Medellín

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

Medellín

Image:Banderamedellín.PNG	Image:Armsmedellin.JPG
Flag	Seal

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

Image:Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia (ubicación).PNG

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

Departamento

Antioquia

Region

Valle de Aburrá

Alcalde

Sergio Fajardo Valderrama

Area

- City

382 km²

Elevation

1495 m

Population

- City (2006)

2,223,078

- Density

5320.75/km²

Website: Government of Medellín official website

Medellín is the capital city of the Antioquia Department in Colombia. It was founded in 1616 by Francisco Herrera y Campuzano. As of 2006, Medellín municipality has a population of 2,223,078 inhabitants^{[citation needed]}, making it the second most populated city in Colombia after Bogotá ]<ref>Helders, Stefan. World Gazetteer: Colombia: largest cities: calc 2006. Retrieved on 2006-06-15.</ref><ref>Butler, Rhett (2003). Largest cities in Colombia (2002). Retrieved on 2006-06-15.</ref>. Medellín also serves as the core of the Valle de Aburrá (Aburrá Valley) metropolitan area, the second largest in Colombia, with more than 3.3 million inhabitants, and a leading and productive industrial and urban center. Until the late 1990s, the city was known for being a base for the most powerful international drug trafficking organizations like the homebased Medellín Cartel, lead by Pablo Escobar, and for being constantly affected by the violent Colombian conflict. Recent social changes have led to make Medellín a safer place<ref>Butler, Rhett (2003). [1]. violence in cities - Colombia (2005)]. Retrieved on 2006-10-16.</ref> The city's major concern, shared by many other Colombian cities, is the ongoing unemployment and sub-employment problem. People from Antioquia and especially from Medellín are called Paisas although the Paisas are people from the departments of Antioquia, Risaralda, Caldas and Quindío.

1 History
2 Geography and climate
3 Economy
4 Education
5 Transportation
- 5.1 Air transportation
- 5.2 Land transportation
6 Ethnicities
7 Culture
8 Sister cities
9 References
10 External links

[edit] History

Aburrá Valley as seen from Cerro Quitasol

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

Throughout history Medellín has gone by different names: Aburrá de los Yamesíes, San Lorenzo de Aburrá, San Lorenzo de Aná, Valle de San Bartolomé, Villa de la Candelaria de Medellín and Medellín. The name of Medellín originally came from "Metellium", the ancient Latin name for today's town of Medellín, Extremadura in the province of Badajoz, Spain. "Metellium", in turn, is derived from the name of the Roman founder of the city in 75 AD, Cecilio Metello. The capital of Antioquia was named after said Spanish town in honor of the earl of that city, Pedro Portocarrero, who was the president of the Consejo de Indias of Spain at the time.

[edit] Geography and climate

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

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

[edit] Economy

The present-day economy of Medellín is one of the largest of Colombia and is lead by a powerful group of people from the private sector known as the Sindicato Antioqueño (Antiocheans Union) and formally known as the Grupo Empresarial Antioqueño (Antiochean Industrious Group). Represented by Nicanor Restrepo; who leads Suramericana de Seguros (an insurance conglomerate), Fabio Rico; with the Compañía Nacional de Chocolates (Food industry), Adolfo Arango; Cementos Argos (a multinational cement company) and Darío Múnera; leading Coltabaco, (a national cigarette industry). Together they consolidated this group that has an approximate yearly income of US$7 billion dollars and who employ more than 80,000 Colombians<ref>Grupo Empresarial Antioqueño on www.suleasing-intl.com. Accessed 15 October 2006.</ref>.

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

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

Medellín main economic produces are in steel, textiles, confections, food and beverage, agriculture (from its rural area), public services, chemical products and medical drugs, refined oil and flower exports.

[edit] Education

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

[edit] Transportation

[edit] Air transportation

International flights are served through José María Córdova International Airport, located in Rionegro, outside the city and outside the Aburra Valley, thus avoiding the dangerous updrafts that render the Olaya Herrera Airport, located inside the city, useless for international traffic and large commercial aircraft. Olaya Herrera Airport serves mainly small, shortrange aircraft and regional flights.

[edit] Land transportation

Public transportation is served by diesel buses, taxis and most notably, a Metropolitan train. The Metro de Medellín connects the cities of Medellín, Itagüí, Envigado and Bello. Line A departs from Itagüí to Niquía ,Line B from San Antonio to San Javíer and Line K(Metrocable) from Acevedo to Santo Domingo Savio. Line K has four stations, including the transfer to Line A at Acevedo. The new line J(Metrocable) will be inaugurated in 2007 which will connect San Javíer with La Aurora. Medellín is the only Colombian city with such transportation systems.

Despite the variety of options, traffic in Medellín has become chaotic, as the number of taxis has exceeded the demand for the service; furthermore, the contamination produced by the diesel buses has become a major issue, most notably in the center of the city and the south part known as El Poblado. The city has no further space for the construction of new highways.

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

[edit] Ethnicities

Most people of Medellín are mostly made up of Europeans, immigrants from Spain during the 1600 and 1700's. There is also a minority of mestizos and afro-colombians.

Although most of the Native American Nutibara indians were killed during the 16th and 17th centuries to be replaced by European immigrants searching for gold, there is a strong sense of belonging for anyone who is born in Medellín.

Choco is right next to Antioquia leading to the migration of many African Colombian immigrants to Medellín, Uraba and other municipalities near Medellín.

[edit] Culture

People from Medellín are called actually by their Department denomination; Antiocheans, or from the region of the coffee growers "Paisas"; an abbreviation for Paisano (fellow countrymen). They make up one of the five different regional cultures within Colombia.

[edit] Festivals and events

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

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

[edit] Sports

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

[edit] Nicknames

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