Mitú () is the capital town of the department of Vaupés in

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 a small town located in South eastern Colombia in 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 ...

. Founded in 1936, Mitú lies next to the

Vaupés River Vaupés River (Uaupés River) is a tributary of the Rio Negro (Amazon), Rio Negro in South America. It rises in the Vaupes Department of Colombia, flowing east through Vaupés Department. It forms part of the international border between the Depart ...

at 180 meters above sea level. It is where the core of the services (transport and trade) are provided to the Vaupés Department. The Vaupés River serves as connecting link between Mitú and nearby hamlets on the riverbanks, but there are no roads connecting the town to rest of the country. Accessible only by airplane and the river, Mitú is the most isolated capital in Colombia.

History

The founding of Mitú can be traced to the rivalry between Brazilians and Colombians exploiting rubber in the basins and ranges of the upper Guainía and Apaporis rivers. By 1903 there was an intense activity exploiting rubber in the area around the Vaupés river using the local Indians, of the ethnic groups tucano and carijonas, as slaves. Mitú was erected as a modest

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

in October 1936 by Miguel Cuervo Araoz. The town served as a meeting point between different indigenous communities, in addition to being a center of

rubber tree ''Hevea brasiliensis'', the Pará rubber tree, ''sharinga'' tree, seringueira, or most commonly, rubber tree or rubber plant, is a flowering plant belonging to the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, originally native to the Amazon basin, but is now p ...

exploitation, fur trade and missionary center. Its main activity was the rubber trade for food, clothing and fuel. After being for a time a township, in 1963 Mitú became the capital of the Vaupés Commissary (Comisaria). In 1974, it was made a municipality and in 1991 it became the capital of the new created department. In November 1998, an estimated 1,500

FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (, FARC–EP or FARC) was a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict starting in 1964. The FARC-EP was officially founded in 1966 from peasan ...

guerrilla members of the Eastern Bloc of the FARC-EP tried to take over the town by force, against 120 National Police members and one Colombian National Army Battalion in the Siege of Mitú.El Tiempo.com Especial 10 Años
/ref> The

Colombian Air Force The Colombian Aerospace Force (FAC, ) is the air force of the Republic of Colombia. The Colombian Aerospace Force is one of the three institutions of the Military Forces of Colombia charged, according to the 1991 Constitution, with working to exe ...

and Army Aviation supported ground forces with air raids. The guerilla members seized the airport, and they blew up a communications tower. Mitú was left partially destroyed and some estimated 150 policemen and soldiers died, along with 10 civilians and over 800 guerrilla members. In their escape FARC took hostages as human shields including some 40 to 45 members of the Colombian Military. On June 13, two of the hostages captured in Mitú in 1998, National Police Col. (now Gen.) Luis Mendieta and National Police Col. Enrique Murillo were freed by the Colombian army in a rescue operation named Operation Chameleon, located in Calamar, Guaviare. The following day, two other police officers were found and freed.

Climate

Mitú has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Af'') and is hot, humid and wet throughout the year.

References and notes

External links

Mitu official website

Territorial-Environmental Information System of Colombian Amazon SIAT-AC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitu Municipalities of Vaupés Department Capitals of Colombian departments Road-inaccessible communities of Colombia