Don Matías is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in Antioquia Department, Colombia. Part of the subregion of

Northern Antioquia Northern Antioquia is a subregion in the Colombian Department of Antioquia. The region is made up of 17 municipalities. Municipalities * Angostura * Belmira * Briceño * Campamento * Carolina del Príncipe * Don Matías * Entrerríos * G� ...

. Bordered to the north by the municipality of Santa Rosa de Osos, to the east by the municipalities of Santa Rosa de Osos and Santo Domingo, to the south by the municipality of Barbosa, and to the west by the municipality of San Pedro de los Milagros.

History

Since 1624 the Don Matías territory was occupied by settlers from the city of

Santa Fe de Antioquia Santa Fe de Antioquia is a municipality in the Antioquia Department, Colombia. The city is located approximately north of Medellín, the department capital. It has a population of approximately 23,000 inhabitants. History Founded in 1541 by ...

. In 1750 the places ''San Andrés, Las Ánimas, Las Juntas, La Chorrera'' began to be populated, and today it forms the urban population. This occupation was the result of new government policies by the crown of Borbón, which the visitor Mon y Velarde applied in Antioquia, seeking the establishment of agricultural colonies in the north of the province. Those who occupied the present territory of Don Matías were basically mazamorreros, independent miners, who were awarded the title of their plots. The municipality has had three names: Azuero, San Antonio Infante and Don Matías. The latter, Don Matías was chosen in 1787 in honor of ''Don Matías Jaramillo'', a man who had a rich mining settlement in the territory where the population now lives. The garment industry in the town was established in the 60s, thanks to the decentralization of manufacturing industries in the city of Medellín. In this way came to the township of Don Matías the industrial clothing company, which almost exclusively produced for a company called Caribou. Thus, the community found a source of employment, as the municipality for those years was basically agrarian. A decade later garment factories began to emerge where those industrial garment company workers, having learned the trade, decided to start their own small industries. Today Don Matías has extensive national and international recognition. One of its main attractions is the Riogrande Dam.

Demographics

Total Population: 19,458 hab. (2009) * Urban Population: 12,663 * Rural Population: 6,795 Literacy rate: 91.3% (2005) * Urban area: 94.3% * Rural area: 85.8% According to figures from the Government of Antioquia based on Quality of Life survey 2004 the prevailing socio-economic strata in the municipality of Don Matías is 2 (low) which includes 70.9% of all homes. It is followed by stratum 3 (medium-low) with a 23.3%. Then there is the stratum 1 (low-high) with 4.4% of homes. Finally there is the 4 (medium) including 1.4% of homes.

Ethnography

According to figures presented by the DANE census 2005, the ethnographic composition of the township are *

Whites White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...

Mestizos (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though thei ...

(99.7%) *

Afro-Colombians Afro-Colombians or African-Colombians ( es, afrocolombianos, links=no) are Colombians of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent ( Blacks, Mulattoes, Pardos, and Zambos). History Africans were enslaved in the early 16th Century in Colomb ...

(0.2%) *

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

(0.1%)

Economy

* Livestock: Dairy Cattle, Pigs * Industry: Apparel * Timber Don Matías bases its economy mostly on the textile and apparel industry, pigs and dairy cattle, and the timber industry.

References

External links

* http://parroquiadonmatias.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Don Matias Municipalities of Antioquia Department