- Risaralda Department
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Department of Risaralda
Departamento del Risaralda— Department — 
Flag
Coat of armsRisaralda shown in red
Coordinates: 4°49′N 75°42′W / 4.817°N 75.7°WCoordinates: 4°49′N 75°42′W / 4.817°N 75.7°W Country 
ColombiaRegion Andes Region Established July 1, 1966 Capital Pereira Government – Governor Víctor Manuel Tamayo (Colombian Conservative Party) Area – Total 4,140 km2 (1,598.5 sq mi) Area rank 29 Population (2005)[1] – Total 863,663 – Rank 18 – Density 208.6/km2 (540.3/sq mi) Time zone UTC-05 ISO 3166 code CO-RIS Provinces Municipalities 14 Website www.risaralda.gov.co Risaralda is a department of Colombia. It is located in the western central region of the country and part of the Paisa Region. Its capital is Pereira. It was divided from the department of Caldas in 1966. Risaralda is very well known for the high quality of its coffee, and a booming industry: clothes, food, trading of goods and services.
The territory is very mountainous and has many kinds of climate in a very small area. Its proximity to harbours like Buenaventura on the Pacific Ocean and to the biggest cities in Colombia – Bogotá, Cali, Medellín – makes it a fast growing economic centre.
'Generalities'
Risaralda department with an area of 365,300 ha, is located in the central sector of the central Andean region west of the country between two major poles of economic development (department of Antioquia in northern and southern Cauca Valley, extending between the central and western Cordillera), which slopes down towards the Río Cauca, also borders the departments of Caldas in the north-east, east Tolima, Quindio Chocó south and west.
Department's drainage system consists of two major basins are the Cauca River and the San Juan River. Physiographical formations are covered by the volcanic massifs of the central and western mountain ranges, flat and narrow valleys formed by the natural river basins Otún, Cauca, Risaralda and Old.traducción del español al inglés
Its main stage are: Nevado de Santa Isabel (Pereira), Cerro de Tatamá (Sanctuary), Cerro de Caramanta (Mistrató), Alto de las Palomas (Pueblo Rico), Alto de Pelahuevos (APIA), Blade la Serna (Mistrató) , San Juan Blade (APIA), Blade of the Content (APIA), Blade Tribune (Pereira), Alto del Nudo and Morro Azul (Pereira), Alto de la Campana (APIA) and the Crystalline High (Belen de Umbria .) The soils of the department have their origin in igneous rocks and volcanic ash derived from sedimentary rocks and alluvial and colluvial materials. According to these materials, located in the county soil units: manila, Parnaz or 200, unit 10 or Chinchiná and Malabar, being the most extensive in the coffee or Chinchiná unit 10. As for the classification agrological 6.4% of the departmental area (except the municipalities of Pueblo Rico, Belén de Umbria Mistrató and have not agrological study) corresponds to classes II, III and IV, 77.2% to class V , VI, VII and 16.4% to class VIII and in appearance agrological mainly found Mj units. and Fn., which occupy 58.6% of the total area considered suitable for a variety of crops and forests. In the department there are a variety of life zones, which are distributed as follows: BMH-PM (40.3%), BMH-MB (28.7%), BP-pm (9.4%) and the rest (21.5%) are bs -T-T bh, bh-T, bh-PM, bp-MB, BH-F, bp-M, among others.
History
Before the conquest the territory was inhabited by the Quimbaya, freeloaders and Caramantas. The first to reach the territory conquistador Sebastian de Belalcazar was in 1537, later became an expedition led by Juan de Badillo. At the head of some Spanish some towns were founded, but the decline of the indigenous population and the reluctance of Europeans in these lands was to remain abandoned until the mid-nineteenth century, when colonization brought Antioquia coffee cultivation. During the colonial and early years of the Republic, the region was subject to the province of Popayan, in 1821 became part of the department of Cauca, in 1857 was part of the Federal State of Cauca. In 1905 he was attached to the department of Caldas and in 1966 was created as a separate department with its capital in Pereira. [edit]
Municipalities
References
External links
Departments of Colombia 
Categories:- Risaralda Department
- Departments of Colombia
- States and territories established in 1966
- Andean Region (Colombia) geography stubs
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