City in Colombia and capital of the Risaralda department
About Pereira, Colombia
Pereira is the capital city of the Colombian department of Risaralda. It is located in the foothills of the Andes in a coffee-producing area of Colombia officially known as the "Coffee Axis". Pereira, alongside the rest of the Coffee Axis, form part of UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia". It is the most populated city in the Coffee Axis. Pereira is also part of the Central West Metropolitan Area, which has 735.769 residents and is composed of Pereira and the neighboring cities of Dosquebradas and La Virginia. It is considered the most important city in the "Coffee Axis" from a geopolitical and economic standpoint.
Toponymy
Pereira was named after lawyer, land owner and naturist Francisco Pereira Martínez. He was a supporter of independence of the city, located in the same place as Old Cartago. The city of Pereira is known as "the pearl of Otún".
History
The history of the city goes back to the pre-Columbian era, in which the current city area was inhabited by the Quimbaya and Pijao cultures, widely recognized for their goldsmiths. In this region, Marshal Jorge Robledo founded the city of Cartago (Carthage) on August 9, 1540, but due to the siege of the pijaos or reasons of economic expediency this city was moved in 1691 to the site that currently occupies the north end of the Valley of the Cauca, towards the banks of the La Vieja river. The original site became jungle again and buried the remains of civilization. On the few ruins of the Spanish population, crossed by the route that led from Valle del Cauca to Medellín, through Manizales, a group of 20 Antioqueno families had already built their homes when a handful of Vallecaucanos appeared to find the population of Carthage La Vieja, today Pereira. …
Geography
Pereira is located within the Golden Triangle of Colombia, a broad zone informally delimited by tracing this figure over the map of Bogotá, Medellín and Cali. More narrowly defined, Pereira lies in the Central Cordillera (mountain range) of Colombia in the Otún and Cauca river valleys. The municipal area is 702 km2 It shares boundaries with the municipalities of La Virginia, Marsella and Dosquebradas to the north, Santa Rosa de Cabal the northeast, Tolima to the east, Quindío and Valle del Cauca to the south and Balboa and Valle del Cauca to the west. Pereira, like many Colombian cities, has high-elevation areas with difficult access or flat or steep parts. The streets are laid out according to the elevation of the respective zones. The greater part of the municipal territory corresponds to the sheer elevations of the Central Mountain range. …
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