Cundinamarca Department

For the department from 1820, see Cundinamarca Department (1820). For the department from 1824, see Cundinamarca Department (1824).
Cundinamarca
Department

Flag
Coat of arms
Motto: Cundinamarca Corazón de Colombia
(Spanish: Cundinamarca, Heart of Colombia)
Anthem: Himno de Cundinamarca

Cundinamarca and Bogotá are shown in red

Topography of the department
Coordinates: 4°36′N 74°5′W / 4.600°N 74.083°W / 4.600; -74.083Coordinates: 4°36′N 74°5′W / 4.600°N 74.083°W / 4.600; -74.083
Country  Colombia
Region Andean Region
Established June 15, 1857
Capital Bogotá
Government
 • Governor Jorge Emilio Rey Angel
(2016-2019)
Area[1][2]
 • Total 22,623 km2 (8,735 sq mi)
Area rank 17th
Population (2013)[3]
 • Total 2,680,041
 • Rank 4th
 • Density 120/km2 (310/sq mi)
Time zone UTC-05
ISO 3166 code CO-CUN
Provinces 15
Website Official website

Department of Cundinamarca (Departamento de Cundinamarca, Spanish pronunciation: [kundinaˈmarka]) is one of the departments of Colombia. Its area covers 22,623 square kilometres (8,735 sq mi) (not including the Capital District) and it has a population of 2,598,245 as of 2013. 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, 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 (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 censuses, the populations for Bogotá and Cundinamarca are tabulated separately; otherwise, Cundinamarca's population would total over 10 million.

Entity Population Area (km²) Area (square miles) Density (per km²) Density (per sq.mi.)
Cundinamarca (without Bogotá) 2,349,578 22,623 8,735 104 269
Bogotá 7,881,156 1,587 613 4,966 12,857
Cundinamarca and Bogotá 10,230,734 24,210 9,348 423 1,094

Etymology

The name of Cundinamarca comes from kundur marqa, an indigenous expression, probably derived from Quechua and means "condor's nest", it was used in pre-Columbian times by the natives of the Magdalena Valley to refer to the nearby highlands.[4]

Geography

Most of Cundinamarca is on the Eastern Cordillera (Cordillera Oriental), just south of Boyacá, bordered by the Magdalena River on the west, reaching down into the Orinoco River basin on the east, and bordering on Tolima to the south. The capital district of Bogotá 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

Rank City or municipality Inhabitants

(1985)

 Inhabitants

(1993)

 Inhabitants

(2005)

 Inhabitants

(2015)*

 Inhabitants

(2020)*

1 Soacha 132,758 254,625 401,996 511,262 567,546
2 Fusagasugá 63,886 82,003 108,949 134,523 147,631
3 Facatativá 55,324 75,711 107,463 132,106 144,149
4 Zipaquirá 60,202 75,166 101,562 122,347 132,419
5 Chía 38,862 55,742 97,907 126,647 141,917
6 Girardot 81,019 90,904 97,889 105,085 107,796
7 Mosquera 16,505 22,250 63,237 82,750 93,461
8 Madrid 33,795 42,584 62,436 77,627 85,090
9 Funza 31,366 41,119 61,391 75,350 82,321
10 Cajicá 23,618 31,316 45,391 56,875 62,713
Source: DANE *projection[5]

According to the latest census conducted in 2005, 2,280,037 people live in Cundinamarca, excluding 6,776,009 of the capital, Bogotá. The racial makeup is:

The city of Bogotá and the municipalities of Soacha, La Calera, Cota, Chía, Madrid, Funza, Mosquera, Fusagasugá, 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.

Chisaca Lake on the Sumapaz Paramo

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.

  1. Almeidas
  2. Upper Magdalena (Alto Magdalena)
  3. Lower Magdalena (Bajo Magdalena)
  4. Gualivá
  5. Guavio
  6. Central Magdalena (Magdalena Centro)
  7. Medina
  8. Eastern (Oriente)
  9. Rionegro
  10. Central Savanna (Sabana Centro)
  11. Western Savanna (Sabana Occidente)
  12. Soacha
  13. Sumapaz
  14. Tequendama
  15. Ubaté

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.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Departamento: Datos generales: Límites" (in Spanish). Gobernación del Cundinamarca. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013.
  2. ↑ Kline, Harvey F. (2012). "Cundinamarca, Department of". Historical Dictionary of Colombia. Scarecrow Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-8108-7813-6.
  3. ↑ "DANE". Retrieved February 13, 2013.
  4. ↑ (Spanish) Cundinamarca comes from Quechua - El Tiempo
  5. ↑ Projections 1985-2020. Bogotá: DANE. 12 May 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
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