Guainía (; Yuri language: "Land of many waters") is a department of Eastern

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. It is in the east of the country, bordering

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Its capital is Inírida. In 1963 Guainía was split off from

Vaupés department Vaupés () is a departments of Colombia, department of southeastern Colombia in the Amazon rainforest, jungle covered Amazonía Region. It is located in the southeast part of the country, bordering Brazil to the east, the department of Amazonas ...

. The northern part and the Inírida River are included in the

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

basin; the rest is part of the

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...

. The

Guaviare River The Guaviare is a tributary of the Orinoco in Colombia. It flows together with the upper Orinoco (until here also called Río Parágua), which it clearly surpasses in length (altogether about 1,760 km) and water flow. Thus, the Guaviare is hydrol ...

is the main area of colonization; many ''colonos'' come from the Colombian Andean zone, most of them from Boyacá. They are followed by the ''

llanero A (, 'plainsman') is a Venezuelan and Colombian herder. The name is taken from the Llanos grasslands occupying eastern Colombia and western-central Venezuela. During the Spanish American wars of independence, lancers and cavalry served in b ...

s'', people from the Eastern plains (

Llanos The Llanos ( Spanish ''Los Llanos'', "The Plains"; ) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical grasslands, ...

). The population is mainly composed of Amerindians, and the largest ethnic groups are the '' Puinaves'' (from the ''makú-puinave'' family) and the '' curripacos'' (from the ''Arawak'' family). There are a total of 24 ethnic groups in the department; many of them speak four Indigenous languages besides Spanish and Portuguese.

Municipalities

There are two municipalities in Guainía: Inírida, its capital, and Barranco Minas. The rest of the territory is subdivided in '' corregimientos departamentales'', a pending figure due to public disorder. This case happens only in Amazonas, Vaupés and Vichada. Barranco Minas is the second biggest population and a municipality since 2019; it is located on the

. The Guainía corregimientos are: # Cacahual # La Guadalupe # Mapiripana # Morichal Nuevo # Pana Pana #

Puerto Colombia Puerto Colombia is a coastal town and municipality in Atlántico Department, Colombia founded in the mid-1800s. It is famous for its " Pier of Puerto Colombia", that at one time was the largest pier in the world. Duties were later transferred to ...

# San Felipe

References

External links

*
Guainía Secretary of EducationTerritorial-Environmental Information System of Colombian Amazon SIAT-AC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guainia Department Departments of Colombia States and territories established in 1963