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Santander Department
Santander is a department of Colombia. Santander inherited the name of one of the nine original states of the United States of Colombia. It is located in the central northern part of the country, east of the Magdalena River, bordered to the south and southeast by Boyaca, to the northeast by Norte de Santander Department, to the north by Cesar Department, and to the west to Bolivar and Antioquia Departments. Its capital is the city of Bucaramanga.
History
Pre-Colombian
Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, the territory now known as Santander was inhabited by Amerindian ethnic groups: Muiscas, Chitareros, Laches, Yarigui, Opon, Carare and Guanes.
Their political and social structure was based on Cacicazgos, a federation of tribes led by a cacique, with different social classes. Their main activity was planting maize, beans, yuca, arracacha, cotton, Agave, tobacco, tomato, pineapple, guava, among others; their agricultural skills were sufficiently developed to take advantage of the different mountainous terrains. The Guanes utilized terraces and an artificial system of irrigation and had a knowledge of arts and crafts based on ovens to produce ceramics and the use of cotton to make clothing and accessories such as hats and bags.
Colonization
Spanish Conqueror Antonio de Lebrija led the first expedition through the area in 1529. The area was later invaded c. 1532 by German Ambrosius Ehinger in a quest to find El Dorado which disrupted and destroyed many of the Amerindian villages. Some ethnic groups like the Yariguies, Opones, and Carares fought the conquerors until they became extinct. Explorer Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada later went to the area in an effort to appease the tribes. The colonization process in the area was started by Martin Galeano who founded the village of Velez on July 3, 1539 and Pedro de Ursua and Ortun Velasco founded the village of Pamplona (now part of the Norte de Santander Department) in 1549.
Once the Amerindian tribes were dominated, the Spanish organized the territory based on Cabildos (councils) to maintain the dominance and administer justice in the conquered territory. Amerindians were enslaved and forced to work in agriculture, manufacturing goods, and mines. These two villages functioned as centers for the Cabildos' territories. In 1636 the Cabildo of Velez was transferred to a new jurisdiction centered on the village of Giron, with an area which went from the Sogamoso River, Rio del Oro to the Magdalena River. The village of San Gil was created in 1689, segregated from the Jurisdiction of Velez. In 1789 the village of Socorro was also segregated from Velez and they were all put under the mandate of the Province of Tunja, a subdivision of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. On July 9, 1795 the corregimiento of Velez - San Gil - Socorro was created due to the unsustainability of the Province of Tunja, and local government was established in the village of Socorro.
Administrative divisions
Provinces
The department is subdivided into provinces:
Metropolitan Province
North Soto Province
Comunera Province
Guanenta Province
Velez Province
Garcia Rovira Province
Mares Province
Carare-Opon Province
Municipalities
External links
Government of Santander official website
See also
Postage stamps and postal history of Santander
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Santander Department
