Armenia, Colombia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the city in Colombia. For other uses, see Armenia (disambiguation).
| Armenia | |||
| sight of Armenia from nearby hills | |||
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| Nickname: "Miracle City" | |||
| Motto: "Trabajo y Civilización" (work and civilization) | |||
| Location of the city and municipality of Armenia in the Quindio Department | |||
| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country | Colombia | ||
| Departamento | Quindío | ||
| Area | |||
| - Total | 140 km² (54.1 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 1,480 m (4,856 ft) | ||
| Population (2004) | |||
| - Total | 324,588 | ||
| - Density | 5,320.75/km² (13,780.7/sq mi) | ||
| Website: Government of Armenia's official website | |||
Armenia is the capital of Quindío, a department in Colombia. The city is located at coordinates 4.5170° north, 75.6830° west, 290 kilometers west of Bogotá. Armenia is a mid-size city located between Bogotá, Medellín and Cali, the 3 largest Colombian cities. The city's area code for phone calls is 096. Its average temperature is between 18 °C- 22 °C. Raipur, India is the latest to become a sister city of Armenia (see list of twin towns and sister cities). It's one of the three that forms the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis. Perhaps one of the most attractive areas in Colombia.
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[edit] History
Armenia was founded in October 14, 1889 by Jesús Maria Ocampo, also known as "Tigrero" (translates to "tiger killer") due to his love of hunting jaguars, known locally as tigers. Ocampo came from Anaime, Tolima, looking for shelter in the mountains of Quindío since he was running away from General Gallo. He paid one hundred pesos in gold coins to Antonio Herrera for the land in which to build a fonda, or trade center, not only for himself but also for other colonists who came from Salento, Antioquia, Manizales and areas surrounding the Quindío River and La Vieja River. Ocampo then proceeded to sell land for settlement. To encourage settlement, Ocampo returned to Anaime to ask for the help of his friend Juan de La Cruz Cardona, and to marry thirteen year-old Arsenia Cardona. Six months after its founding, in August 1890, Armenia had reached a population of 100 people, allowing it to gain legal recognition by the government. The city was initially called Villa Holguin, in honor of the then-current president of the country. It is believed the name was changed to Armenia in memory of the Armenian people murdered in the Hamidian massacres of 1894-97.
Despite Armenia's quickly expanding economy at the time, the means of transportation were still very limited. The main form of transporting people and merchandise was by mule, due to the mountainous terrain surrounding the city. It was not until the construction of the first asphalt road in 1927 to Zarzal in the Cauca river valley that transportation was improved.
Nowadays, the city combines its contemporary development with the all traditional ways of its forefathers' heritage, like the historic Liberator Pathway, the path used by Colombia's 19th century Liberator Simon Bolívar to move his army between the west of the country and Santa Fe de Bogotá during his successful independence campaign from Spain, currently one of the top two tourist destinations in Colombia.
Since then, international aid has helped rebuild and expand the city. Numerous new government buildings and highways have been constructed.
It is estimated that a large earthquake, approximately 6-7 in magnitude, will hit this area every 20 years due to high seismic activity. It can be explained by the triple junction that occurs at the northwest corner of the South American Plate where the Nazca, Cocos, and Pacific plates converge.
[edit] Economy
To the south of the city as it gets closer to sea level, the temperature favors not only Quindio's agricultural economy, but a renewed tourist industry in the shape of villas for rent, theme parks, eco-hoteles and family day leisure centers, not excluding all time favorites like local cuisine restaurants, exhibition centers and country clubs specialized in fishing, tennis, golf, cart racing and other sports. Many traditional plantations still exist in the surrounding area and many offer bed and breakfast accommodation and "ecotourism" packages. The city has a modern airport with daily links to Bogotá, Cali, and Medellín which make the city a convenient choice for conferences, meetings, business and social events.
[edit] Tourism and Folklore
The county's folklore is rich and is represented throughout events and traditions visible during most of its towns festivities to name a few:
The Yipao (Parade of Jeeps): After World War II Armenia was given imported general purpose Jeeps vehicles so that they may be used for the difficult paths. However, these old vehicles have been also adopted into a traditional parade carrying oversized loads of coffee, local agriculture products and people.
The Chapoleras beauty pageant, with costumes depicting the traditional coffee harvesting dress in the fashion of late 19th century, and the various popular dances is widely known in the entire country.
[edit] Art and handcrafts
This region was widely known in the coutry at the early XX century for the production of storage recipients made of the empty dried shell of the fruit of a local specie of inedible pumpkin, the "Cuyabra" or "totumo", which gives the demonym of "cuyabros" to the people born in this city. Nowadays, this recipients are no longer mass produced to practical purposes, since the cheaper materials such plastics displaced them from the market, but these traditional recipients are still produced and hand painted as artcrafts.
The Carriel is a traditional handbag leather handcraft symbolic of the paisa culture and the early antioquian colonisation. It is often used in the typical dances and parades, and its miniature version is sold to tourists as souvenir. The cabuya hancrafts are often seen.
The bamboo guadua is widely used in creation of artcrafts, furniture and buildings.
[edit] Education and Sports
The main sport center in the city is the Centennial Stadium, where local sporting events can be seen, including national and international soccer tournaments. Other sport events are bullfighting, golf, swimming and cycling. The mountainous area surrounding Armenia has helped create some of the greatest climbing cyclists in the world, many of whom compete internationally in events such as the Tour de France.
The Quimbaya museum designed by Rogelio Salmona, offers a permanent display of precolumbian handcrafts, ceramic and gold artpieces.
[edit] Media
- Newspaper: La Crónica del Quindío
- Television: Telecafé [2]
[edit] Transportation
[edit] References
- ^ Rendell, M.: Kings of the Mountains: How Colombia's Cycling Heroes Changed Their Nation's History, Aurum Press Ltd. 2003
[edit] External links
[edit] Gallery
| This section seems to be an image gallery. Please help by moving freely licensed images to Wikimedia Commons, possibly creating a gallery of the same name if one does not already exist. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for further suggestions. |
Armenia 030.jpg
Armenia view |
Barranquero.jpg
Soledad (Bird of loneliness) Blue-crowned Motmot as seen in a public park. Armenia Downtown |
Estacionarmenia.JPG
Old train station |
Armeniaeffort.jpg
Bolivar Square depicting Monument to Effort by Rodrigo Arenas and Cathedral to the Immaculate Conception |
Ancizarlopezavenue.jpg
The Ancizar López cenotaph and same name Avenue. |
Armenia01.jpg
Landscape of Armenia and the Andes. Peñasblancas can be seen in the background to the right |
Donnicolasbridge.jpg
Don Nicolas Suspension bridge crossing Quindío River at the outskirts of Armenia, designed by Wilhelm Lehder (circa 1968) |
| Municipalities of the department of Quindío , Colombia | |||||||
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| Image:Flag of Quindío.svg |
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es:Armenia (Quindío) eo:Armenia (Kolombio) fr:Armenia (Colombie) lt:Armenija nl:Armenia (Quindío) ja:アルメニア (コロンビア) pl:Armenia (miasto w Kolumbii) sv:Armenia vo:Armenia
