Medellín
Encyclopedia
Medellín officially the Municipio de Medellín (Spanish) or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia
. It is in the Aburrá Valley
, one of the more northerly of the Andes
in South America
. It has a population of 2.3 million. With its surrounding area, the metropolitan area of Medellín
(Area Metropolitana de Medellín), it is the second largest city in Colombia in terms of population and economy, with more than 3.3 million people, and ranks in population as the 91st of the world's largest urban agglomerations
.
Medellín was founded in 1616 by the Spaniard
Francisco Herrera Y Campuzano as Poblado de San Lorenzo (Saint Lawrence Town) in present-day El Poblado. In 1675 the queen consort
Mariana of Austria
created the Villa de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria
(Town of Our Lady
at Candelaria).
In 1826 the city was named the capital of the Department of Antioquia by the National Congress of the young Republic of Greater Colombia, comprised by present day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama. In 1803 the University of Antioquia
, one of the most prestigious in Colombia, was founded. After Colombia won its independence from Spain
, Medellín became the capital of the Federal State of Antioquia until 1888, with the proclamation of the Colombian Constitution of 1886
. During the 19th century, Medellín was a dynamic commercial center, first exporting gold
, then producing and exporting coffee
. After the Thousand Days War
(1899 — 1902), Medellín was the first Colombian city to take part in the Industrial Revolution
with the opening of textile companies, and transport projects such as railways that allowed its export business to develop. In addition, its people founded several universities and vocational training institutions.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the city has regained industrial dynamism, with the construction of the Metro de Medellín
railway, and liberalized development policies, improved security, and improved education. Researchers at the Overseas Development Institute
have lauded the city as a pioneer of a post-Washington consensus
'local development state' model of economic development. The city is promoted internationally as a tourist destination
. Is considered by the GaWC as a sufficient city to be global city
.
The Medellín Metropolitan Area produces 67% of the Department of Antioquia's GDP
and 11% of the economy of Colombia
. Medellín is important to the region for its universities, academies, commerce, industry, science, health services, flower-growing, festivals and nightlife.
The original Spanish settlement had five names before the current one: Aburrá de los Yamesíes, San Lorenzo de Aburrá, San Lorenzo de Aná, Valle de San Bartolomé, and Villa de la Candelaria de Medellín.
The city is named after Medellín, Spain
, which is near Badajoz
in Extremadura
. The Spanish Medellín was founded as Metellinum in 75 BC by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius
. Some of the Conquistadors, such as Gaspar de Rodas
, the first governor of Antioquia, came from the region of Badajoz
.
Count Pedro Portocarrero y Luna, President of the Council for the West Indies (Consejo de Indias), asked the Spanish monarchy
to give the name of his town, Medellín in Extremadura, to the new settlement in America. His request was accepted on November 22, 1674, when the Regent
Mariana of Austria proclaimed the city's name to be Villa de Nuestra Señora de Medellín. Miguel Aguinaga y Mendiogoitia, Governor, made the name official on November 2, 1675. The Crown granted a coat of arms to the city on 24 June 1676.
through the Real Decreto issued in Madrid on March 31 of 1678 whose document says:
However, a more refined and structured in heraldic language, though not official, would be:
The blazon has remained over time since it was granted, without further changes to the aesthetics, it is noteworthy that there are different stylistic versions between the Mayor and City Council also meets aesthetic no heraldic standards.
, which was added to the coat of arms of the city, so that these could make difference. The flag consists of two horizontal stripes of equal proportions, the white top and green bottom, and in the middle between two strips is located the coat. The white color symbolizes purity, integrity, obedience, firmness and eloquence. The green represents hope, abundance, freedom and faith.
. The Spaniard conquerors of the valley encountered the historic indigenous peoples such as the Aburrá, Yamesí, Pequé
, Ebejico
, Norisco, and Maní
tribes, whose ancestors had lived in the valley since about the fifth century. The valley was named after the Aburrá people. They were farmers who raised maize
, beans and cotton
, wove and decorated textile
s, sold salt
, and were goldsmith
s. Under Spanish rule, they lost their land and were subject to a feudal system of government. Many were sent to labor in the mines. New Eurasia
n infectious diseases carried by the Europeans, as well as the hard work and mistreatment, caused epidemics and such high rates of death that the indigenous tribes became extinct in the valley. People related to the Aburrá Valley
tribes can be found in other regions of Antioquia State, such as Urabá
and the western and southern regions.
In August 1541, Marshal Jorge Robledo
was in the place known today as Heliconia
when he saw in the distance what he thought was a valley. He sent Jerónimo Luis Tejelo to explore the territory, and during the night of August 23 Tejelo reached the plain of what is now Medellín. The Spaniards gave it the name of Valley of Saint Bartholomew, but this was soon changed for the native name Aburrá, which means the "Painters," due to the textile decorations of the natives. However, the conquerors were not attracted much by the valley at the time, because of the lack of wealth and the hostile attitude of the local inhabitants.
In 1574 Gaspar de Rodas asked the Antioquia's Cabildo
for four square miles of land to establish herds and a ranch in the valley. The Cabildo granted him three miles (5 km) of land.
In 1616 the colonial visitor Francisco de Herrera y Campuzano founded a settlement with 80 Amerindians, naming it "Poblado de San Lorenzo," today "El Poblado Square
". In 1646 a colonial law ordered the separation of Amerindians from mestizo
s and mulatto
s, so the colonial administration began the construction of a new town in Aná, today Berrio Square, where the church of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Aná ("Our Lady of Candelaria of Aná") was built. Three years later, the Spaniards started the construction of the Church of Our Lady of Candelaria, which was rebuilt at the end of the 18th century.
The provincial capital, Santa Fe, started to lose importance and gradually became poor, as trade and prominent personalities of the region came to the Aburrá Valley, where rich families started to buy land. Soon, the first settlers asked for the creation of a Cabildo (council)
in the valley, thus getting a separate government from Santa Fe. The Santa Fe government fought this, but Mariana of Austria signed the edict creating the Cabildo on November 22, 1674. The governor Miguel de Aguinaga proclaimed the royal edict on 2 November1675. The new city was given the title of Villa de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria. {
of the Aná (today called the Santa Elena
) and the Medellín
rivers; others lived in El Poblado San Lorenzo. After the royal edict, the settlers chose the Aná site as the heart of the future city, with the Candelaria Church at its center.
Their first buildings were simple, with thatched roofs. The houses of the most important people were two stories tall, and the church and the Cabildo were unimpressive. It was only during the 18th century that the church was improved. Only one story, the Cabildo was located at the western part of the plaza. It had a thatched roof until 1742, when tiles were put on. In 1682, traders and foreigners started the construction of the Veracruz Hermitage, which was consecrated as a church by the Bishop of Popayán
in 1712.
In 1675 the first census during colonial times was taken: there were 3,000 people and 280 families. Another census was not taken until the colonial Visitador (royal inspector) Antonio Mon y Velarde ordered one between 1786 and 1787: there were then 14,507 people and 241 families. In 1808, two years before Colombia won independence, the city had 15,347 people and 360 families.
In 1803 the Royal College of the Franciscans was founded in the Central Plaza (today Berrío Square) with Departments of Grammar, Philosophy and Theology. Soon after, the College moved to a new building in the small San Ignacio square. In 1821 it was renamed Colegio de Antioquia, and it became the University of Antioquia
in 1901. The University also had the first vocational training school, the first cultural radio station in Latin America
, and the first regional botanical garden
. Today it is known for developments in medicine, including organ transplant
s.
In the first half of the twentieth century, the population of Medellín increased sixfold, from 59,815 inhabitants in 1905 to 358,189 in 1951. The Thousand Days War
(1899–1902) stopped the industrial development of the city, although the civil war
did not affect the region directly. Under reforms by President Rafael Reyes
after the conflict, the city continued its industrial development and founded a Chamber of commerce
. The Chamber developed a regional transport project that connected Medellín to other Colombian regions and other nations.
Despite the importance of gold production in the early development of Medellín, the export of coffee
contributed the most impetus in the 20th century for the city's growth. Trade grew to international dimensions as the main export of Colombia became coffee. The industrial and commercial dynamism of Medellín also created also a caste of traders and entrepreneurs, who founded the first nationwide industries in Colombia. During the 1930s, the textile industry was developed by families whose fortunes came from colonial-era gold mines. Glass, beverage, and food industries also were founded during the 1930s, and contributed to making Medellín the top industrial region of Colombia. Many of these businesses are still in existence, either with their original names or new names.
is one of the most important textile companies in Colombia. It was founded in Medellín by Alejandro Echavarría on 22 October 1907.
The discovery of coal
in Amagá
, a few miles south of the Aburrá Valley, and the building of hydroelectric plants
provided the new industries with energy, and this allowed the creation of many smaller companies. The Antioquia Railway (built in 1875) conquered the difficult geography of one of the most mountainous regions of South America
, notably with the La Quiebra Tunnel, which connected the industrial center to the Magdalena River
, the most major navigable river in Colombia. In 1932 Medellín also built its first airport, the Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport.
The study by Charles H. Savage on industrial production in Antioquia between 1960 and 1972 showed how important Medellín industries became to Colombia and South America. He studied social change produced by the introduction of new technology. Savage looked at three factories in Antioquia: two potteries in Santuario
and La Blanca, and a tailoring factory in Medellín. Savage studied the production of the Antioquian factories, and the relationship between the workers and their employers, an industrial efficiency which he called the "Culture of Work". His conclusions were published by his colleague George F. Lombardi as Sons of the Machine] (1988).
Savage died in 1973.
The University of Antioquia
, the National University of Colombia
with its Medellín branch, and the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana have historically been the academic centers of the city and are responsible for the formation of an intellectual class in the region, with a nationwide and international scope.
Arts and literature have been an important social element in Medellín. During the first part of the 20th century the city was part of the literary transition from romanticism
to the modern art and literary movements of the new century. The writer Tomás Carrasquilla
(1858–1940) focused on the people of his native Antioquia, accurately portraying their daily lives and customs. The writer and philosopher Fernando González
from Envigado
(in the metropolitan area of Medellín), the cartoonist Ricardo Rendón and the poet León de Greiff
were some of the founders of Los Panidas, a Medellín literary movement. Other featured poets and writers were Porfirio Barbajacob and Efe Gómez. In painting, the most famous were Eladio Vélez and Pedro Nel Gómez
. Carlos Vieco Ortiz was a popular musician. Medellín became the headquarters of record labels like Sonolux, Ondina and Silver.
Medellín clubs, many of them dating to the end of the 19th century, also became a center for intellectual and industrialist movements, like the Club Union (founded in 1894) and Club Campestre (founded in 1924). In 1909 the Circo España was created and Teatro Bolívar, in 1919. The beautiful Teatro Junín was demolished to build the Coltejer Tower. Cine Colombia, the first movie distributor of the country, was founded in Medellín in 1927.
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During the 1950s, industrialists, traders and local government created the "Medellín Master Plan" (MMP) (Plan Piloto), a plan for the expansion of the city into the Aburrá Valley that would lead to the creation of the first metropolitan area in Colombia. Paul Lester Wiener and José Luis Sert were the architects who led the project. Among the main features of the MMP were the canalization of the Medellín River
, the control of new settlements on valley slopes, the creation of an industrial zone in the Guayabal District, the planning of the city to be in harmony with the river, the construction of a city stadium, and an administrative center in La Alpujarra.
However, Colombia had entered a new era of political instability with the murder of presidential candidate Jorge Eliecer Gaitán
in Bogotá in 1948. Political violence spread in the rural areas of Colombia, and farmers fled to the cities. The population of Medellín grew quickly in the next few years. The Valley slopes became overpopulated with slums. In 1951 the city had 358,189 inhabitants, but 22 years later, in 1973, the population had tripled to 1,071,252.
This population explosion had several consequences for the MMP. The urban limits of the city grew to areas that were not contemplated in the MMP, so that Medellín now reached the urban areas of other cities of the Aburrá Valley, like Envigado
, Bello
and Itagüí
; the new Medellín settlers were poor families without enough credit to buy their own homes, so several neighborhoods were built beyond the MMP; several old downtown buildings were demolished to construct tall towers, offices and avenues. The beautiful and traditional Junin Theatre along the Santa Elena was demolished to build the Coltejer Tower. The huge migration into Medellín provided workers for the expansion of textile factories, being modernized at this period, but it also created new problems for the city: higher unemployment, lack of services for poor areas, urban violence in several districts, and collapse of any transport system. It was the perfect setting for the development of the mafia
that plagued the city in the following decades, while the MMP had to wait for better times.
established a new narrative style without abandoning his regional origins. It was also the time of Nadaism, a literary movement founded by Gonzalo Arango
and others. Openly anti-clerical, Nadaism criticised traditional institutions of society, and was considered philosophically nihilist
. The painter Debora Arango
entered the national arts culture with her works. Fernando Botero
, who found the inspiration for his work in the daily life and drama of the city, is a notable 20th-century artist associated with Medellín. He donated most of his works to the Museum of Antioquia
, and the grateful city dedicated Botero Square to him. In the 1970s the artist Rodrigo Arenas Betancur
erected monumental sculptures not only in Medellín but also in many other regions of Colombia. His famous work, the Monument to the Race in La Alpujarra Administrative Center, was homage to the Paisa
culture.
Many cultural centers enrich the city, such as the Pablo Tobón Uribe Theatre (1967), the Modern Art Museum (1978), and the Metropolitan Theatre (1987). In 2000 the traditional Museum of Antioquia had a second official opening, in which it featured many works of Fernando Botero. New universities also opened in the city: University of Medellín (1950) and EAFIT University
(1960).
Medellín has the biggest research-dedicated building in Colombia called University Research Building a facility that concentrates the top research groups of the University of Antioquia
.
, a massive urban transport service, became the pride of the city, and so far the only sign of the Medellín Master Plan of the 1950s. The construction of the Plaza Mayor of Medellín, an international center for congresses and expositions, was designed to show the globalized
economy of Colombia to the world. Medellín is today a modern city with a population of three million.
The former violence also served the purpose of demolishing the high social barriers that were the basis of many social evils. Social exclusion has eased due to the development of transport infrastructure; the Metro, a new system of public buses is being planned with the so-called "Metroplus" and a network of ski-lifts in the poorest barrio communities called the "MetroCable". Today's Medellín includes spaces for art, poetry, drama, the construction of public libraries, the foundation of new ecological parks, and the inclusion of people of the city in its development.
The city administration has pursued policies that have been lauded by researchers at the Overseas Development Institute
as helping pioneer a post-Washington consensus
'local development state' model of economic development, see here.
s (townships), and 271 barrio
s.
The metropolitan area
of Medellín lies within the Aburrá valley at an elevation of 1,500 meters (about 4921 feet) and is bisected by the Medellín River
(also called Porce), which flows northward. North of the valley are the towns of Bello
, Copacabana
, Girardota
and Barbosa
. To the south of the valley lie Itagüí
, Envigado
, Sabaneta
, La Estrella
and Caldas
.
Medellín features a tropical rainforest climate
(Af), albeit a noticeably cooler version of this climate that borders closely on a subtropical highland climate (Cfb) and also on a tropical monsoon climate
(Am). Because Medellín is located at 5000 ft (1,524 m) 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 at times is more characteristic of a humid subtropical climate
than that of a tropical climate
. The city's average annual temperature is 22 °C (72 °F), and because of its proximity to the equator, its temperature is constant year round, with minimal temperature variations. Temperatures range from 15 to 30 °C (59 to 86 F). Because of the pleasant springlike climate all year, Medellín is known as “La Ciudad de la Eterna Primavera” or “City of the Eternal Spring”. However, as the city is located in a valley and many of its districts are on slopes, temperatures can be slightly cooler on the surrounding mountains.
democratic system as stated in the Colombian Constitution of 1991
, with decentralized government. Administration is shared by the Mayor
of Medellín and the Municipal Council, both elected by popular vote.
The municipality is made up of official departments (secretarías) including departments for social mobility, urban culture, social development, education, evaluation and control, government, resources, public works, administrative services, environment, women, and transportation. There are also many departments with a certain autonomy: the Olaya Herrera Airport, the Public Library (Biblioteca Pública Piloto), the College of Antioquia (Colegio Mayor), the Urban Development Enterprise (EDU), the Public Service Enterprise (EEPPM), the Sport and Recreation Institute (INDER), the General Enterprises of Medellín (EEVVM), the Medellín Bus stations, the General Hospital of Medellín, the health service enterprise "Metrosalud", the Metropolitan Institute of Technology (ITM), the Metro de Medellín
, the Department for the Administration of the Medellín parks (Metroparques) and Metroseguridad.
The city belongs to the Medellín Metropolitan Area, which is made up of ten municipalities. Medellín is divided into six zones and these are subdivided into 16 comunas (communes). The barrio
s and urban institutional areas make up the communes. More than 249 barrios and five townships
are part of the municipality of Medellín.
. 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).
's highly successful Bolsa Familia
and also the city runs the Cultura E programme.
According to the city administration, Medellín Solidaria represents an improvement on Colombia's national programme, 'Familias en Accion' (Families in Action). The city administration is further responsible for coordinating more than 100 other social programmes. Under the Cultura E programme, the city administration has established a network of 14 publicly-funded business support centres known as CEDEZO, Centros de Desarrollo Empresarial Zonal). The CEDEZOs are found in the poorest areas of Medellín and support the poor in developing business by providing free-of-charge business support services and technical advice.
Also, as part of Cultura E, there is Banco de las Opportunidades that provides microloans (up to $2,500 at a cheap interest rates 0.91% monthly). This has helped create more equal opportunities for all and overcome the barriers to entry to business for poor entrepreneurs with good ideas, but lacking capital, skills and connections. It has also helped develop the local economy with new micro-enterprises.
However, several mayoral candidates for the October 2011 elections have argued the Banco de las Opportunidades's interest rates are too high, loan maturity is too short and it should have grace period
s. They therefore suggest a new small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development bank to complement the Banco de las Opportunidades.
funded by Pablo Escobar
, the city was victim of the terror caused by the war between the organization headed by Escobar, and competing organizations such as "El Cartel del Valle". However, after the death of Escobar, crime rates in the city began to decrease.
Throughout the rest of the 1990s crime rates remained relatively high, although gradually declining from the worst years. In October 2002, President Álvaro Uribe
ordered the military to carry out "Operation Orion," whose objective was to disband the urban militias of the FARC
and the AUC. Between 2003 and 2006 the demobilization of the remaining urban militias of the AUC was completed, with more than 3,000 armed men giving up their weapons.
Nonetheless after the disbanding of the main paramilitary groups, many members of such organizations have been known to have reorganized into criminal bands known commonly as Aguilas Negras. These groups have gained notoriety in Medellín for calling upon curfews for the underage population, and have been known to distribute fliers announcing the social cleansing
of prostitutes, drug addicts, and alcoholics. The extradition of paramilitary leader Don Berna
appears to have sparked a crime wave with a sharp increase in killings.
There were 33% more murders in 2008 than 2007, with an increase from 654 to 871 violent deaths. This increased further by over 200% in 2009 to 2,899 violent deaths, or about 110 deaths per 100,000 people, 2.5 times the average homicide rate in Colombia and 20 times the average homicide rate in the United States for that same year. An average of 9 people were killed every day in 2009. There is a significant disparity in crime rates by neighborhoods, with virtually no homicides in El Poblado to areas with open gunfights in the outskirts. Generally, crime rates increase the further the neighborhood is from the center.
This group also participates in other sectors of the city industry and is an active trader in the Colombian stock exchange. Medellín serves as headquarters for many national and multinational companies.
The main economic products are steel
, textile
s, confections, food and beverage, agriculture
(from its rural area), public services
, chemical products and pharmaceuticals, refined oil
, and flower
s. Fashion is a major part of the economy and culture of the city. Medellín is known as the Milan of Latin America and hosts Latin America's biggest fashion show, Colombiamoda.
Tourism
has strongly developed in Medellín in recent years.
Aerolínea de Antioquia
has its headquarters on the grounds of Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellín. When it existed, the airline West Caribbean Airways
had its headquarters on the grounds of Olaya Herrera Airport. ACES Colombia
was headquartered in the city.
, the gross domestic product
(GDP) can be studied in two areas: Medellín as the Metropolitan Area of Medellín
and Medellín itself. As a Metro Area, it contributes 67% of the total GDP of the Department of Antioquia. The city of Medellín alone contributes 55% of the GDP of the department. Antioquia itself is the second greatest economic region of Colombia. By 2005, Antioquia's GDP was more than USD 14,700,000,000 and it is the top exporting state in Colombia. The Aburrá Valley is the top economy in the state and its GDP was USD 7,800 million.
The Medellín Metropolitan Area produces 67% of the Department of Antioquia's GDP
and 11% of the economy of Colombia
. Medellín is the second economic region in Colombia, after Bogotá
, in 2005.
The 2005 Report of the Economic Colombian Review of Proexport and the International Cooperation Agency of Medellín concluded that Medellín was at the same level of GDP contribution to the national economy as cities like Panama
in Panama, and San José de Costa Rica.
Medellín created the first Colombian business cluster
. The city is the top exporting region of the country, with 1,750 export businesses based in Medellín. The Cluster was created with the support of the Chamber of Commerce of Medellín and the City Administration for an actual total of 21,000 companies that share 40% of total exports, 25% of the regional GDP, and 40% of Metro Area employment. The main economic activities of the Medellín Cluster (MC) are in electricity generation
, textile
, fashion design
, construction
, tourism
and business
. One current goal of the Medellín Cluster is to include health services, an important sector in the local economy.
One of the most visited sites is the Arví Ecotourism Park, which has an area of about 20,000 hectares, covers virtually the entire territory of the village of Santa Elena, and runs between the towns of Bello
, Copacabana
, and Envigado
. In its trails, lakes, forests and streams, it can practice various sports and activities like trekking, kayak
ing, biking, camping
, fishing
, swimming
, sailing rowing, horseback riding, bike tours and picnic
s. Its supervisory position over Medellín allows it to offer natural landscapes overlooking over the entire city.
The city is surrounded from above by seven Foster hills, who offer a variety of services, as well as serving as natural viewpoints of the big city, are considered suitable sites for the healthy leisure, recreation, enjoyment, research, sport, culture, education and ecotourism. This set consists of El Volador, La Asomadera, Nutibara, Pan de Azúcar, El Salvador, El Picacho and Santo Domingo. In these natural public spaces can find a varied offer including viewpoints, pre-Hispanic roads, religious icons, culture and Antioquian traditions, bird watching (ornithology), the most complete herbal living of Aburrá Valley
and the remains of early settlers native of Medellín, among other attractions.
Most people in Medellín professes the Catholic religion, which is reflected in its temples and religious activities, that are worth seeing and appreciating. The Holy week
is celebrated with devotion and the December dates it living in family and the city is covered with thousands of fairy lights, creating the famous Christmas lights, which can be seen mainly in the Avenue la Playa and the Medellín River.
Among the most representative churches are the Metropolitan Cathedral, of Eclectic style prevailing the Romanesque; is 45 meters of high and 5000 m² (5,979.95 sq yd) of area, built entirely in baked brick, aspect which is the largest cathedral in the world in such material. There is also the Basilica of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, which was the official cathedral until 1931, the Church of la Veracruz, the oldest of Medellín, the Church of San Ignacio, Baroque on the outside and Colonial on inside, the Church of San José (Medellín)Church of San José (center), the Church of San Antonio, which has one of the biggest domes in Colombia, all of these temples have a great religious art and are located in the center of the city, which facilitates their journeys. It also highlights the Church of San José del Poblado, located in the Parque del Poblado where it founded the first settlement of the Aburrá Valley
in 1616.
Other churches of equal value are: C. Nuestra Señora del Sufragio, C. San Benito, C. San Juan de Dios, C. Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, C. Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro, C. del Señor de las Misericordias, C. Jesús Nazareno, C. Nuestra Señora del Sagrado Corazón, among others.
Another interesting activity for lovers of art is to walk the streets of Medellín, because in it, it goes through a veritable museum of outdoor sculptures.
By direction of the Municipal Government, between 1980 and 1990 all development or tall building to be built should include a sculpture of a famous artist. That is one reason why the Colombian city of Medellín is the largest number of sculptures per square kilometer and is the most traditional arts in the artistic cast.
Furthermore, in the city have made festivals and art exhibitions that have left valuable works. The center of Medellín has the largest number of sculptures, together with the Avenida el Poblado and Parque de las Esculturas in Cerro Nutibara.
Works of many prominent artists, both local and foreign, can be seen on the streets of the city, among many others, some artists that stand out are the masters Rodrigo Arenas Betancur and Fernando Botero
.
) 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 EAFIT University, Universidad de Medellín, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Universidad de San Buenaventura, Escuela de Ingenieria de Antioquia, Universidad Santo Tomas, Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje SENA and CES. There are also important technological centers such as the Metropolitan Institute of Technology (ITM).
During the last decade, the administration of the city has emphasized public education, building schools and libraries in poor quarters. Private schools and colleges have a long tradition in the city, many run by the Catholic Church, private organizations, and foreign institutions. Among of them are Gimnasio Internacional de Medellín, The Columbus School (the only SACS-approved school in the city), Theodoro Hertzl School, San Ignacio de Loyola School, Colegio Calasanz, Colegio Colombo Britanico, El Corazonista School, Marymount School, Montessori School, Colegio Fontán, Gimnasio Los Pinares, Gimnasio Los Alcázares, San Jose de la Salle, Instituto Jorge Robledo, the Salesian Technical School Pedro Justo Berrío, Colegio Cumbres,'El Sufragio' Salesian School and many others.
Many non-governmental organizations and official organizations support the development of children and youth from poor communities. Ciudad Don Bosco cares for street children
. The pacification of the city brought organizations to the poorest quarters to work with youth involved in urban violence, in order to improve their opportunities. Medellín universities, public and private, also played a role, along with official institutions both local and national.
Medellín is the only city in Colombia with two airports. One of them, The José María Córdova International Airport
(MDE) is in Rionegro, another municipality east of Medellín and outside the Aburrá Valley. It serves both international and domestic destinations, and can handle large aircraft and night landings. There are international flights daily to and from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, New York
, Orlando
, Mexico City
, Caracas
, Quito
, Panama City
, Lima
, Guayaquil
, San José, Costa Rica
, and other important cities. Olaya Herrera Airport (EOH) serves mainly regional flights, commuter and light aircraft.
. Medellín is the only Colombian city with such a transport system.
Despite the variety of options, traffic in Medellín has become chaotic, as the number of vehicles has exceeded highway capacity; furthermore, pollution produced by diesel buses has become a major issue, notably in the center of the city and the southern district of El Poblado. The city has no space for the construction of new highways.
In 2006, construction began on Metroplús, a bus service with a dedicated road, much like Bogotá's TransMilenio
. This will allow faster transit for the service's buses and Metro stations. Metroplus will be inaugurated in 2009, and it will cover most of the city. The first leg will be the Troncal Medellín, which goes from the Universidad de Medellín in the west to Aranjuez in the northeast part of the city. Metroplus will help lessen the city's pollution and traffic, as many old buses will be taken out of service, while the new buses will work with natural gas
.
The Aburrá Valley contains 58% of the population of the Department of Antioquia, and 67% of the Aburrá Valley population lives in the city of Medellín. Of the inhabitants of Medellín, 61.3% were born in the city, 38% in other parts of Colombia and 0,3% in another country.
According to the National Administrative Department of Statistics
, Medellín had, by 2005, a population of 2,223,078 inhabitants, making it the second largest city in Colombia. The metropolitan area of Medellín in 2005 included 3,312,165 inhabitants. There are 5820 people per square kilometer in the city. There were 130,031 people living in the city townships; 46.7% of the population are male and 53.3% are female. Illiteracy is 9.8% in persons older than 5 years old. 98.8% of the households in Medellín have electricity, 97.3% have drinking water, and 91% have a land-line phone.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Medellín received many immigrants from Spain, and some forced immigration from West Africa. Most Indigenous peoples died from the introduction of European diseases, and many of those who survived intermarried with early Spanish settlers, who were mostly men; later, Spanish women also began to immigrate. During the 19th century, immigrants arrived from Lebanon, Jordan, Germany, and Portugal. Many people from Medellín are referred to as Paisas
, people of mainly Spanish ancestry, a lot of them Basque origin mixed with African and Indigenous blood. There is a small Afro-Colombian and Zambo-Colombian (people of Indigenous and African descent) population .
The Chocó Department
is just west of Antioquia, and is home to many Afro-Colombian and Zambo-Colombian migrants to Medellín and its vicinity. Migration from the Colombian Caribbean coast has been important, especially that of young people who come to study in Medellín universities and remain to work in the city. The main foreign immigration is of Ecuador
ians in informal trade.
, a name which some suggest comes from the coffee growers. The term Paisa comes from the word paisano (fellow countryman). Paisas make up one of the five different regional cultures within Colombia. The Paisa region
includes the states of Caldas
, Risaralda
, Quindio and some towns of Valle del Cauca and Tolima
.
Although Paisa culture is dominant in Medellín (the "Paisa Capital"), the city is becoming more cosmopolitan, now offering music from other regions of Colombia (Vallenato
and Chocó), and a variety of restaurants including Chinese
, Cuba
n, and Argentinian
.
The Paisa culture has a Spanish background, and is traditionally Catholic, entrepreneurial, hard-working, and famously hospitable. Paisas are said to speak softly and quickly, to smile easily, and to love bullfights
, rodeo
, music, poetry, soccer, bargaining in the markets, and parties. They are proud of their city. The Medellín weekend nightlife, in discos, pubs, parks, and certain dedicated streets, is traditionally called rumba.
medellin.jpg)
Other highlights events of the city: Expofinca, Home Fair and the Cooperative Integration, Construction Fair, Metalworking Exhibition, Antioquía Fair, Expocasa, Colombiamoda, Superventas, Transport International Fair, Coffee of Colombia, Saludexpo, Expoempresa, Agroferia, Hecho a Mano and many others.
Some of the main museums are:
Other prominent museums are: Centro Cultural Banco de la República, Entomological Museum Francisco Luis Gallego, Casa Museo Santa Fe, Museum of Natural Sciences, Ethnographic Museum Miguel Ángel Builes and Museum of the Mother Laura.
, Envigado F.C. and Independiente Medellín
football (soccer) teams. They play at the Atanasio Girardot Stadium. Medellín is also known for its two main swim teams, the Calamares Pilsen and the Huracanes. Three-time Tour de France lap winner Santiago Botero Echeverry
was born in the city. Medellín is also the birthplace of professional golfer and PGA Tour player Camilo Villegas
.
On March 26 and 27 (2011) Medellín will host the 15th IAAF Pan American Race Walking Cup
. Athletes and teams from the countries in North, South and Central American as well as the Caribbean Islands will be participating. Race Walking
is an Olympic
track & field event.
, Colombia
Buenos Aires
, Argentina
Cali
, Colombia
Fort Lauderdale, United States
. Varna
, Bulgaria
Gold Coast
, Australia
. Monterrey
, Mexico
Tacuarembó
, Uruguay
.
, Spain
. Bilbao
, Spain
Milan
, Italy
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
. It is in the Aburrá Valley
Aburrá Valley
Aburrá Valley , is the natural basin of the Medellín River and one of the most populous valleys of Colombia in its Andean Region with near 3 million inhabitants. The valley is located on the Central Range, over the Antioquian Mountain just between the Magdalean and Cauca valleys from east to west...
, one of the more northerly of the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. It has a population of 2.3 million. With its surrounding area, the metropolitan area of Medellín
Metropolitan Area of Medellín
The Metropolitan Area of Medellín or the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley is a metropolitan area and subregion in the Colombian Department of Antioquia...
(Area Metropolitana de Medellín), it is the second largest city in Colombia in terms of population and economy, with more than 3.3 million people, and ranks in population as the 91st of the world's largest urban agglomerations
World's largest urban agglomerations
This is a list of the 100 largest urban agglomerations in the world according to the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects report . The term “urban agglomeration” refers to the population contained within the contours of a contiguous territory inhabited at urban density levels without regard...
.
Medellín was founded in 1616 by the Spaniard
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Francisco Herrera Y Campuzano as Poblado de San Lorenzo (Saint Lawrence Town) in present-day El Poblado. In 1675 the queen consort
Queen consort
A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
Mariana of Austria
Mariana of Austria
Mariana of Austria was Queen consort of Spain as the second wife of King Philip IV, who was also her maternal uncle...
created the Villa de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria
Candelaria
-People:*John Candelaria , American baseball pitcher*Candelaria Pérez , sergeant in the Chilean Army, hero of the Battle of Yungay*Nash Candelaria , U.S...
(Town of Our Lady
Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic)
Roman Catholic veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary is based on Holy Scripture: In the fullness of time, God sent his son, born of a virgin. The mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God through Mary thus signifies her honour as Mother of God...
at Candelaria).
In 1826 the city was named the capital of the Department of Antioquia by the National Congress of the young Republic of Greater Colombia, comprised by present day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama. In 1803 the University of Antioquia
University of Antioquia
The University of Antioquia , also called UdeA, is a public, departmental, coeducational, research university based primarily in the city of Medellín, Antioquía, Colombia. It is the largest higher education institution by student population in the northwest of the country, and the second in...
, one of the most prestigious in Colombia, was founded. After Colombia won its independence from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Medellín became the capital of the Federal State of Antioquia until 1888, with the proclamation of the Colombian Constitution of 1886
Colombian Constitution of 1886
The Colombian Constitution of 1886 was the constitution that created the Republic of Colombia. Before 1886, the country was called United States of Colombia. The coalition of moderate Liberals and Conservatives that ended the liberal hegemony and placed Rafael Nuñez in power repealed the...
. During the 19th century, Medellín was a dynamic commercial center, first exporting gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, then producing and exporting coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
. After the Thousand Days War
Thousand Days War
The Thousand Days' War , was a civil armed conflict in the newly created Republic of Colombia, between the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and its radical factions. In 1899 the ruling conservatives were accused of maintaining power through fraudulent elections...
(1899 — 1902), Medellín was the first Colombian city to take part in the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
with the opening of textile companies, and transport projects such as railways that allowed its export business to develop. In addition, its people founded several universities and vocational training institutions.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the city has regained industrial dynamism, with the construction of the Metro de Medellín
Metro de Medellín
The Medellín Metro is an urban train that crosses the Metropolitan Area of Medellín from North to South and from Centre to West. As one of the first experiences of modern mass transportation in Colombia and the only metro system in the country, the Medellín Metro is a product of the urban planning...
railway, and liberalized development policies, improved security, and improved education. Researchers at the Overseas Development Institute
Overseas Development Institute
The Overseas Development Institute is one of the leading independent think tanks on international development and humanitarian issues. Based in London, its mission is "to inspire and inform policy and practice which lead to the reduction of poverty, the alleviation of suffering and the achievement...
have lauded the city as a pioneer of a post-Washington consensus
Washington Consensus
The term Washington Consensus was coined in 1989 by the economist John Williamson to describe a set of ten relatively specific economic policy prescriptions that he considered constituted the "standard" reform package promoted for crisis-wracked developing countries...
'local development state' model of economic development. The city is promoted internationally as a tourist destination
Tourist destination
A tourist destination is a city, town, or other area that is dependent to a significant extent on the revenues accruing from tourism. It may contain one or more tourist attractions and possibly some "tourist traps."...
. Is considered by the GaWC as a sufficient city to be global city
Global city
A global city is a city that is deemed to be an important node in the global economic system...
.
The Medellín Metropolitan Area produces 67% of the Department of Antioquia's GDP
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
and 11% of the economy of Colombia
Economy of Colombia
Colombia has a free market economy with major commercial and investment ties to the United States. Transition from a highly regulated economy has been underway for more than a decade....
. Medellín is important to the region for its universities, academies, commerce, industry, science, health services, flower-growing, festivals and nightlife.
Etymology of the name Medellín
The city is named after Medellín, Spain
Medellín (Spain)
Medellín is a village in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain, notable as the birthplace of Hernán Cortés in 1485 and the site of the Battle of Medellín, during the Peninsular War...
, which is near Badajoz
Badajoz
Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain, situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana, and the Madrid–Lisbon railway. The population in 2007 was 145,257....
in Extremadura
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
. The Spanish Medellín was founded as Metellinum in 75 BC by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius was a pro-Sullan politician and general. He was named Pius because of his 99 BC petition to return his father from exile and was true to his cognomen for the constance and inflexibility with which he always fought for his father's rehabilitation and return to...
. Some of the Conquistadors, such as Gaspar de Rodas
Gaspar de Rodas
Gaspar de Rodas was a Spanish administrator in the area that now comprises the present-day departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Quindío and Risaralda, in what is now Colombia. He was the first governor of Antioquia, part of the New Kingdom of Granada. Born in Trujillo, Cáceres, he was the son of...
, the first governor of Antioquia, came from the region of Badajoz
Badajoz (province)
The province of Badajoz is a province of western Spain located in the autonomous community of Extremadura. It was formed in 1833. It is bordered by the provinces of Cáceres, Toledo, Ciudad Real, Córdoba, Seville, and Huelva, and by Portugal....
.
Count Pedro Portocarrero y Luna, President of the Council for the West Indies (Consejo de Indias), asked the Spanish monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
to give the name of his town, Medellín in Extremadura, to the new settlement in America. His request was accepted on November 22, 1674, when the Regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
Mariana of Austria proclaimed the city's name to be Villa de Nuestra Señora de Medellín. Miguel Aguinaga y Mendiogoitia, Governor, made the name official on November 2, 1675. The Crown granted a coat of arms to the city on 24 June 1676.
Symbols
The coat of arms, flag and anthem of the city, has the recognition of official symbols of the municipality of Medellín according to Decree No. 151 of February 20, 2002, and as emblems of the city are part of the corporate image of management municipal, and therefore are present in the acts, events and official media in which these should appear by its representative character.Coat of Arms
The Medellín coat of arms is the oldest emblem of the city, has its origins in the granting of its use by King Charles II of SpainCharles II of Spain
Charles II was the last Habsburg King of Spain and the ruler of large parts of Italy, the Spanish territories in the Southern Low Countries, and Spain's overseas Empire, stretching from the Americas to the Spanish East Indies...
through the Real Decreto issued in Madrid on March 31 of 1678 whose document says:
| Heraldic version | Versions of the municipality bodies | |
|---|---|---|
| With the shape called modern French style | Version currently used by the Mayor | Version currently used by the Council |
- "...A blue field coat and in then a very thick and round torreón, all around him battlements and a coat of arms which has fifteen lace, seven blue and eight gold, and on its colonel that it touches and the homage of the tower each of the sides a torreoncillo, battlements likewise and among them placing a statue of Our Lady on a cloud with her son in her arms...".
However, a more refined and structured in heraldic language, though not official, would be:
- "In AzureAzureIn heraldry, azure is the tincture with the colour blue, and belongs to the class of tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of horizontal lines or else marked with either az. or b. as an abbreviation....
field, a round torreón of gold, masoned and rinsed of sable, loaded with a checkered escutcheon of 15 pieces, 7 azur and 8 gold (coat of arms of House of Portocarrero), stamped of ancient crown of gold, and overcome, between its two towers, a cloud bearing the image of Our Lady of Candelaria carrying the Child in his sinister arm, and a candle in his right hand, and lying rayint headwaters clouds of each county. "
The blazon has remained over time since it was granted, without further changes to the aesthetics, it is noteworthy that there are different stylistic versions between the Mayor and City Council also meets aesthetic no heraldic standards.
Flag
To strengthen the links with the region, the municipality adopted the flag of the Department of AntioquiaFlag of the Department of Antioquia
The Flag of the Department of Antioquia is the flag symbol of the Colombian Department of Antioquia.The flag originated in the University of Antioquia but it was not officially established as symbol of Antioquia until 1962 by ordenance of the Government of Antioquia Department.The flag has two...
, which was added to the coat of arms of the city, so that these could make difference. The flag consists of two horizontal stripes of equal proportions, the white top and green bottom, and in the middle between two strips is located the coat. The white color symbolizes purity, integrity, obedience, firmness and eloquence. The green represents hope, abundance, freedom and faith.
Anthem
The anthem of the city of Medellín is Anthem of Antioquia, according to Decree No. 151 of February 20, 2002, Article 10, which says: "Anthem of Medellín. To unify the ideals of region adopted the Antiquia anthem, lyrics by Epifanio Mejía and music by Gonzalo Vidal, as Anthem of the Municipality of Medellín. It will be sung in all official functions where it is present the Mayor of Medellín. "Amerindians
Archaeological evidence has revealed prehistoric human settlement in the Aburrá Valley from 10,500 years ago, first found by hunters and collectorsCollecting
The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world...
. The Spaniard conquerors of the valley encountered the historic indigenous peoples such as the Aburrá, Yamesí, Pequé
Peque
Peque may refer to:* Peque, Colombia, a municipality in the Department of Antioquia, Colombia* Peque, Zamora, a municipality in the Province of Zamora, Spain* PeQue Artist, American visual artist...
, Ebejico
Ebejico
Ebéjico is a town and municipality in the West of Antioquia Department, Colombia.- Limits :Ebéjico is bounded on the north by the municipality towns of Santa Fe de Antioquia, Sopetrán and St...
, Norisco, and Maní
Maní
The word Maní may refer to:Geography:* Maní, Yucatán, a small city in Yucatán, Mexico.* Maní, Casanare a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia.Other:* Maní, an indian girl whose legend leads to the cult of Manioc....
tribes, whose ancestors had lived in the valley since about the fifth century. The valley was named after the Aburrá people. They were farmers who raised maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, beans and cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, wove and decorated textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
s, sold salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
, and were goldsmith
Goldsmith
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...
s. Under Spanish rule, they lost their land and were subject to a feudal system of government. Many were sent to labor in the mines. New Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
n infectious diseases carried by the Europeans, as well as the hard work and mistreatment, caused epidemics and such high rates of death that the indigenous tribes became extinct in the valley. People related to the Aburrá Valley
Aburrá Valley
Aburrá Valley , is the natural basin of the Medellín River and one of the most populous valleys of Colombia in its Andean Region with near 3 million inhabitants. The valley is located on the Central Range, over the Antioquian Mountain just between the Magdalean and Cauca valleys from east to west...
tribes can be found in other regions of Antioquia State, such as Urabá
Urabá Antioquia
Urabá Antioquia is a subregion in the Colombian Department of Antioquia. The region is made up by 24 municipalities. Most of this region northern portion is part of the Colombian Caribbean Region bordering the Caribbean sea.-Municipalities:* Apartadó...
and the western and southern regions.
Spanish discovery of the valley
Jorge Robledo (conquistador)
Jorge Robledo was a Spanish conquistador. He traveled in Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru.He founded the cities of Santa Ana de los Caballeros , Cartago, Valle del Cauca and Santa Fe de Antioquia...
was in the place known today as Heliconia
Heliconia, Antioquia
Heliconia is a town and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia....
when he saw in the distance what he thought was a valley. He sent Jerónimo Luis Tejelo to explore the territory, and during the night of August 23 Tejelo reached the plain of what is now Medellín. The Spaniards gave it the name of Valley of Saint Bartholomew, but this was soon changed for the native name Aburrá, which means the "Painters," due to the textile decorations of the natives. However, the conquerors were not attracted much by the valley at the time, because of the lack of wealth and the hostile attitude of the local inhabitants.
In 1574 Gaspar de Rodas asked the Antioquia's Cabildo
Cabildo (council)
For a discussion of the contemporary Spanish and Latin American cabildo, see Ayuntamiento.A cabildo or ayuntamiento was a former Spanish, colonial administrative council that governed a municipality. Cabildos were sometimes appointed, sometimes elected, but were considered to be representative of...
for four square miles of land to establish herds and a ranch in the valley. The Cabildo granted him three miles (5 km) of land.
In 1616 the colonial visitor Francisco de Herrera y Campuzano founded a settlement with 80 Amerindians, naming it "Poblado de San Lorenzo," today "El Poblado Square
El Poblado, Medellín
El Poblado is a comuna in the metropolitan area of the city of Medellín, Colombia. According to a 2005 census the population is 94,704 distributed among its land area of 1432.58 km². It is the wealthiest district of the city. The comuna consists of 24 barrios and is located at the south-east...
". In 1646 a colonial law ordered the separation of Amerindians from mestizo
Mestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
s and mulatto
Mulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
s, so the colonial administration began the construction of a new town in Aná, today Berrio Square, where the church of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Aná ("Our Lady of Candelaria of Aná") was built. Three years later, the Spaniards started the construction of the Church of Our Lady of Candelaria, which was rebuilt at the end of the 18th century.
Growth of the town
After 1574, with Gaspar de Rodas settled in the valley, population started to grow. According to the church records of the San Lorenzo Church, six couples married between 1646 and 1650, and 41 between 1671 and 1675. Gold mines were developed northeast of Antioquia, and they needed a food supply from nearby agriculture. The Aburrá Valley was in a strategic position between the gold mines and the first provincial capital of Antioquia, Santa Fe de Antioquia.The provincial capital, Santa Fe, started to lose importance and gradually became poor, as trade and prominent personalities of the region came to the Aburrá Valley, where rich families started to buy land. Soon, the first settlers asked for the creation of a Cabildo (council)
Cabildo (council)
For a discussion of the contemporary Spanish and Latin American cabildo, see Ayuntamiento.A cabildo or ayuntamiento was a former Spanish, colonial administrative council that governed a municipality. Cabildos were sometimes appointed, sometimes elected, but were considered to be representative of...
in the valley, thus getting a separate government from Santa Fe. The Santa Fe government fought this, but Mariana of Austria signed the edict creating the Cabildo on November 22, 1674. The governor Miguel de Aguinaga proclaimed the royal edict on 2 November1675. The new city was given the title of Villa de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria. {
During the Spanish colonial period
Before the creation of the town, the inhabitants were scattered throughout the valley, with only a few families concentrated at the confluenceConfluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
of the Aná (today called the Santa Elena
Santa Elena
Santa Elena, the Spanish-language name of Saint Helen, is often used as a toponym in parts of the world where that language is or was spoken:*Argentina**Santa Elena, Entre Ríos*Belize**Santa Elena, Belize*Costa Rica**Santa Elena, Costa Rica*Ecuador...
) and the Medellín
Medellín river
The Medellín River , called Porce River during most of its course, is a river that flows though the Colombian city of Medellín and its metropolitan area...
rivers; others lived in El Poblado San Lorenzo. After the royal edict, the settlers chose the Aná site as the heart of the future city, with the Candelaria Church at its center.
Their first buildings were simple, with thatched roofs. The houses of the most important people were two stories tall, and the church and the Cabildo were unimpressive. It was only during the 18th century that the church was improved. Only one story, the Cabildo was located at the western part of the plaza. It had a thatched roof until 1742, when tiles were put on. In 1682, traders and foreigners started the construction of the Veracruz Hermitage, which was consecrated as a church by the Bishop of Popayán
Popayán
Popayán is the capital of the Colombian department of Cauca. It is located in southwestern Colombia between Colombia's Western Mountain Range and Central Mountain Range...
in 1712.
In 1803 the Royal College of the Franciscans was founded in the Central Plaza (today Berrío Square) with Departments of Grammar, Philosophy and Theology. Soon after, the College moved to a new building in the small San Ignacio square. In 1821 it was renamed Colegio de Antioquia, and it became the University of Antioquia
University of Antioquia
The University of Antioquia , also called UdeA, is a public, departmental, coeducational, research university based primarily in the city of Medellín, Antioquía, Colombia. It is the largest higher education institution by student population in the northwest of the country, and the second in...
in 1901. The University also had the first vocational training school, the first cultural radio station in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, and the first regional botanical garden
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
. Today it is known for developments in medicine, including organ transplant
Organ transplant
Organ transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...
s.
Industrial revolution
During the nineteenth century, the city grew to national importance because of its production of the commodities of gold and coffee. Construction of the regional railway (Ferrocarril de Antioquia) enabled it to export its products to markets more readily. The railway is no longer used.In the first half of the twentieth century, the population of Medellín increased sixfold, from 59,815 inhabitants in 1905 to 358,189 in 1951. The Thousand Days War
Thousand Days War
The Thousand Days' War , was a civil armed conflict in the newly created Republic of Colombia, between the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and its radical factions. In 1899 the ruling conservatives were accused of maintaining power through fraudulent elections...
(1899–1902) stopped the industrial development of the city, although the civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
did not affect the region directly. Under reforms by President Rafael Reyes
Rafael Reyes
Rafael Reyes Prieto was Chief of Staff of the Colombian National Army and President of Colombia .- Biographic data :...
after the conflict, the city continued its industrial development and founded a Chamber of commerce
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...
. The Chamber developed a regional transport project that connected Medellín to other Colombian regions and other nations.
Despite the importance of gold production in the early development of Medellín, the export of coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
contributed the most impetus in the 20th century for the city's growth. Trade grew to international dimensions as the main export of Colombia became coffee. The industrial and commercial dynamism of Medellín also created also a caste of traders and entrepreneurs, who founded the first nationwide industries in Colombia. During the 1930s, the textile industry was developed by families whose fortunes came from colonial-era gold mines. Glass, beverage, and food industries also were founded during the 1930s, and contributed to making Medellín the top industrial region of Colombia. Many of these businesses are still in existence, either with their original names or new names.
Trade in Medellín
ColtejerColtejer
The Coltejer building is the tallest building in Medellín, Colombia and the fourth tallest in Colombia.A taller building, the "Edificio El Faro" is under construction in Sabaneta, Colombia, which is a city in the Metropolitan Area of Medellín and would technically surpass the Coltejer building as...
is one of the most important textile companies in Colombia. It was founded in Medellín by Alejandro Echavarría on 22 October 1907.
The discovery of coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
in Amagá
Amagá
Amagá is a town and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia. It is part of the subregion of Southwestern Antioquia. The area was known for its coal and iron ore production and it hosted early iron works.-Notable places:...
, a few miles south of the Aburrá Valley, and the building of hydroelectric plants
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
provided the new industries with energy, and this allowed the creation of many smaller companies. The Antioquia Railway (built in 1875) conquered the difficult geography of one of the most mountainous regions of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, notably with the La Quiebra Tunnel, which connected the industrial center to the Magdalena River
Magdalena River
The Magdalena River is the principal river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, in spite of the shifting sand bars at the mouth of its delta, as...
, the most major navigable river in Colombia. In 1932 Medellín also built its first airport, the Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport.
The study by Charles H. Savage on industrial production in Antioquia between 1960 and 1972 showed how important Medellín industries became to Colombia and South America. He studied social change produced by the introduction of new technology. Savage looked at three factories in Antioquia: two potteries in Santuario
Santuario
Santuario is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia. Part of the subregion of Eastern Antioquia.Santuario is known by its people....
and La Blanca, and a tailoring factory in Medellín. Savage studied the production of the Antioquian factories, and the relationship between the workers and their employers, an industrial efficiency which he called the "Culture of Work". His conclusions were published by his colleague George F. Lombardi as Sons of the Machine] (1988).
Savage died in 1973.
Art and literature during the first part of the 20th century
University of Antioquia
The University of Antioquia , also called UdeA, is a public, departmental, coeducational, research university based primarily in the city of Medellín, Antioquía, Colombia. It is the largest higher education institution by student population in the northwest of the country, and the second in...
, the National University of Colombia
National University of Colombia
The Universidad Nacional de Colombia , also called UNAL or just UN, is a public, national, coeducational, research university, located primarily in Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales and Palmira, Colombia...
with its Medellín branch, and the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana have historically been the academic centers of the city and are responsible for the formation of an intellectual class in the region, with a nationwide and international scope.
Arts and literature have been an important social element in Medellín. During the first part of the 20th century the city was part of the literary transition from romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
to the modern art and literary movements of the new century. The writer Tomás Carrasquilla
Tomás Carrasquilla
Tomás Carrasquilla Naranjo was a Colombian writer who lived in the Antioquia region. He dedicated himself to very simple jobs: tailor, secretary of a judge, storekeeper in a mine, and worker of the Ministry of Public Works...
(1858–1940) focused on the people of his native Antioquia, accurately portraying their daily lives and customs. The writer and philosopher Fernando González
Fernando González (writer)
Fernando González Ochoa , was a Colombian writer and existentialist philosopher known as "el filósofo de Otraparte" . He wrote about sociology, history, art, moral, economy, epistemology and theology in a magisterial and creative way, using different genres of literature...
from Envigado
Envigado
Envigado is a city of Colombia in the department of Antioquia, located at the south of the Aburrá Valley and belonging to the Metropolitan Area of Medellín. It has limits at its north with El Poblado, Medellín; at its south with Sabaneta; at its east with El Retiro and Caldas and at west with Itagüí...
(in the metropolitan area of Medellín), the cartoonist Ricardo Rendón and the poet León de Greiff
León de Greiff
Francisco de Asís León Bogislao de Greiff Haeusler , was a Colombian poet of the 20th century he is notable for his stylistic innovations and eclectic deliberate use of obscure lexicon. Best known simply as León de Greiff, he often used different pen names of which the most popular were Leo le Gris...
were some of the founders of Los Panidas, a Medellín literary movement. Other featured poets and writers were Porfirio Barbajacob and Efe Gómez. In painting, the most famous were Eladio Vélez and Pedro Nel Gómez
Pedro Nel Gómez
Pedro Nel Gómez was a Colombian engineer, architect, painter, and sculptor. He started the Colombian Muralist Movement with Santiago Martinez Delgado, strongly influenced by the Mexican movement. With the fresco mural technique, Pedro Nel Gómez created 2,200 square meters of murals in public...
. Carlos Vieco Ortiz was a popular musician. Medellín became the headquarters of record labels like Sonolux, Ondina and Silver.
Medellín clubs, many of them dating to the end of the 19th century, also became a center for intellectual and industrialist movements, like the Club Union (founded in 1894) and Club Campestre (founded in 1924). In 1909 the Circo España was created and Teatro Bolívar, in 1919. The beautiful Teatro Junín was demolished to build the Coltejer Tower. Cine Colombia, the first movie distributor of the country, was founded in Medellín in 1927.
Medellín Master Plan
Medellín river
The Medellín River , called Porce River during most of its course, is a river that flows though the Colombian city of Medellín and its metropolitan area...
, the control of new settlements on valley slopes, the creation of an industrial zone in the Guayabal District, the planning of the city to be in harmony with the river, the construction of a city stadium, and an administrative center in La Alpujarra.
However, Colombia had entered a new era of political instability with the murder of presidential candidate Jorge Eliecer Gaitán
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala was a politician, a leader of a populist movement in Colombia, a former Education Minister and Labor Minister , mayor of Bogotá and one of the most charismatic leaders of the Liberal Party.He was assassinated during his second presidential campaign in 1948, setting off...
in Bogotá in 1948. Political violence spread in the rural areas of Colombia, and farmers fled to the cities. The population of Medellín grew quickly in the next few years. The Valley slopes became overpopulated with slums. In 1951 the city had 358,189 inhabitants, but 22 years later, in 1973, the population had tripled to 1,071,252.
This population explosion had several consequences for the MMP. The urban limits of the city grew to areas that were not contemplated in the MMP, so that Medellín now reached the urban areas of other cities of the Aburrá Valley, like Envigado
Envigado
Envigado is a city of Colombia in the department of Antioquia, located at the south of the Aburrá Valley and belonging to the Metropolitan Area of Medellín. It has limits at its north with El Poblado, Medellín; at its south with Sabaneta; at its east with El Retiro and Caldas and at west with Itagüí...
, Bello
Bello, Antioquia
Bello is a town and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia and is a suburb of Medellín, the department capital. Bello is part of the Metropolitan Area of Medellín.-Demographics:...
and Itagüí
Itagüí
Itagüí is a town and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia. Itagüí is part of the Metropolitan Area of Medellín.Itagüí is known as the most industrialized city in all Colombia, therefore having the nickname, "La ciudad industrial"....
; the new Medellín settlers were poor families without enough credit to buy their own homes, so several neighborhoods were built beyond the MMP; several old downtown buildings were demolished to construct tall towers, offices and avenues. The beautiful and traditional Junin Theatre along the Santa Elena was demolished to build the Coltejer Tower. The huge migration into Medellín provided workers for the expansion of textile factories, being modernized at this period, but it also created new problems for the city: higher unemployment, lack of services for poor areas, urban violence in several districts, and collapse of any transport system. It was the perfect setting for the development of the mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
that plagued the city in the following decades, while the MMP had to wait for better times.
Cultural life in the last decades
During the 1950s, a new generation of writers and artists arose in Medellín, with work characterized by a more modern style. Many writers criticized local and national culture. Manuel Mejía VallejoManuel Mejía Vallejo
Manuel Mejía Vallejo, was a Colombian writer and journalist. The specialist Luís Carlos Molina says that Mejía represents the Andean aspect of the contemporary Colombian narrative, characterized by a world of symbols which are little by little being lost in the memory of the mountain.Doctor...
established a new narrative style without abandoning his regional origins. It was also the time of Nadaism, a literary movement founded by Gonzalo Arango
Gonzalo Arango
Gonzalo Arango Arias was a Colombian poet, journalist and philosopher. He was famous in his country for being the founder of a literature and philosophy movement called "Nadaísmo" with other young Colombian thinkers of his generation and that was inspired by the Colombian philosopher Fernando...
and others. Openly anti-clerical, Nadaism criticised traditional institutions of society, and was considered philosophically nihilist
Nihilism
Nihilism is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value...
. The painter Debora Arango
Débora Arango
Débora Arango was a Colombian artist, born in Medellín, Colombia as the daughter of Castor María Arango Díaz and Elvira Pérez. Though she was primarily a painter, Arango also worked in other media, such as ceramics and graphic art...
entered the national arts culture with her works. Fernando Botero
Fernando Botero
Fernando Botero Angulo is a Colombian figurative artist. His works feature a figurative style, called by some "Boterismo", which gives them an unmistakable identity...
, who found the inspiration for his work in the daily life and drama of the city, is a notable 20th-century artist associated with Medellín. He donated most of his works to the Museum of Antioquia
Museum of Antioquia
The Museum of Antioquia is an art museum in Medellín, Colombia. It houses a large collection of works by Medellín native Fernando Botero and Pedro Nel Gómez.It was the first museum established in the department of Antioquia and the second in Colombia...
, and the grateful city dedicated Botero Square to him. In the 1970s the artist Rodrigo Arenas Betancur
Rodrigo Arenas
Rodrigo Arenas Betancur was a Colombian sculptor, born on October 23, 1919 in Fredonia, Antioquia. At the time of his death in 1995 he was recognized as one of the most important sculptors in Colombia and Latin America...
erected monumental sculptures not only in Medellín but also in many other regions of Colombia. His famous work, the Monument to the Race in La Alpujarra Administrative Center, was homage to the Paisa
Paisa
The paisa is a monetary unit in several countries. Linguistic variants of paisa include poisha and baisa . In India, Nepal and Pakistan, the paisa currently equals of a rupee. In Bangladesh, the poisha equals of a Bangladeshi taka...
culture.
Many cultural centers enrich the city, such as the Pablo Tobón Uribe Theatre (1967), the Modern Art Museum (1978), and the Metropolitan Theatre (1987). In 2000 the traditional Museum of Antioquia had a second official opening, in which it featured many works of Fernando Botero. New universities also opened in the city: University of Medellín (1950) and EAFIT University
Universidad EAFIT
Universidad EAFIT , is a Colombian university located in El Poblado District - Medellín, This private university was created by the enterprise groups of Medellín in order to create a professional background for the development of the industrialization process in Colombia.It was approved by the...
(1960).
Research
The American Geographical Society is currently working on a project to assemble a complete virtual bibliography of Comuna 13, one of the many barrios of Medellín.Medellín has the biggest research-dedicated building in Colombia called University Research Building a facility that concentrates the top research groups of the University of Antioquia
University of Antioquia
The University of Antioquia , also called UdeA, is a public, departmental, coeducational, research university based primarily in the city of Medellín, Antioquía, Colombia. It is the largest higher education institution by student population in the northwest of the country, and the second in...
.
Today
The position of Medellín as the second industrial city in Colombia, after Bogotá, has been a main factor in overcoming its crisis of the 1980s and 1990s. The Metro de MedellínMetro de Medellín
The Medellín Metro is an urban train that crosses the Metropolitan Area of Medellín from North to South and from Centre to West. As one of the first experiences of modern mass transportation in Colombia and the only metro system in the country, the Medellín Metro is a product of the urban planning...
, a massive urban transport service, became the pride of the city, and so far the only sign of the Medellín Master Plan of the 1950s. The construction of the Plaza Mayor of Medellín, an international center for congresses and expositions, was designed to show the globalized
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
economy of Colombia to the world. Medellín is today a modern city with a population of three million.
The former violence also served the purpose of demolishing the high social barriers that were the basis of many social evils. Social exclusion has eased due to the development of transport infrastructure; the Metro, a new system of public buses is being planned with the so-called "Metroplus" and a network of ski-lifts in the poorest barrio communities called the "MetroCable". Today's Medellín includes spaces for art, poetry, drama, the construction of public libraries, the foundation of new ecological parks, and the inclusion of people of the city in its development.
The city administration has pursued policies that have been lauded by researchers at the Overseas Development Institute
Overseas Development Institute
The Overseas Development Institute is one of the leading independent think tanks on international development and humanitarian issues. Based in London, its mission is "to inspire and inform policy and practice which lead to the reduction of poverty, the alleviation of suffering and the achievement...
as helping pioneer a post-Washington consensus
Washington Consensus
The term Washington Consensus was coined in 1989 by the economist John Williamson to describe a set of ten relatively specific economic policy prescriptions that he considered constituted the "standard" reform package promoted for crisis-wracked developing countries...
'local development state' model of economic development, see here.
Geography and climate
Medellín has an area of 382 km² (147.5 sq mi). It has 16 comunas (districts), 5 corregimientoCorregimiento
Corregimiento is a term used in Colombia to define a subdivision of Colombian departments. According to the Colombian Constitution of 1991 and Decree 2274 of October 4, 1991, Corregimiento is an internal part of a Department or province, which includes a population core...
s (townships), and 271 barrio
Barrio
Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...
s.
The metropolitan area
Metropolitan area
The term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...
of Medellín lies within the Aburrá valley at an elevation of 1,500 meters (about 4921 feet) and is bisected by the Medellín River
Medellín river
The Medellín River , called Porce River during most of its course, is a river that flows though the Colombian city of Medellín and its metropolitan area...
(also called Porce), which flows northward. North of the valley are the towns of Bello
Bello, Antioquia
Bello is a town and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia and is a suburb of Medellín, the department capital. Bello is part of the Metropolitan Area of Medellín.-Demographics:...
, Copacabana
Copacabana, Antioquia
Copacabana is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia. Copacabana is part of the Metropolitan Area of Medellín....
, Girardota
Girardota
Girardota is a town and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia. Girardota is part of the Metropolitan Area of Medellín....
and Barbosa
Barbosa, Antioquia
Barbosa is a town and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia. Situated 39 km from the city of Medellín, it is one of the municipalities of the Metropolitan Area of Medellín. It is known as the Gateway to the Northeast, famous for its lakes and streams. A traditional Pineapple Festival...
. To the south of the valley lie Itagüí
Itagüí
Itagüí is a town and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia. Itagüí is part of the Metropolitan Area of Medellín.Itagüí is known as the most industrialized city in all Colombia, therefore having the nickname, "La ciudad industrial"....
, Envigado
Envigado
Envigado is a city of Colombia in the department of Antioquia, located at the south of the Aburrá Valley and belonging to the Metropolitan Area of Medellín. It has limits at its north with El Poblado, Medellín; at its south with Sabaneta; at its east with El Retiro and Caldas and at west with Itagüí...
, Sabaneta
Sabaneta, Antioquia
Sabaneta is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia, also part of the Metropolitan Area of Medellín.Sabaneta is well known for its cathedral, Maria Auxiliadora and its surrounding nightclubs, bars and arts & crafts stores...
, La Estrella
La Estrella
La Estrella may refer to:*La Estrella, Chile*La Estrella, ColombiaEstrella may refer to:*El Tren Estrella A Spanish rail service*Estrella , a 250cc motorcycle manufactured by Kawasaki*Estrella , jazz band from Malaysia...
and Caldas
Caldas
Caldas may refer to:*Çaldaş, Azerbaijan* Caldas Department, in Colombia.* Caldas, Antioquia, a town in Antioquia, Colombia.* Caldas, Minas Gerais, a town in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil...
.
Medellín features a tropical rainforest climate
Tropical rainforest climate
A tropical rainforest climate, also known as an equatorial climate, is a tropical climate usually found along the equator...
(Af), albeit a noticeably cooler version of this climate that borders closely on a subtropical highland climate (Cfb) and also on a tropical monsoon climate
Tropical monsoon climate
Tropical monsoon climate, occasionally also known as a tropical wet climate or tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate in climate classification, is a relatively rare type of climate that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category "Am."Tropical monsoon climates have monthly...
(Am). Because Medellín is located at 5000 ft (1,524 m) above sea level
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
, its climate is not as hot as other cities located at the same latitude near the equator. Because of its altitude above sea level
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
and privileged location in the Andes Range, Medellín's weather at times is more characteristic of a humid subtropical climate
Humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a climate zone characterized by hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters...
than that of a tropical climate
Tropical climate
A tropical climate is a climate of the tropics. In the Köppen climate classification it is a non-arid climate in which all twelve months have mean temperatures above...
. The city's average annual temperature is 22 °C (72 °F), and because of its proximity to the equator, its temperature is constant year round, with minimal temperature variations. Temperatures range from 15 to 30 °C (59 to 86 F). Because of the pleasant springlike climate all year, Medellín is known as “La Ciudad de la Eterna Primavera” or “City of the Eternal Spring”. However, as the city is located in a valley and many of its districts are on slopes, temperatures can be slightly cooler on the surrounding mountains.
Administrative divisions
Medellín is a city governed by a republicanRepublicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
democratic system as stated in the Colombian Constitution of 1991
Colombian Constitution of 1991
The Political Constitution of Colombia, better known as the Constitution of 1991, is the current governing document of the Republic of Colombia. Promulgated on July 4 of 1991 , it replaced the Constitution of 1886...
, with decentralized government. Administration is shared by the Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Medellín and the Municipal Council, both elected by popular vote.
The municipality is made up of official departments (secretarías) including departments for social mobility, urban culture, social development, education, evaluation and control, government, resources, public works, administrative services, environment, women, and transportation. There are also many departments with a certain autonomy: the Olaya Herrera Airport, the Public Library (Biblioteca Pública Piloto), the College of Antioquia (Colegio Mayor), the Urban Development Enterprise (EDU), the Public Service Enterprise (EEPPM), the Sport and Recreation Institute (INDER), the General Enterprises of Medellín (EEVVM), the Medellín Bus stations, the General Hospital of Medellín, the health service enterprise "Metrosalud", the Metropolitan Institute of Technology (ITM), the Metro de Medellín
Metro de Medellín
The Medellín Metro is an urban train that crosses the Metropolitan Area of Medellín from North to South and from Centre to West. As one of the first experiences of modern mass transportation in Colombia and the only metro system in the country, the Medellín Metro is a product of the urban planning...
, the Department for the Administration of the Medellín parks (Metroparques) and Metroseguridad.
The city belongs to the Medellín Metropolitan Area, which is made up of ten municipalities. Medellín is divided into six zones and these are subdivided into 16 comunas (communes). The barrio
Barrio
Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...
s and urban institutional areas make up the communes. More than 249 barrios and five townships
Corregimiento
Corregimiento is a term used in Colombia to define a subdivision of Colombian departments. According to the Colombian Constitution of 1991 and Decree 2274 of October 4, 1991, Corregimiento is an internal part of a Department or province, which includes a population core...
are part of the municipality of Medellín.
Zones
- South-eastern Zone: El Poblado communes.
- South-western Zone: Guayabal and Belén communes.
- West Central Zone: Laureles, La América and San Javier communes.
- East Central Zone: La Candelaria, Villa Hermosa and Buenos Aires communes.
- North-western Zone: Castilla, Doce de Octubre and Robledo communes.
- North-eastern Zone: Aranjuez, Manrique, Popular and Santa Cruz communes.
- CorregimientoCorregimientoCorregimiento is a term used in Colombia to define a subdivision of Colombian departments. According to the Colombian Constitution of 1991 and Decree 2274 of October 4, 1991, Corregimiento is an internal part of a Department or province, which includes a population core...
s (townships): San Sebastián de Palmitas, San Cristóbal, Altavista, San Antonio de Prado and Santa Elena.
Law and government
Politics and law in Colombia are centralized; that is, most laws are agreed on and passed in the capital city of BogotáBogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
. The government of the City of Medellín is divided into executive
Executive (government)
Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
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).
Local Development State
Low tax rates mean Medellín's city administration's social and economic development policies have been funded by the city's ownership of the main energy supplier, Empresas Publicas de Medellín (EPM); 30% of its profits go directly to the city's administrative budget. In addition to infrastructure projects, the city administration has developed a program of cash grants called 'the Medellín Solidaria' programme that are very similar to BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
's highly successful Bolsa Familia
Bolsa Família
Bolsa Família is a social welfare program of the Brazilian government, part of the Fome Zero network of federal assistance programs. Bolsa Família provides financial aid to poor Brazilian families; if they have children, families must ensure that the infants attend school and are vaccinated...
and also the city runs the Cultura E programme.
According to the city administration, Medellín Solidaria represents an improvement on Colombia's national programme, 'Familias en Accion' (Families in Action). The city administration is further responsible for coordinating more than 100 other social programmes. Under the Cultura E programme, the city administration has established a network of 14 publicly-funded business support centres known as CEDEZO, Centros de Desarrollo Empresarial Zonal). The CEDEZOs are found in the poorest areas of Medellín and support the poor in developing business by providing free-of-charge business support services and technical advice.
Also, as part of Cultura E, there is Banco de las Opportunidades that provides microloans (up to $2,500 at a cheap interest rates 0.91% monthly). This has helped create more equal opportunities for all and overcome the barriers to entry to business for poor entrepreneurs with good ideas, but lacking capital, skills and connections. It has also helped develop the local economy with new micro-enterprises.
However, several mayoral candidates for the October 2011 elections have argued the Banco de las Opportunidades's interest rates are too high, loan maturity is too short and it should have grace period
Grace period
A grace period is a time past the deadline for an obligation during which a late penalty that would have been imposed is waived. Grace periods, which can range from a number of minutes to a number of days or longer, depending on the context, can apply in various situations, including arrival at a...
s. They therefore suggest a new small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development bank to complement the Banco de las Opportunidades.
Crime
Medellín was once known as the most violent city in the world, a result of an urban war set off by the drug cartels at the end of the 1980s. As the home of the Medellín CartelMedellín Cartel
The Medellín Cartel was an organized network of "drug suppliers and smugglers" originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia. The drug cartel operated in Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Central America, the United States, as well as Canada and Europe throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It was founded and...
funded by Pablo Escobar
Pablo Escobar
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was a Colombian drug lord. He was an elusive cocaine trafficker and rich and successful criminal. He owned numerous luxury residences, automobiles, and even airplanes...
, the city was victim of the terror caused by the war between the organization headed by Escobar, and competing organizations such as "El Cartel del Valle". However, after the death of Escobar, crime rates in the city began to decrease.
Throughout the rest of the 1990s crime rates remained relatively high, although gradually declining from the worst years. In October 2002, President Álvaro Uribe
Álvaro Uribe
Alvaro Uribe Vélez was the 58th President of Colombia, from 2002 to 2010. In August 2010 he was appointed Vice-chairman of the UN panel investigating the Gaza flotilla raid....
ordered the military to carry out "Operation Orion," whose objective was to disband the urban militias of the FARC
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army is a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization based in Colombia which is involved in the ongoing Colombian armed conflict, currently involved in drug dealing and crimes against the civilians..FARC-EP is a peasant army which...
and the AUC. Between 2003 and 2006 the demobilization of the remaining urban militias of the AUC was completed, with more than 3,000 armed men giving up their weapons.
Nonetheless after the disbanding of the main paramilitary groups, many members of such organizations have been known to have reorganized into criminal bands known commonly as Aguilas Negras. These groups have gained notoriety in Medellín for calling upon curfews for the underage population, and have been known to distribute fliers announcing the social cleansing
Cleansing
Cleansing may refer to:* Cleansing - by Prong* Ethnic cleansing* Cleanliness* Body cleansing or detoxification - disputed alternative medical practice**Colon cleansing...
of prostitutes, drug addicts, and alcoholics. The extradition of paramilitary leader Don Berna
Diego Murillo Bejarano
Diego Fernando Murillo Bejarano, also known as Don Berna or Adolfo Paz, is a former leader of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia paramilitary group operating in Colombia. He started working for the Medellín Cartel and was ultimately to lead its militia wing...
appears to have sparked a crime wave with a sharp increase in killings.
There were 33% more murders in 2008 than 2007, with an increase from 654 to 871 violent deaths. This increased further by over 200% in 2009 to 2,899 violent deaths, or about 110 deaths per 100,000 people, 2.5 times the average homicide rate in Colombia and 20 times the average homicide rate in the United States for that same year. An average of 9 people were killed every day in 2009. There is a significant disparity in crime rates by neighborhoods, with virtually no homicides in El Poblado to areas with open gunfights in the outskirts. Generally, crime rates increase the further the neighborhood is from the center.
Economy
The present-day economy of Medellín is one of the largest in Colombia and is led by a powerful group of people from the private sector known as the Grupo Empresarial Antioqueño (Antioquian Enterprises Group). It was formerly known as the Sindicato Antioqueño (Antioquian Union), but after being mistaken abroad for a labor union, which hampered its international growth for many years, a new formal name was chosen. It is represented by David Bojanini, head of Suramericana de Seguros (an insurance conglomerate); Carlos Piedrahita of the Compañía Nacional de Chocolates (food industry); José Alberto Velez of Cementos Argos (a multinational cement company); and Jorge Londoño, head of Bancolombia, NYSE (cib), (Colombia's largest bank). This group has an aggregate market capitalization of approximately US $17 billion dollars, and employs more than 80,000 Colombians.This group also participates in other sectors of the city industry and is an active trader in the Colombian stock exchange. Medellín serves as headquarters for many national and multinational companies.
The main economic products are steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
, textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
s, confections, food and beverage, agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
(from its rural area), public services
Public services
Public services is a term usually used to mean services provided by government to its citizens, either directly or by financing private provision of services. The term is associated with a social consensus that certain services should be available to all, regardless of income...
, chemical products and pharmaceuticals, refined oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
, and flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s. Fashion is a major part of the economy and culture of the city. Medellín is known as the Milan of Latin America and hosts Latin America's biggest fashion show, Colombiamoda.
Tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
has strongly developed in Medellín in recent years.
Aerolínea de Antioquia
Aerolínea de Antioquia
ADA S.A., operating as Aerolínea de Antioquia , is a regional airline with its headquarters on the property of Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellín, Colombia. It started operations in 1987. The airline operates scheduled domestic services from Medellín to over 20 destinations...
has its headquarters on the grounds of Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellín. When it existed, the airline West Caribbean Airways
West Caribbean Airways
West Caribbean Airways S.A. was an airline with its headquarters in Hangar 73 on the grounds of Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellín, Colombia. Because of financial problems following two crashes in 2005 it ceased operations that September....
had its headquarters on the grounds of Olaya Herrera Airport. ACES Colombia
ACES Colombia
ACES was an airline with its headquarters in the Edificio del Cafe in Medellín, Colombia and founded on August 30, 1971 by a group of 13 Colombian entrepreneurs, amongst them, most notably Orlando Botero Escobar and German Peñaloza Arias from Manizales and Luis H...
was headquartered in the city.
Gross domestic product
According to Proexport ColombiaProexport Colombia
Proexport is a government agency of the Executive Branch of the Government of Colombia in charge of promoting Colombian non-traditional exports, international tourism and foreign investment to Colombia by providing domestic companies with support and integral advisory services for their...
, the gross domestic product
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
(GDP) can be studied in two areas: Medellín as the Metropolitan Area of Medellín
Metropolitan Area of Medellín
The Metropolitan Area of Medellín or the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley is a metropolitan area and subregion in the Colombian Department of Antioquia...
and Medellín itself. As a Metro Area, it contributes 67% of the total GDP of the Department of Antioquia. The city of Medellín alone contributes 55% of the GDP of the department. Antioquia itself is the second greatest economic region of Colombia. By 2005, Antioquia's GDP was more than USD 14,700,000,000 and it is the top exporting state in Colombia. The Aburrá Valley is the top economy in the state and its GDP was USD 7,800 million.
The Medellín Metropolitan Area produces 67% of the Department of Antioquia's GDP
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
and 11% of the economy of Colombia
Economy of Colombia
Colombia has a free market economy with major commercial and investment ties to the United States. Transition from a highly regulated economy has been underway for more than a decade....
. Medellín is the second economic region in Colombia, after Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
, in 2005.
The 2005 Report of the Economic Colombian Review of Proexport and the International Cooperation Agency of Medellín concluded that Medellín was at the same level of GDP contribution to the national economy as cities like Panama
Panama City
Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the...
in Panama, and San José de Costa Rica.
Medellín Cluster
Business cluster
A business cluster is a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions in a particular field. Clusters are considered to increase the productivity with which companies can compete, nationally and globally. In urban studies, the term agglomeration is used...
. The city is the top exporting region of the country, with 1,750 export businesses based in Medellín. The Cluster was created with the support of the Chamber of Commerce of Medellín and the City Administration for an actual total of 21,000 companies that share 40% of total exports, 25% of the regional GDP, and 40% of Metro Area employment. The main economic activities of the Medellín Cluster (MC) are in electricity generation
Electricity generation
Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...
, textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
, fashion design
Fashion design
Fashion design is the art of the application of design and aesthetics or natural beauty to clothing and accessories. Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social latitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion designers work in a number of ways in designing clothing and accessories....
, construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
, tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
and business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
. One current goal of the Medellín Cluster is to include health services, an important sector in the local economy.
Tourism and recreation
The tourism in Medellín is mainly focused on business tourism, conferences and conventions and medical tourism. The city boasts the International Centre Conventions and Exhibitions "Plaza Mayor" which is the epicenter of large events and business. The hotel infrastructure is focused primarily to executive market, offering all the necessities required for this segment, some include rooms almost all types of events. There are plenty of Hotels in all areas, you can see here a list of them. In the field of medical tourism, Medellín has become an important place due to the medical level, the most common treatments are cosmetic surgery, refractive surgery, transplants and treatments related to heart problems and cancer.One of the most visited sites is the Arví Ecotourism Park, which has an area of about 20,000 hectares, covers virtually the entire territory of the village of Santa Elena, and runs between the towns of Bello
Bello, Antioquia
Bello is a town and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia and is a suburb of Medellín, the department capital. Bello is part of the Metropolitan Area of Medellín.-Demographics:...
, Copacabana
Copacabana, Antioquia
Copacabana is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia. Copacabana is part of the Metropolitan Area of Medellín....
, and Envigado
Envigado
Envigado is a city of Colombia in the department of Antioquia, located at the south of the Aburrá Valley and belonging to the Metropolitan Area of Medellín. It has limits at its north with El Poblado, Medellín; at its south with Sabaneta; at its east with El Retiro and Caldas and at west with Itagüí...
. In its trails, lakes, forests and streams, it can practice various sports and activities like trekking, kayak
Kayak
A kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...
ing, biking, camping
Camping
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
, fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, sailing rowing, horseback riding, bike tours and picnic
Picnic
In contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...
s. Its supervisory position over Medellín allows it to offer natural landscapes overlooking over the entire city.
The city is surrounded from above by seven Foster hills, who offer a variety of services, as well as serving as natural viewpoints of the big city, are considered suitable sites for the healthy leisure, recreation, enjoyment, research, sport, culture, education and ecotourism. This set consists of El Volador, La Asomadera, Nutibara, Pan de Azúcar, El Salvador, El Picacho and Santo Domingo. In these natural public spaces can find a varied offer including viewpoints, pre-Hispanic roads, religious icons, culture and Antioquian traditions, bird watching (ornithology), the most complete herbal living of Aburrá Valley
Aburrá Valley
Aburrá Valley , is the natural basin of the Medellín River and one of the most populous valleys of Colombia in its Andean Region with near 3 million inhabitants. The valley is located on the Central Range, over the Antioquian Mountain just between the Magdalean and Cauca valleys from east to west...
and the remains of early settlers native of Medellín, among other attractions.
Most people in Medellín professes the Catholic religion, which is reflected in its temples and religious activities, that are worth seeing and appreciating. The Holy week
Holy Week
Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter...
is celebrated with devotion and the December dates it living in family and the city is covered with thousands of fairy lights, creating the famous Christmas lights, which can be seen mainly in the Avenue la Playa and the Medellín River.
Among the most representative churches are the Metropolitan Cathedral, of Eclectic style prevailing the Romanesque; is 45 meters of high and 5000 m² (5,979.95 sq yd) of area, built entirely in baked brick, aspect which is the largest cathedral in the world in such material. There is also the Basilica of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, which was the official cathedral until 1931, the Church of la Veracruz, the oldest of Medellín, the Church of San Ignacio, Baroque on the outside and Colonial on inside, the Church of San José (Medellín)Church of San José (center), the Church of San Antonio, which has one of the biggest domes in Colombia, all of these temples have a great religious art and are located in the center of the city, which facilitates their journeys. It also highlights the Church of San José del Poblado, located in the Parque del Poblado where it founded the first settlement of the Aburrá Valley
Aburrá Valley
Aburrá Valley , is the natural basin of the Medellín River and one of the most populous valleys of Colombia in its Andean Region with near 3 million inhabitants. The valley is located on the Central Range, over the Antioquian Mountain just between the Magdalean and Cauca valleys from east to west...
in 1616.
Other churches of equal value are: C. Nuestra Señora del Sufragio, C. San Benito, C. San Juan de Dios, C. Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, C. Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro, C. del Señor de las Misericordias, C. Jesús Nazareno, C. Nuestra Señora del Sagrado Corazón, among others.
Another interesting activity for lovers of art is to walk the streets of Medellín, because in it, it goes through a veritable museum of outdoor sculptures.
By direction of the Municipal Government, between 1980 and 1990 all development or tall building to be built should include a sculpture of a famous artist. That is one reason why the Colombian city of Medellín is the largest number of sculptures per square kilometer and is the most traditional arts in the artistic cast.
Furthermore, in the city have made festivals and art exhibitions that have left valuable works. The center of Medellín has the largest number of sculptures, together with the Avenida el Poblado and Parque de las Esculturas in Cerro Nutibara.
Works of many prominent artists, both local and foreign, can be seen on the streets of the city, among many others, some artists that stand out are the masters Rodrigo Arenas Betancur and Fernando Botero
Fernando Botero
Fernando Botero Angulo is a Colombian figurative artist. His works feature a figurative style, called by some "Boterismo", which gives them an unmistakable identity...
.
Urban development
There are signs of heavy urban development within the city of Medellín, particularly with the construction of new skyscrapers. Medellín is currently outpacing all other major Colombian cities, including Bogotá, the nation's capital and economic center, in the construction and proposed development of new high-rises. As of April, 2010, there were 124 high-rises under construction in Medellín, including 42 being planned.Other projects that the city has planned are extensions of the cities metro system to nearby cities such as Sabaneta. Currently in construction the new project is set to open to the public soon.Education
Medellín is also home to over 30 universities that serve mainly the Antioquia State, the "Eje Cafetero" (Colombian Coffee-Growers AxisColombian Coffee-Growers Axis
Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis , also known as Coffee Triangle is a part of the Colombian Paisa region which is famous for growing and production of a majority of the Colombian coffee, considered by some as the best coffee in the world. There are three departments in the area: Caldas, Quindío and...
) 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 EAFIT University, Universidad de Medellín, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Universidad de San Buenaventura, Escuela de Ingenieria de Antioquia, Universidad Santo Tomas, Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje SENA and CES. There are also important technological centers such as the Metropolitan Institute of Technology (ITM).
Many non-governmental organizations and official organizations support the development of children and youth from poor communities. Ciudad Don Bosco cares for street children
Street children
A street child is a child who lives on the streets of a city, deprived of family care and protection. Most children on the streets are between the ages of about 5 and 17 years old.Street children live in junk boxes, parks or on the street itself...
. The pacification of the city brought organizations to the poorest quarters to work with youth involved in urban violence, in order to improve their opportunities. Medellín universities, public and private, also played a role, along with official institutions both local and national.
Air transportation
José María Córdova International Airport
José María Córdova International Airport is the main airport serving the Colombian city of Medellín and its surrounding metropolitan area. The airport is located about 30 minutes from the urban area by the new Las Palmas express way, in the municipality of Rionegro...
(MDE) is in Rionegro, another municipality east of Medellín and outside the Aburrá Valley. It serves both international and domestic destinations, and can handle large aircraft and night landings. There are international flights daily to and from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Orlando
Orlando
Orlando is a major city in the U.S. state of Florida.Orlando may also refer to-Places:* in Florida** Orlando, a major city** Greater Orlando, the 27th-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, Quito
Quito
San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...
, Panama City
Panama City
Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the...
, Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
, Guayaquil
Guayaquil
Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...
, San José, Costa Rica
San José, Costa Rica
San José is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica. Located in the Central Valley, San José is the seat of national government, the focal point of political and economic activity, and the major transportation hub of this Central American nation.Founded in 1738 by order of Cabildo de León, San...
, and other important cities. Olaya Herrera Airport (EOH) serves mainly regional flights, commuter and light aircraft.
Land transportation
Medellin has two transportation terminals, Terminal de Transporte Intermunicipal del Norte (North Transportation Terminal) and Terminal de Transporte Intermunicipal del Sur (South Transportation Terminal). The city's public transport system includes diesel buses, taxis, and an urban train referred as the Medellin Metro, the only metro system in Colombia. The Metro connects the city with most of its metropolitan area. Line A goes from Itagüí to Niquía, while Line B goes from San Antonio to San Javier. In addition, Line K and Line J, an air cable car, locally known as Metrocable, serve a depressed and geographically difficult area. Line K begins at Acevedo Station on Metro Line A, and continues uphill, ending at Santo Domingo Savio. Line J begins at San Javier Station on Metro Line B, and continues uphill to La Aurora. A new Metrocable line (Line S) is planned to open in 2009, and will connect Santo Domingo Savio with El Tambo in Arví Park near GuarneGuarne
Guarne is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia. Part of the subregion of Eastern Antioquia.-History:The first settlers of Guarne were Tahamíes Indians who came from the Nare River. In 1541, Alvaro Mendoza encountered the Guarne area, but finding no gold, returned to the...
. Medellín is the only Colombian city with such a transport system.
Despite the variety of options, traffic in Medellín has become chaotic, as the number of vehicles has exceeded highway capacity; furthermore, pollution produced by diesel buses has become a major issue, notably in the center of the city and the southern district of El Poblado. The city has no space for the construction of new highways.
In 2006, construction began on Metroplús, a bus service with a dedicated road, much like Bogotá's TransMilenio
TransMilenio
TransMilenio is a bus rapid transit system that serves Bogotá, the capital of Colombia. The system opened to the public in December 2000, covering Av. Caracas and Calle 80...
. This will allow faster transit for the service's buses and Metro stations. Metroplus will be inaugurated in 2009, and it will cover most of the city. The first leg will be the Troncal Medellín, which goes from the Universidad de Medellín in the west to Aranjuez in the northeast part of the city. Metroplus will help lessen the city's pollution and traffic, as many old buses will be taken out of service, while the new buses will work with natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
.
Demography
| Growing of the population of Medellín between 1905–2005 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Years with census | % growing year base 1905 |
|
| 1905* | 59,815 | 100% |
| 1912* | 70,547 | 118% |
| 1918* | 79,146 | 132% |
| 1928* | 120,044 | 201% |
| 1938* | 168,266 | 281% |
| 1951** | 358,189 | 599% |
| 1964** | 772,887 | 1292% |
| 1973** | 1,077,252 | 1791% |
| 1985** | 1,468,089 | 2454% |
| 1993** | 1,630,009 | 2725% |
| 2005** | 2,223,078 | 3717% |
| *Historia de Antioquia - **Censos del DANE | ||
The Aburrá Valley contains 58% of the population of the Department of Antioquia, and 67% of the Aburrá Valley population lives in the city of Medellín. Of the inhabitants of Medellín, 61.3% were born in the city, 38% in other parts of Colombia and 0,3% in another country.
According to the National Administrative Department of Statistics
National Administrative Department of Statistics
The National Administrative Department of Statistics , commonly referred to as DANE, is the Colombian Administrative Department responsible for the planning, implementation, analysis and diffusion of the official statistics of Colombia. DANE is also in charge of carrying out the National census...
, Medellín had, by 2005, a population of 2,223,078 inhabitants, making it the second largest city in Colombia. The metropolitan area of Medellín in 2005 included 3,312,165 inhabitants. There are 5820 people per square kilometer in the city. There were 130,031 people living in the city townships; 46.7% of the population are male and 53.3% are female. Illiteracy is 9.8% in persons older than 5 years old. 98.8% of the households in Medellín have electricity, 97.3% have drinking water, and 91% have a land-line phone.
Birth and death
According to the 2005 DANE census, in that year Medellín registered 33,307 births, slightly fewer than in 2004 (33,615). In 2005 the number of deaths was 10,828, in 2004 11,512.Ethnicities
The ethnographic makeup of the city is:- WhiteWhiteWhite is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
(descendants of Spanish colonists, including Basques, Sephardic Jews, Ashkenazi JewsAshkenazi JewsAshkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
, other Europeans, and Arabs) 70%. - MestizoMestizoMestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
(those of mixed Spanish and indigenous Amerindian descent) 20% - Afro-ColombianAfro-ColombianAfro Colombians refers to Colombians of African ancestry, and the great impact they have had on Colombian culture. Notable Afro-Colombians include Colombian scientists like Raul Cuero, writers like Manuel Zapata Olivella and politicians:...
6.5% - Indigenous AmerindiansIndigenous peoples of the AmericasThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
: 0.1%
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Medellín received many immigrants from Spain, and some forced immigration from West Africa. Most Indigenous peoples died from the introduction of European diseases, and many of those who survived intermarried with early Spanish settlers, who were mostly men; later, Spanish women also began to immigrate. During the 19th century, immigrants arrived from Lebanon, Jordan, Germany, and Portugal. Many people from Medellín are referred to as Paisas
Paisa Region
The Paisas are a people who inhabit a region over the northwest Colombia in the Andes.The region is formed by the departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío. Some regions of Valle del Cauca Department and Tolima Department belong to the cultural identity of paisas...
, people of mainly Spanish ancestry, a lot of them Basque origin mixed with African and Indigenous blood. There is a small Afro-Colombian and Zambo-Colombian (people of Indigenous and African descent) population .
The Chocó Department
Chocó Department
Chocó is a department of Colombia known for its large Afro-Colombian population. It is in the west of the country, and is the only Colombian department to have coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It also has all of Colombia's border with Panama. Its capital is...
is just west of Antioquia, and is home to many Afro-Colombian and Zambo-Colombian migrants to Medellín and its vicinity. Migration from the Colombian Caribbean coast has been important, especially that of young people who come to study in Medellín universities and remain to work in the city. The main foreign immigration is of Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
ians in informal trade.
Culture
The inhabitants of Medellín are often called Antioqueños (Antioquians) after their state, rather than Medellinenses (Medellinians) after their city. They are also often known as PaisasPaisa Region
The Paisas are a people who inhabit a region over the northwest Colombia in the Andes.The region is formed by the departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío. Some regions of Valle del Cauca Department and Tolima Department belong to the cultural identity of paisas...
, a name which some suggest comes from the coffee growers. The term Paisa comes from the word paisano (fellow countryman). Paisas make up one of the five different regional cultures within Colombia. The Paisa region
Paisa Region
The Paisas are a people who inhabit a region over the northwest Colombia in the Andes.The region is formed by the departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío. Some regions of Valle del Cauca Department and Tolima Department belong to the cultural identity of paisas...
includes the states of Caldas
Caldas
Caldas may refer to:*Çaldaş, Azerbaijan* Caldas Department, in Colombia.* Caldas, Antioquia, a town in Antioquia, Colombia.* Caldas, Minas Gerais, a town in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil...
, Risaralda
Risaralda
Risaralda may refer to:* Risaralda Department, in Colombia* Risaralda River* Risaralda, Caldas a town and municipality in Caldas Department...
, Quindio and some towns of Valle del Cauca and Tolima
Department of Tolima
Tolima is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the Andean region, in the center-west of the country. It is bordered on the north and the west by the department of Caldas; on the east by the department of Cundinamarca; on the south by the department of Huila, and on the west by the...
.
Although Paisa culture is dominant in Medellín (the "Paisa Capital"), the city is becoming more cosmopolitan, now offering music from other regions of Colombia (Vallenato
Vallenato
Vallenato, along with cumbia, is currently a popular folk music of Colombia. It primarily comes from the Colombia's Caribbean region. Vallenato literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá in...
and Chocó), and a variety of restaurants including Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n, and Argentinian
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
.
The Paisa culture has a Spanish background, and is traditionally Catholic, entrepreneurial, hard-working, and famously hospitable. Paisas are said to speak softly and quickly, to smile easily, and to love bullfights
Bullfighting
Bullfighting is a traditional spectacle of Spain, Portugal, southern France and some Latin American countries , in which one or more bulls are baited in a bullring for sport and entertainment...
, rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...
, music, poetry, soccer, bargaining in the markets, and parties. They are proud of their city. The Medellín weekend nightlife, in discos, pubs, parks, and certain dedicated streets, is traditionally called rumba.
Festivals and events
- Festival of the FlowersFestival of the FlowersFestival of the Flowers is a festival that takes place in Medellín, Colombia. The festival is the most important social event for the city and there is a pageant, automobiles, a Paso Fino horse parade and many musical concerts.-History:...
. It is the most representative event in the city of Medellín. Is done in late July to early August. The Festival, plus many other activities and festivities, is the main axis the Desfile de Silleteros, a colorful and artistic parade of flowers filled saddles on the back for their own grower and already well known internationally. - International Poetry Festival. This is an annual congregation of poets in almost all the world, who give at public his poems and readings of a peculiar way mass in parks, auditoriums, neighborhoods and towns near Medellín. This event has been awarded the Right Livelihood AwardRight Livelihood AwardThe Right Livelihood Award, also referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prize", is a prestigious international award to honour those "working on practical and exemplary solutions to the most urgent challenges facing the world today". The prize was established in 1980 by Jakob von Uexkull, and is...
, the prelude to the Nobel Peace Prize by the Right Livelihood Foundation of Sweden, and its aim is to strive for peace through poethic. The XVII International Poetry Festival of Medellín was performed between 14 and 22 July 2007, with the participation of over 80 poets from around 55 nations. - International Tango Festival. Popular annual celebration, an expression of the tango culture that Medellín adopted as their own. This is a legacy of the bard Carlos GardelCarlos GardelCarlos Gardel was a singer, songwriter and actor, and is perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was born in Toulouse, France, although he never acknowledged his birthplace publicly, and there are still claims of his birth in Uruguay. He lived in Argentina from the age of two...
, who died in this city in a plane crash in 1935. Among the activities of the Festival highlights the Tangovía, where people took to the streets en masse to dance, listen to tangoTango musicTango is a style of ballroom dance music in 2/4 or 4/4 time that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay . It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, double bass, and two bandoneons...
, milongaMilongaMilonga can refer to an Argentine, Uruguayan, and Southern Brazilian form of music which preceded the tango and the dance form which accompanies it, or to the term for places or events where the tango or Milonga are danced...
and obviously having fun at the behest of culture. - International Jazz Festival. The Corporación Medellín de Jazz and other entities in the city organized annually in September this traditional festival, with participation of renowned national and global exponents of the genre. Is performed simultaneously in several places in the city, including the outdoor theater of the Centro Comercial El Tesoro and the Café Teatro of the city. The Jazz Festival has embodied a revival of this music of newest generation in the city and attracts more and more renowned musicians and mass audience.
- Book Fair. One of the most important cultural events in Medellín, Medellín Book Fair is held with the participation of national and international authors and exhibitors from all genres. It is sponsored by the Mayor of Medellín.
- Festival del Humor. Annual celebration of laughter, humor, ballads, comedy and uncomplicated life, performed at the Teatro Metropolitano de Medellín with the participation of artists of humor throughout the country and abroad, and aims to cultivate and preserve the good humor as an important expression cultural as well as keeping the community a sustainable school or related artists dedicated to it.
- Parade of Myths and Legends. On the night of 7 December each year, the Noche de las luces, the center of the city is adorned with the parade that amid of costumes, songs and bands, evokes the most popular myths and legends of the region: La madre monte, El cura sin cabeza, La dama verde, El sombrerón, La llorona and many more.
- Feria internacional del caballo. Since 2009 was added to the horse paisa culture the Feria internacional del caballo, held in October, an exhibition truly unique and beautiful to watch with the participation of several countries and varied and fine horse races.
- Bullfighting Festival of La Macarena. One of the most important bullfighting festivals in the Americas, held every year between January and February enjoy of a lot of fans, it brings the best exponents of the bullfight and winners of the best places in the Americas and Spain, is held in the Plaza de toros de La Macarena, a plaza of Category A. Most revenues of the show is donated to the Hospital Universitario San Vicente de Paúl, in addition to generating a good income to the city.
Other highlights events of the city: Expofinca, Home Fair and the Cooperative Integration, Construction Fair, Metalworking Exhibition, Antioquía Fair, Expocasa, Colombiamoda, Superventas, Transport International Fair, Coffee of Colombia, Saludexpo, Expoempresa, Agroferia, Hecho a Mano and many others.
Museums and other venues
Medellín has about 40 galleries, which are one of the main attractions of the city.Some of the main museums are:
- Museum of AntioquiaMuseum of AntioquiaThe Museum of Antioquia is an art museum in Medellín, Colombia. It houses a large collection of works by Medellín native Fernando Botero and Pedro Nel Gómez.It was the first museum established in the department of Antioquia and the second in Colombia...
is the most important museum in Medellín, and one of the best known of ColombiaColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
. Was the first founded (1881) in the department of Antioquia, the second in the country. Its collections lie at the heart of Medellín in the old city hall, now transformed in the institution's headquarters, next to Plaza Botero.
- Museum of Modern Art of Medellín (MAMM), founded in 1978, has a valuable collection of contemporary art comprising sculptures, assemblages, paintings, photographs, and prints by local and foreign artists. One of its major attractions is the collection of almost all the works of the Antioquian painter Débora ArangoDébora ArangoDébora Arango was a Colombian artist, born in Medellín, Colombia as the daughter of Castor María Arango Díaz and Elvira Pérez. Though she was primarily a painter, Arango also worked in other media, such as ceramics and graphic art...
. Another of its main attractions is the projection of cinema-art. It is also headquarters of the International Biennale of Video in September.
- University Museum, University of Antioquia, was created in 1942, is located in University City. The area of anthropologyAnthropologyAnthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
exhibits a collection of 18 000 pieces of pre-Columbian potteryPotteryPottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
, stoneSTONeis a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Sin-Ichi Hiromoto. Kodansha released the two bound volumes of the manga on April 23, 2002 and August 23, 2002, respectively.The manga is licensed for an English-languague released in North America be Tokyopop...
, shellMollusc shellThe mollusc shell is typically a calcareous exoskeleton which encloses, supports and protects the soft parts of an animal in the phylum Mollusca, which includes snails, clams, tusk shells, and several other classes...
, metalMetalA metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
and textileTextileA textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
s, the second richest in the country, and a complete ethnographic collection. The area of visual arts includes contemporary painting and sculpture, and includes 1200 pieces of contemporary artists. The area of HistoryHistoryHistory is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
at the university collects in a thousand pieces and documents the 200 years of existence of the University, and the natural sciences section displays 5400 pieces, including native and exotic stuffed animals, skins for study, minerals and fossils.
- Museum El Castillo, built in 1930 in medieval Gothic and open to the public in 1971, has French-style gardens, explosions room, library and concert hall for 250 people, exhibit permanently porcelain and glass, stained glass, music, sculpture, piano and ballet.
- Interactive Museum EPM environment is part of Parque de los Pies Descalzos. Receives 1000 visit a day, mostly students. This is an educational tour of 22 rooms spread over four buildings in which, with technological resources and entertaining way, is explained and interacts with the physical principles of waterWaterWater is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
, energyEnergyIn physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
, gasGasGas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
and telecommunicationTelecommunicationTelecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
s. It is funded and managed by Empresas Públicas de MedellínEmpresas Públicas de MedellínEmpresas Públicas de Medellín was established 55 years ago as a residential public utilities company which, initially, only served the inhabitants of Medellin, its hometown...
.
- Mineralogy Museum is located in the School of Mines of National University of ColombiaNational University of ColombiaThe Universidad Nacional de Colombia , also called UNAL or just UN, is a public, national, coeducational, research university, located primarily in Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales and Palmira, Colombia...
. It has a permanent exhibition of a total of 2778 specimens, its collections are recognized by mineralogists and experts among the best museums in South America.
- Museum Cemetery San Pedro was built in 1842, became a museum in 1998 and declared a National monumentNational monumentA National monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of national importance such as a war or the country's founding. The term may also refer to a specific monument status, such as a National Heritage Site, which most national monuments are by reason of their cultural...
in 1999, this place is an integral part of cultural and architectural heritage of Medellín. Although it falls under the category of sculpture and architecture works representing the funerary art, the space has begun to emerge as a new venue for artistic dissemination. There is preserved collections of local and national art and, in full moon nights, there are concerts, shows, storytelling, theater and dance. But undoubtedly the most significant are the funerary monuments in memory of prominent figures in national history.
- House Museum Master Pedro Nel Gómez was the home where lived the master Pedro Nel GómezPedro Nel GómezPedro Nel Gómez was a Colombian engineer, architect, painter, and sculptor. He started the Colombian Muralist Movement with Santiago Martinez Delgado, strongly influenced by the Mexican movement. With the fresco mural technique, Pedro Nel Gómez created 2,200 square meters of murals in public...
; became a museum in 1975 with the donation by the artist and his family of the works in it. It currently has 1500 works, 200 square meters of fresco painting and an art library with over 500 volumes.
- Casa Museo Gardeliana disseminates the culture and history of the Tango. It was declared a Cultural Heritage and Historic Monument by the Council of Medellín in 2002. Founded on February 14, 1973, by the Argentine Leonardo Nieto Jarbon in the neighborhood Manrique, in a traditional house of simple looking. The famous tango singer Carlos GardelCarlos GardelCarlos Gardel was a singer, songwriter and actor, and is perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was born in Toulouse, France, although he never acknowledged his birthplace publicly, and there are still claims of his birth in Uruguay. He lived in Argentina from the age of two...
met his death in Medellín, in accident airplane crash. Since then -and before- exists in the city a deep tango culture. Some plaques testify the visit, to the house, of personalities from politics, entertainment and literature, as the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.
- Parque Explora is located between the Botanical Garden and the Parque Norte. Although its name suggests otherwise, it is more of an interactive museum, focused on scienceScienceScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, technology and many other aspects of knowledge and creativity. It offers visitors an experience of close contact with the cutting edge of science and technologyTechnologyTechnology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
, the universeUniverseThe Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
and outer space, natureNatureNature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
and our planet, the human body, biologyBiologyBiology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, ecologyEcologyEcology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
, research, creativity and inventiveness and learning by playing, among other factors. Provides, among other attractions, the largest aquariumAquariumAn aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...
in South AmericaSouth AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
where it can watch the fishes of the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, with a sample of the Colombian Caribbean and Pacific.
- Planetarium of Medellín is located in front to Parque de Los Deseos. With telescopes and projection room for 300 people, in its dome 17.5 meters in diameter are permanent exhibitions, for all ages, on our planetEarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
and space. Its services include an auditorium, library and a permanent exhibition on space history.
Other prominent museums are: Centro Cultural Banco de la República, Entomological Museum Francisco Luis Gallego, Casa Museo Santa Fe, Museum of Natural Sciences, Ethnographic Museum Miguel Ángel Builes and Museum of the Mother Laura.
Sports
Medellín's best-known and most popular sports clubs are the Atlético NacionalAtlético Nacional
Corporación Deportiva Atlético Nacional is a Colombian football team based in Medellín. They play their home games at the Estadio Atanasio Girardot stadium which also serves as home to Deportivo Independiente Medellín...
, Envigado F.C. and Independiente Medellín
Independiente Medellín
Corporación Deportiva Independiente Medellín is a professional Colombian football team competing in Fútbol Profesional Colombiano, the Colombian first division. The club is based in the city of Medellín and founded in 1913. It has won the league's national tournament known as Copa Mustang five...
football (soccer) teams. They play at the Atanasio Girardot Stadium. Medellín is also known for its two main swim teams, the Calamares Pilsen and the Huracanes. Three-time Tour de France lap winner Santiago Botero Echeverry
Santiago Botero
Santiago Botero Echeverry is a Colombian former professional road bicycle racer. He was a pro from 1996 to 2010, during which time he raced in three editions of the Tour de France and four editions of the Vuelta a España...
was born in the city. Medellín is also the birthplace of professional golfer and PGA Tour player Camilo Villegas
Camilo Villegas
Camilo Villegas is a Colombian professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the European Tour.-Early years:Villegas was born in Medellín, Colombia, and took up golf as a child...
.
On March 26 and 27 (2011) Medellín will host the 15th IAAF Pan American Race Walking Cup
Pan American Race Walking Cup
The Pan American Race Walking Cup is a biennial race walking competition for athletes representing countries from the Americas. It was established in 1984 and has featured races for senior men and women, and for junior athletes. The women competed in the 10 km road race until 1996, and then...
. Athletes and teams from the countries in North, South and Central American as well as the Caribbean Islands will be participating. Race Walking
Race walking
Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance athletic event. Although it is a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times...
is an Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
track & field event.
Nicknames of the city
Known as the "industrial capital of Colombia", Medellín is also called Ciudad de la Eterna Primavera (City of Everlasting Spring), Capital de la Montaña (Mountain Capital), Ciudad de las Flores (City of Flowers), "Capital de las Orquídeas" (Orchid Capital), La Bella Villa (the Beautiful Village), Tacita de Plata (Little Silver Cup), and Medallo (a modification of the city's name).Twin towns — Sister cities.
Medellín is twinned with: Bogotá D.CBogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
Cali
Calì
Calì, also written in English as Cali, is an Italian surname, widespread mainly in the Ionian side of Sicily.For the surname Calì is assumed the origin of the Greek word kalos , or from its Sanskrit root kali, "time."The surname refers to:...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
Fort Lauderdale, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Monterrey
Monterrey
Monterrey , is the capital city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León in the country of Mexico. The city is anchor to the third-largest metropolitan area in Mexico and is ranked as the ninth-largest city in the nation. Monterrey serves as a commercial center in the north of the country and is the...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
Tacuarembó
Tacuarembó
Tacuarembó is the capital city of the Tacuarembó Department in north-central Uruguay. It is located on Km. 390 of Route 5, south-southwest of Rivera, the capital city of the Rivera Department. Routes 26 and 31 also meet Route 5 within the city limits...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
.
Other forms of cooperation, partnership and city friendship
BarcelonaBarcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
External links
- The city's official government webpage
- The city's official government webpage in Spanish
- The city's official tourism portal
- Medellín travel page on Colombia Reports
- Medellín travel and expat blog
- Metro
- The Transformation of Medellín
- Map of Medellín
- 2006 Right Livelihood Award winner La Festival Internacional de Poesía de Medellín
- Colombia’s City On A Hill, Newsweek
- Paramilitaries and Rebels in Rehab by Ashifa Kassam, Fast Forward Weekly, June 25, 2009
- the metro of Medellín (video)