The Geographic Institute Agustín Codazzi ( es, Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi, IGAC), is the entity of the

Government of Colombia The Government of Colombia is a republic with separation of powers into executive, judicial and legislative branches. Its legislature has a congress, its judiciary has a supreme court, and its executive branch has a president. The citiz ...

responsible for producing the official maps and basic

cartography Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

of Colombia, and managing the national cadastral infrastructure and the national

soil survey Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former term ...

. It is also charged with advancing geographic investigations for the development of the country, and educating and training professionals in the geographic information technologies. IGAC also distributes geographic data in the form of its online portal, SIGOT.

History

The institute was created following 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 ...

with the creation of the Military Institute of Geography (''Instituto Geográfico Militar'') on August 13, 1935, by means of the ''Decreto 1440 de 1935'', and ascribed to the

Ministry of War Ministry of War may refer to: * Ministry of War (imperial China) (c.600–1912) * Chinese Republic Ministry of War (1912–1946) * Ministry of War (Kingdom of Bavaria) (1808–1919) * Ministry of War (Brazil) (1815–1999) * Ministry of War (Estoni ...

. On January 31, 1940, ''Decreto 153 de 1940'' restructured the institute giving

cadastral A cadastre or cadaster is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represented graphically in a cad ...

duties by fusing it with the National Section of Cadastre (''Sección Nacional de Catastro''), and transferred to the

Ministry of Finance and Public Credit The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit ( es, Ministerio de Hacienda y Crédito Público), is the national executive ministry of the Government of Colombia responsible for the financial and budgetary matters of the country as well as implementi ...

, renaming it the Military and Cadastral Geographical Institute (''Instituto Geográfico Militar y Catastral''). On November 8, 1957, by means of the ''Decreto Ley 0290 de 1957'', the institute was renamed the Geographic Institute Agustín Codazzi in memory of the cartographer

Agostino Codazzi Giovanni Battista Agostino Codazzi (alternatively known in Latin America as Agustín Codazzi; 12 July 1793 – 7 February 1859) was an Italo-Venezuelan soldier, scientist, geographer, cartographer, and governor of Barinas (1846–184 ...

and in commemoration of the centenary of his Chorographic Commission, a monumental endeavour that sought to create a geographic land survey of the Neogranadine territory, similar in its goals to the

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...

in the United States. The IGAC then became a decentralized agency under the executive branch until 1999 when it was ascribed to the

National Administrative Department of Statistics The National Administrative Department of Statistics ( es, Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística), commonly referred to as DANE, is the Colombian Administrative Department responsible for the planning, compilation, analysis and d ...

(DANE) by ''Decreto 1174 de 1999''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geographic Institute Agustin Codazzi Government agencies established in 1935 Government agencies of Colombia National mapping agencies Geography of Colombia National Administrative Department of Statistics 1935 establishments in Colombia

History

See also

References