Medellín

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For other uses of Medellín, see Medellín (disambiguation).

Medellín

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Nickname: The City of Everlasting Spring", "Mountain's Capital", "City Of The Flowers", "Orchids' Capital", "Beautiful Village", "Little Silver Cup", "Medallo

Coordinates: 6°14′9.33″N, 75°34′30.49″W

Departamento

Antioquia

Region

Valle de Aburrá

Government

- Mayor

Sergio Fajardo Valderrama

Area

- City

382 km² (147.5 sq mi)

Elevation

1,495 m (4,904.9 ft)

Population (2006)

- City

2,350,227

- Density

5,320.75/km² (13,780.7/sq mi)

Website: Government of Medellín official website

Medellín (pronounced IPA: [mɛdəˈjiːn] or [mɛdəˈliːn], Spanish: [með̞eˈʝin] or [með̞eˈʎin]) is the capital and largest city of the Antioquia Department in Colombia. It was founded in 1616 by Francisco Herrera y Campuzano. As of 2006, Medellín municipality has a population of 2.4 million inhabitants, making it the second most populated city in Colombia after Bogotá^[1]^[2]. Medellín also serves as the core of the Valle de Aburrá (Aburrá Valley) metropolitan area, the second largest in Colombia, with more than 3.8 million inhabitants, and a leading and productive industrial and urban center.

The city's major concern, shared by many other Colombian cities, is the ongoing unemployment and sub-employment problem. People from Antioquia and especially from Medellín are called Paisas although the Paisas are people from the departments of Antioquia, Risaralda, Caldas and Quindío.

[edit] History

Aburrá Valley as seen from Cerro Quitasol

Medellín satellite image from NASA astronauts

The valley of Aburrá was discovered by Spanish explorer Jeronimo Luis Tejelo in 1541 but the settlement of Medellín was founded later, in March 2, 1616 by Spanish conqueror Francisco Herrera y Campuzano under the name of San Lorenzo de Aburra. In 1675 the name was changed to Villa de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Medellín. It was not until 1813 that the villa got the denomination of city. Thirteen years later it was proclaimed capital of the Department of Antioquia, after government officials decided to move out from Santa Fe de Antioquia.

Throughout history Medellín has gone by different names: Aburrá de los Yamesíes, San Lorenzo de Aburrá, San Lorenzo de Aná, Valle de San Bartolomé, Villa de la Candelaria de Medellín and Medellín. The name of Medellín originally came from "Metellinum", the ancient Latin name for today's town of Medellín, Extremadura in the province of Badajoz, Spain. "Metellinum", in turn, is derived from the name of the Roman founder of the city in 75 AD, the Roman general Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, who founded it as a military base for his operations in western Iberia. The capital of Antioquia was named after said Spanish town in honor of the earl of that city, Pedro Portocarrero, who was the president of the Consejo de Indias of Spain at the time.

[edit] Law and Government

Politics and law in Colombia are centralized; that is, most laws are agreed on and passed across from the captial city of Bogotá. However, as a major city Medellín also pulls its weight. The government of the City of Medellín is divided into executive and legislative branches. The Mayor of the City (Alcalde) is publicly elected for a term of four years (just like the President and the Governor of any other Department in Colombia).

[edit] Crime

From the 1980s until the late 1990s, the city was known for being a base for the most powerful international drug trafficking organizations like the homebased Medellín Cartel, lead by Pablo Escobar, and for being constantly affected by the violent Colombian conflict. These circumstances gave the city an unfortunately notorious reputation for being one of the most violent cities in the world. In the year 2000 for example, the city had over 4,000 recorded murders and a homicide rate five times greater than that of New York City. The United States government considered the city so dangerous that it shut down its consulate in 1981 for security reasons. The U.S. State Department later issued a travel warning for Americans not to travel to Medellín.

In the early 21st century, Medellín has become a much safer city for its residents and international travelers due to recent economic and social changes^[3]. The local government and its citizens in general have gone to great lengths to shake off its bad reputation and improve the image of the city, with tangible results. In 2006, Medellin recorded reduction of 86 homicides from 2005, a fraction of what the city had experienced just over a decade ago. The homicide rate is now down to 28 per 100,000 people, the lowest in 25 years, and one of the best improvements of any large Latin American city. (By comparison Philadelphia's muder rate was 27 per 100,000 in 2006 as well) Most of the homicides tend to occur in the poorer nothern sections of the city, and much work is being done to build greater infrastructure, such as public libraries, new schools and strong community programs. However, by way of comparison, the homicide rate in Medellin is now lower than that of Washington DC, Baltimore, Detroit, Atlanta, St. Louis or of New Orleans, which in 2006 had a a murder rate of 61 for 100,000, Caracas with 100 per 100,000 or Guatemala City with 109 per 100,000.

[edit] Geography and climate

Medellín has an area of 382 km². It has 16 comunas (districts), 5 corregimientos and 271 barrios. The metropolitan area of Medellín lies within the Aburrá valley at an elevation of 1,538 meters and is bisected by the Medellín River which flows northward. North of the valley are the towns of Bello, Copacabana, Girardota and Barbosa. To the south of the valley Itagüí, Envigado, Sabaneta, La Estrella and Caldas can be found.

Because Medellín is located at 5,000 ft above sea level, its climate is not as hot as other cities located at the same latitude near the equator. Because of its altitude above sea level and privileged location in the Andes Range, Medellín's weather is more characteristic of a Humid subtropical climate rather than that of a Tropical climate. The city's average annual temperature is 22ºC (72ºF) and because of its proximity to the equator, its temperature is constant year round with minimal temperature variations. Temperatures range from 15ºC (52ºF) to 30ºC (86ºF). The pleasant spring-like climate year round makes it known as 'La Ciudad de la Eterna Primavera' or 'City of the Eternal Spring'.

[edit] Adminsitrative Divisions

Medellin is a city based in a republican democratic system based in the Administrative decentralization processes stated in the Colombian Constitution of 1991. Government is shared by the Mayor of Medellin and the Municipal Council, both elected by popular vote.

Zonas y comunas de Medellín

The city is divided into 6 zones and these are subdivided into 16 Communes. Communes are divided into Barrios and urbanizations. Medellin contains more than 230 barrios and 5 corregimientos which are part of the municipality of Medellin. Medellin is crossed by the Medellin River from south to north.

[edit] Zones

Southeastern Zone: El Poblado Commune.
Southwestern Zone: Guayabal Commune Belén Commune.
West Central Zone: Laureles Commune, La América Commune, San Javier Commune.
East Central Zone: La Candelaria Commune, Villa Hermosa Commune, Buenos Aires Commune.
Northwestern Zone: Castilla Commune, Doce de Octubre Commune, Robledo Commune.
Northeastern Zone: Aranjuez Commune, Manrique Commune, Popular Commune, Santa Cruz Commune.
Corregimientos: Palmitas, San Cristóbal, Altavista, San Antonio de Prado and Santa Elena.

[edit] Street nomenclature

Streets in Medellin are somewhat defined based on the Cartesian coordinate system. Certain definitions for these street are:

Street (Calle): any street running from east to west and viceversa. Crecen de sur a norte excepto en una parte del barrio El Poblado donde las calles aumentan de norte a sur agregándose la denominación "sur". Ejemplo: Calle 10 sur.
(Carreras): run from south to north and viceversa ; Carrera 1st starting to the east.
Circulars (Circulares): these street loop certain areas.
Transversals (Transversales).
Diagonals (Diagonales).
Avenidas (Avenues): usually wide and large streets, with some sort of importance.

Medellín, Colombia.

[edit] Economy

The present-day economy of Medellín is one of the largest of Colombia and is led by a powerful group of people from the private sector known as the Sindicato Antioqueño (Antioquian Syndicate) and formally known as the Grupo Empresarial Antioqueño (Antioquian Enterprises Group). Represented by Nicanor Restrepo; who leads Suramericana de Seguros (an insurance conglomerate), Fabio Rico; with the Compañía Nacional de Chocolates (Food industry), Adolfo Arango; Cementos Argos (a multinational cement company) and Darío Múnera; leading Coltabaco, (a national cigarette industry). Together they consolidated this group that has an approximate yearly income of US$7 billion dollars and who employ more than 80,000 Colombians^[4].

This group also participates in other sectors of the city industry and is an active trader in the Colombian stock exchange.

Medellín competes strongly with Bogotá and Cali as an industrial center, having similar economies.^{[citation needed]} The city serves as headquarters for many national and multinational companies and its centers of higher education constantly contribute to the modernization of the region and its industry.

The main economic products are steel, textiles, confections, food and beverage, agriculture (from its rural area), public services, chemical products and pharmaceuticals, refined oil and flower exports.

[edit] Urban Development

There are obvious signs of heavy urban development within the city of Medellín, particularly with the construction of new skycrapers. In fact, Medellín is outpacing all other major Colombian cities in the construction and proposed development of new high-rises, including Bogotá, the nation's capital and economic center. As of April, 2007, there were 131 high-rises under construction in Medellín, including 38 being approved, and 26 being proposed ^[5]. Interestingly, there are more high-rises under construction in Medellín today than in New York City, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia combined.

[edit] Education

Medellín is also home to over 30 universities that serve mainly the departament of Antioquia, the "Eje Cafetero" region and the Caribbean Coast. Among the most important are the public universities Universidad de Antioquia, Universidad Nacional and Politecnico Jaime Isaza Cadavid, and the private Universidad EAFIT, Universidad de Medellín, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Universidad de San Buenaventura, Escuela de Ingenieria de Antioquia, Universidad Santo Tomas and CES. There are also important technological centres such as the Instituto Tecnologico Metropolitano (ITM).

There are public and private schools, among private school some of the most recognized are: Colombus School, Marymount School, Montessori, Gimnasio Los Pinares and Gimnasio Los Alcázares.

[edit] Transportation

[edit] Air transportation

International flights are served through the José María Córdova International Airport(MDE), in Rionegro, another municipality east of Medellin and outside the Aburra Valley. The José María Córdova intl is better suited for large aircraft and instrument/night time operation. Its international terminal is served with daily international flights to and from Miami, New York, Caracas, Quito, Panama City, Porlamar, Aruba and other important cities. Olaya Herrera Airport serves mainly regional flights, commuter and light aircraft.

[edit] Land transportation

Public transportation is served by diesel buses, taxis and most notably, an urban train referred to as the Metro de Medellín. The Metro de Medellín connects the cities of Medellín, Itagüí, Envigado and Bello. Line A departs from Itagüí to Niquía, while Line B goes from San Antonio to San Javíer. The metro is complemented with Line K, an air cable car, locally known as Metrocable, which serves a depressed and geographically difficult area. Line K begins on Acevedo Station on Metro Line A, and continues uphill ending in Santo Domingo Savio. A new Metrocable line (Line J) is projected to be inaugurated in 2007, and will connect San Javíer with La Aurora. Medellín is the only Colombian city with such transportation systems.

Despite the variety of options, traffic in Medellín has become chaotic, as the number of vehicles has exceeded the highways capacity; furthermore, the pollution produced by the diesel buses has become a major issue, most notably in the center of the city and the southern district of El Poblado. The city has no further space for the construction of new highways.

In 2006, the construction of Metroplus began, a service of buses with an exclusive road, that will allow faster transit for the service's buses, and stations, much like Bogotá's TransMilenio. The service will be inaugurated in 2007, and it will cover most of the city. The service will help to decrease the city's contamination and traffic problems, as many old buses will be retired and the service's buses will work with natural gas.

[edit] Ethnicities

Most people from Medellín are of Spanish descent. The majority of the immigrants arrived from Spain during the 17th and 18th centuries. Later, some immigrants arrived from Syria, Jordan and Portugal during the 19th century. There are also some Zambo-Colombians and Afro-Colombians.

The Chocó Department is just west of Antioquia and leading the move of many Afro-Colombian and Zambo-Colombian migrants to Medellín and other municipalities near Medellín.

[edit] Culture

People from Medellín are actually called by their Department denomination: Antioqueños, as opposed to a city-derived name: Medellinenses. They are also known as Paisas, which some suggest is derived from the coffee growers. The term Paisa comes from the word Paisano (fellow countrymen). They make up one of the five different regional cultures within Colombia, also called the Paisa region

[edit] Festivals and events

One of the Medellín Public Libraries.

La Feria de las Flores (The Festival of Flowers) is the most important festival of Antioquia and it takes place in Medellín in early August. The event has been celebrated every year since 1957. This festival has several activities such as antique cars parade, Desfíle de Silleteros (flower carriers parade), horse rides down the streets, exhibition of fondas from much of the towns in Antioquia, etc.

Other festivals are the International Poetry Festival (June) (which received the 2006 Right Livelihood Award ), the Parade of Myths and Legends (December) and ColombiaModa (fashion industy event).

[edit] Sports

Medellín's best known and most popular sports clubs are Atlético Nacional and Independiente Medellín football ( soccer ) teams. They play at the Atanasio Girardot Stadium. Medellín is also known for its 2 main swimming teams which are Calamares Pilsen and Huracanes.

[edit] Nicknames

Besides being called the "industrial capital of Colombia", Medellín is also called "Ciudad de la Eterna Primavera" (The City of Everlasting Spring), "Capital de la Montaña" (Mountain's Capital), "Ciudad de las Flores" (City Of The Flowers), "Capital de las Orquídeas" (Orchids' Capital), "La Bella Villa" (Beautiful Village), and "Tacita de Plata" (Little Silver Cup)