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

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

of Eastern

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 ...

. It is in the east of the country, bordering

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and

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 ...

. Its capital is Inírida. In 1963 Guainía was split off from Vaupés department. The northern part and the

Inírida River The Inírida (, Spanish: Río Inírida) is a river in the north-west of South America, in the territory of Colombia, the largest tributary of the Guaviare (the Orinoco River basin). The length of the river is , of which are navigable for small ...

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 , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

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 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 of Bolivi ...

. The Guaviare River 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 South American 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 both ar ...

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, sav ...

). The population is mainly composed of Amerindians, and the largest ethnic groups are the ''

Puinave Puinave, Waipunavi (Guaipunabi) or Wanse ( pui, Wãnsöhöt) is an indigenous language of Colombia and Venezuela. It is generally considered to be an unclassified language. Varieties Varieties listed by Mason (1950): *Puinave (Epined) **Weste ...

s'' (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 Guaviare River. The Guainía corregimientos are: #

Cacahual Cacahual () is a town and municipality located in the Guainía Department, Republic of Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua ...

La Guadalupe La Guadalupe () is a village and municipality in the Guainía Department, Colombia. La Guadalupe borders the corregimiento ''Corregimiento'' (; ca, Corregiment, ) is a Spanish term used for country subdivisions for royal administrative purpos ...

# Mapiripana # Morichal Nuevo # Pana Pana #

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

# 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