Buga (), formally Guadalajara de Buga, is a city and municipality in the Valle del Cauca Department of

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 famous for its Basilica del Señor de los Milagros, which houses an image of

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

called ''el Señor de los Milagros'' ("the Lord of the Miracles"). Buga is a city with a cattle industry. It is located from

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

.Sider, Don.
Miracle on the Mountain
." ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

''. January 8, 1996. Volume 45, No. 1. Retrieved on January 4, 2012.

History

Guadalajara de Buga, which is the city's formal name, is one of the oldest cities in Colombia; founded in 1555 by Giraldo Gil de Estupiñán under the order of the Spanish conquistador

Sebastián de Belalcázar Sebastián Moyano y Cabrera, best known as Sebastián de Belalcázar (; c. 1490 – April 28, 1551) was a Spanish conquistador. Belalcázar, also written as Benalcázar. He is known as the founder of important early virreinal cities in the northw ...

and known as ''Buga la Real ''("the Royal Buga" ) or'' La Ciudad Señora'' (“the Lady City”). It was the home of many wealthy families coming from Spain and settling in the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

. King

Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...

gave Guadalajara de Buga its city status officially at the end of the 16th century and also granted its coat of arms for the many services rendered to the crown. During colonial era, Buga was in the Royal Audience of Quito, initially part of the

Viceroyalty of Peru The Viceroyalty of Peru (), officially known as the Kingdom of Peru (), was a Monarchy of Spain, Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in ...

, and from 1739 until the creation of the Republic of La Gran Colombia, part of the

Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada The Viceroyalty of the New Kingdom of Granada ( ), also called Viceroyalty of New Granada or Viceroyalty of Santa Fe, was the name given on 27 May 1717 to the jurisdiction of the Spanish Empire in northern South America, corresponding to modern ...

. After the dissolution of the Gran Colombia, it became part of the Republic of Nueva Granada (modern-day

, since the newly created

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, successor of the Royal Audience of Quito, did not summon representatives from Cauca to its first congress. During the years of Independence,

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24July 178317December 1830) was a Venezuelan statesman and military officer who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bol ...

, called ''el libertador'' ("the liberator”), visited the city on two occasions, for which commemoration plates were placed. American Airlines Flight 965 crashed into a mountain near Buga on 20 December 1995. In 2013, Buga became the first municipality in the Valle del Cauca department to be named a '' Pueblo Patrimonio'' (heritage town) of Colombia. As of March 2021, it remains both the southernmost and westernmost town in the ''Pueblo Patrimonio'' network.

Demographics

It has a population of approximately 127,547 inhabitants, according to the 2018

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

Ethnography

* Mix of White and Indigenous &

whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

(91.6%) * Blacks or

Afro-Colombians Afro-Colombians (), also known as Black Colombians (), are Colombians of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Colombia has one of the largest  Afro-descendant populations in South America, with government estimates being ...

(8.3%) *

Amerindians In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...

or indigenous (0.1%)BOLETÍN 14/09/2010 1 de 6 Censo General 2005
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Culture

Currently the city receives over 3 million

pilgrim The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

s per year to visit the Basilica of The Lord of the Miracles. There is the cultural centre (Casa de la cultura) that offers art and literary training. It is an old-style house located on 6th Street 11-11, open since 1962. Buga is also famous for "The Holy Water Ale Brewing Company," one of the only hostel, microbrewery combination destinations in South America. Run by Colombian/German staff the Hostel can provide service in 3 different languages. The city is also host to the NGO Instituto Mayor Campesino (IMCA) that assists in the development of farming communities.

Twin city

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

, Castile-La Mancha,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Climate

References

External links

Guadalajara de Buga
{{Authority control Municipalities of Valle del Cauca Department Populated places established in 1570 Populated places established in 1573 1570 establishments in the Spanish Empire