 22, 1616, the municipality of Sopetrán was officially established by Francisco Herrera and Campuzano, a native of Alcala de Henares in Spain. Herrera worshipped Our Lady of Sopetrán, and he is believed to have named the town after her. Formerly, the town has been known by the names of , Vice Parish of Our Lady of Saladito of Cordoba, and Parish of Our Lady of the Assumption and Sopetrán. The origin of the name was the lands that had been settled by the indigenous or Guacas many centuries prior, who engaged in agriculture, hunting, fishing, and salt mining. The latter caught the Spaniards' attention, who had been transporting salt from the sea for domestic use and to feed the newly imported cattle. In 1814, Sopetrán achieved the status of a

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' ...

Climate

The town is located 716 meters above sea level. The town's climate is defined as tropical. During the summer, there is considerable rainfall, but the winter has comparatively little rainfall. The average temperature is around 24.9 °C (76.8 °F), and the average annual rainfall is 1360 mm (53.5 inches).

References

Municipalities of Antioquia Department {{Coord, 6, 30, 06, N, 75, 44, 36, W, region:CO_type:city, display=title