The Amazonian Trapeze or Leticia Trapeze is a geographical corridor located in the extreme south of the

Amazonas Department Amazonas () is a department of Southern Colombia in the south of the country. It is the largest department in area while also having the 3rd smallest population. Its capital is Leticia and its name comes from the Amazon River, which drains t ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, which constitutes the southernmost part of the country and allows it to have banks on the

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

. At this end of the department, which extends like a peninsula between

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, is the departmental capital of Leticia.

Location

The Amazon Trapeze, which emerges from a vaster territory to the north, is one of two parts of the Amazonas Department in Colombia. The Amazon Trapeze is located between the

Putumayo River The Putumayo River or Içá River ( es, Río Putumayo, pt, Rio Içá) is one of the tributaries of the Amazon River, southwest of and parallel to the Japurá River. Course The Putumayo River forms part of Colombia's border with Ecuador, as well ...

to the north and the

to the south, and between the border with Brazil to the east and the border with Peru to the west. Thus, a trapezoidal strip of about 50 km in the Putumayo and 100 km in the Amazon and 150 km in length between both rivers is formed. The trapezoidal shape gives the name to this Colombian geographic arm. The Amazon Trapeze is also the location of the

Amacayacu National Park Amacayacu National Natural Park ( es, Parque Nacional Natural Amacayacu) is a national park located along the Amazon River in the Amazonas Department in the south of Colombia. The word "Amacayacu" means "River of the Hamocs" in the indigeno ...

, which contains a great wealth of fauna and flora and one of the main objectives of national and international ecotourism.

History

The trapeze was originally part of a larger disputed territory between

and

, through which the former sought a direct exit towards the

. During the territorial dispute, the Peruvian government in the town of Leticia established the Colony of Leticia, also known as the Colony of San Antonio, a project through which the area would be inhabited by Peruvian citizens and thus oppose Colombian claims over the territory. The region's current borders came into existence as a result of the

Salomón–Lozano Treaty The Salomón–Lozano Treaty was signed in July 1922 by representatives Fabio Lozano Torrijos, of Colombia and Alberto Salomón Osorio of Peru. The fourth in a succession of treaties on the Colombian-Peruvian disputes over land in the upper Amazo ...

signed between Colombia and Peru in 1922, which established the modern Colombia–Peru border, ending a longstanding dispute that existed since the independence of both states. Local dissatisfaction with the treaty, however, led up to the

Colombia–Peru War The Colombia–Peru War, also called the Leticia War, was a short-lived armed conflict between Colombia and Peru over territory in the Amazon rainforest that lasted from September 1, 1932 to May 24, 1933. In the end, an agreement was reached to d ...

in 1932, the last conflict between both states. Once hostilities between both states met a final end, the first arrival of Colombian settlers took place in 1930.

Human settlement

The Colombian towns of Leticia (capital of the department of Amazonas) and

Puerto Nariño Puerto Nariño is the second municipality of the Amazonas department of Colombia, located on the shore of the Amazon River. It has about 6,000 residents, most of them are indigenous (from the Ticuna tribe) and its specificity is that it is ent ...

, both on the banks of the Amazon River, and the city of

Tarapacá San Lorenzo de Tarapacá, also known simply as Tarapacá, is a town in the region of the same name in Chile. History The town has likely been inhabited since the 12th century, when it formed part of the Inca trail. When Spanish explorer Diego d ...

on the banks of the Putumayo River, are all in the Trapeze. Also in the region are protected indigenous settlements.

References

{{reflist Geography of Amazonas Department

Location

History

Human settlement

See also

References