Quindío Department

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Department of Quindío
Departamento del Quindío

Deparment of Colombia


Flag of the Department of Quindío	Coat of arms of the Department of Quindío

Motto: Joven, Rico y Poderoso
(Spanish: Young, Rich and Powerful)

Anthem: Himno del Quindío

The Department of Quindío shown in red

Established

July 1, 1966

Region

Andes Region

Capital

Armenia

Number of Municipalities

Governor
- Governor's Political Party

Amparo Arbeláez Escalante
Colombian Liberal Party

Area
Total
- Land
- Water (% of total)

Ranked 31
1,845 km²
km²
km² (%)

Population
- Total (2005)
- Density

Ranked 22
518,691^[1]
281.13/km²

ISO_Code

CO-QUI

Goverment's Website:
www.quindio.gov.co

Quindío is a department of Colombia. It is in the western central region of the country. Its capital is Armenia. Its famous by the quality of the coffee plantations, and touristic landmarks.

Located in western-central area of the country, crossed by the Andes mountains.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Quindío Wax Palm Tree
4 Economy
5 Municipalities
6 External links

[edit] History

The entire area was inhabited in the precolumbian period for the Quimbaya indigenous culture. 14 October /1889: Armenia foundation. 1905, creation of Caldas. department. 1908, it's annexed to Caldas department. 1966, January 16. it's separated as an autonomous department itself.

[edit] Geography

Most of its surface is occupied for the western face of Cordillera Central of Colombian Andes. Highest mountain: Nevado del Quindío, (quindío snow mountain) 5.150 m high.

There are in this department about 1.845 km² of mountain landscapes, with many Rainforests and Guadua bamboo forests. The ground is enriched with ancient volcanic eruptions, rising its fertility, there are also many rivers and minor water streams, including the Quindio river and the Cocora valley located in this river origin.

The weather has a wide range, given the variations on termic floors. It has a high annual rain precipitation (around 2500 mm/year) because the humidity of winds from the Pacific Ocean stopped by the Andes

[edit] Quindío Wax Palm Tree

Quindio Wax palm tree is the national tree of Colombia

With law 61 of 1985, the Colombian Congress adopted Quindío Wax Palm Tree [ Ceroxylon quindiuense (Karsten) Wendl.], a local endangered species of high-altitude-adapted palm tree, as the National Tree. As ratified on September 16 for the current president of Colombia, Belisario Betancur, in the following terms: "1º. It's declared as national tree and symbol of our fatherland the species commonly known as quindio wax palm tree, scientific name ceroxylon quindiuense. 2º. National Government Is faculted to buy as many lands as needed to create wildlife sanctuaries with the purpose of preserve this national symbol and its natural environment. 3º. Chopping down the wax palm tree is forbidden and punished with fine and jail"."

The wax palm tree was nearly extincted for the extraction of the resinous substance that it exudes. Furthermore, its leaves were widely used for the celebration of Holy Week processions, especially Palm Sunday.