Cundinamarca

Cundinamarca, a department in central Colombia, comprises an area of 9,300 square miles. While Bogotá serves as both the departmental and national capital, the Constitution of 1991 reorganized Bogotá and its metropolitan area into the politically autonomous Distrito Capital. Excluding Bogotá, Cundinamarca has 1.7 million inhabitants. Approximately 7 million reside within the capital.

Located between the Magdalena River valley and the eastern plains region, Cundinamarca varies in climate and terrain. The population is concentrated in high intermontane basins, the most important of which is the sabana (savanna) of Bogotá. Cundinamarca was a major center of Chibcha civilization, and Lake Guatavita, the site of the Chibcha ceremony believed to have inspired the El Dorado legend, is located here.

Cundinamarca's varied topography has encouraged agricultural diversification. During the mid-nineteenth century, tobacco and indigo grown in lowland areas near the Magdalena were important commercial crops. Cundinamarca also became a major coffee producer after 1870. In the coffee-growing areas of western Cundinamarca, such as Sumapaz, there was much agrarian unrest during the 1920s and 1930s and later much communist and guerrilla activity. In the early twenty-first century, Cundinamarca is one of the world's largest producers of cut flowers.

See alsoEI Dorado .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bogotá: Portal Oficial del Distrito Capital. Available from http://www.bogota.gov.co.

DANE: Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística. Available from http://www.dane.gov.co.

Gobernación de Cundinamarca. Available from http://www.cundinamarca.gov.co.

Jiménez, Michael F. "Traveling Far in Grandfather's Car: The Life Cycle of Central Colombian Coffee Estates. The Case of Viotá, Cundinamarca (1900–30)." Hispanic American Historical Review 69 (1989):185-219.

                                          Helen Delpar

                                          Douglas Sofer