HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Chocó Department () is a department of the
Pacific region The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...
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 ...
known for hosting the largest
Afro-Colombian Afro-Colombians (), also known as Black Colombians (), are Colombians of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Colombia has one of the largest African diaspora, Afro-descendant populations in South America, with government ...
population in the nation, and a large population of Amerindian and mixed African-Amerindian Colombians. It is in the west of the country, and is the only Colombian department to have
coastline A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...
s on both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It contains all of Colombia's border with
Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
. Its capital is
Quibdó Quibdó () is the capital city of Chocó Department, in the Pacific/Chocó natural region, Pacific Region of Colombia, and is located on the Atrato River. The municipality of Quibdó has an area of and a population of 129,237, predominantly A ...
. Chocó has a diverse geography, unique ecosystems and unexploited natural resources; however, its population has one of the lowest standards of living of all departments in Colombia. A major factor cited by the government is the rugged, montane rainforest environment and the hot, hyperhumid climate. These factors have limited any significant infrastructure improvements to the region, and Chocó remains one of the most isolated regions of Colombia, with no major transportation infrastructure built since initial foundations were laid down in 1967 for a highway connecting Chocó with the city of
Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...
. The area has little access to medical care. In August 2016, Colombian media reported that some 50 children starved in less than three months, creating awareness of the grave condition Chocó’s inhabitants are facing. That same year, an additional 10 adults and senior citizens, of the indigenous community in Chocó, died due to preventable causes such as malaria and diarrhea. In spite of the department’s ranking of “world's rainiest lowland” (the Chocó–Darién moist forests
ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...
), with close to of annual precipitation, Quibdó lacks sanitary drinking water.


History

The first city founded by conquistadors in mainland
America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
was
Santa María la Antigua del Darién Santa María la Antigua del Darién—turned into Dariena in the Latin of De Orbo Novo—was a Spanish colonial town founded in 1510 by Vasco Núñez de Balboa, located in present-day Colombia approximately south of Acandí, within the muni ...
, founded by
Vasco Núñez de Balboa Vasco Núñez de Balboa (; c. 1475around January 12–21, 1519) was a Spanish people, Spanish explorer, governor, and conquistador. He is best known for crossing the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean in 1513, becoming the first European to ...
in 1510 and disestablished in 1524, just 14 years later. The department was created in 1944. Its low population, mountainous and inhospitable
topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
, and distance from
Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...
resulted in Chocó receiving little attention from the Colombian government. During the reign of military dictator
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (12 March 1900 – 17 January 1975) was a Colombian National Army of Colombia, army general, civil engineer and politician who ruled as List of presidents of Colombia, 19th President of Colombia in a military dictatorship f ...
, his administration proposed to eliminate Chocó and divide its territory between the departments of Antioquia and Valle del Cauca. But the 1957 ''coup d'état'' of General Gabriel París Gordillo overthrew Pinilla's government and ended such plans.


Geography

The Chocó Department makes up most of the ecoregion known as El Chocó that extends from
Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
to
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 ...
. The municipality of Lloró holds the record for the world’s highest average annual
precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...
, measured at which makes it the wettest place in the world. Three large rivers drain the Chocó Department, the Atrato (which runs north, with tributaries that also flow north), the San Juan, and the Baudó. Each has many tributaries. The Baudó Mountains on the coast and the inland Cordillera Occidental are cut by low valleys, with an altitude less than 1,000 meters, that form most of the territory. Most of the Chocó is thick
rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...
. Much of the wood for Colombia's internal consumption is harvested from the Chocó, with a small percentage harvested for export. Chocó Department produces the majority of Colombia's significant
platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...
output (28,359 ounces of platinum in 2011). Chocó is also Colombia's top gold-producing region (653,625 ounces in 2011). In the late 19th century, it attracted a variety of miners from many countries seeking to make their fortunes in gold.


Biodiversity

The Chocó is a Key Biodiversity Area ( KBA). According to the United Nations Development Program, it contains the 'greatest plant biodiversity on the planet (and) twenty-five percent of the plant and bird species living in this region are
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
.' Globally, Chocó is among 25 regions classified as priority biodiversity hotspots. Threats to this rich biodiversity, despite the region's conservation priority status, are many. Approximately 80% of the forest has been converted to other uses, such as slash-and-burn and intensive agriculture, inappropriate and illegal logging, and cattle ranching. Measuring the extent of biodiversity loss in Chocó thus far was previously difficult due to the remoteness of most of the region. However, with advances in LiDAR imaging and the efforts of various nonprofit conservation organizations, there is much documentation to identify and quantify the
environmental degradation Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...
and biodiversity loss. For example, a 2019 analysis of more than 80,000 ha of LiDAR samples to quantify the vegetation structure, disturbance, and elevation in Chocó forests, a loss of more than 115 million tons of dry biomass, or 58 million tons of carbon was documented. El Pangán ProAves Reserve, in the biogeographic region of Chocó, charged with protecting area's biodiversity, with special consideration of protecting bird species, is greatly challenged and not sufficiently equipped to meet the numerous conservation threats to a great diversity of fauna and flora that include 300 bird species. Forest degradation takes at least 50 years to regenerate, and regeneration efforts are not keeping pace with the rate of further deforestation. Soil erosion, negative effects on species' feeding and reproductive cycles, fragmentation of habitat, and loss of species are all consequences of this large-scale deforestation.


Demographics

The Chocó is inhabited predominantly by Afro-Colombians, descendants of enslaved Africans imported and brought to this area by the Spanish colonizers after conquering the Americas. The second largest race/ethnic group are the Embera, a Native American people. More than half of their total population in Colombia lives in Chocó, some 35,500. They practice hunting and
artisan fishing Artisanal, subsistence, or traditional fishing consists of various small-scale, low-technology, fishing practices undertaken by individual fishermen (as opposed to commercial fishing). Many of these households are of coastal or island ethnic g ...
and live near rivers. The total population as of 2005 was less than half a million, with more than half living in the
Quibdó Quibdó () is the capital city of Chocó Department, in the Pacific/Chocó natural region, Pacific Region of Colombia, and is located on the Atrato River. The municipality of Quibdó has an area of and a population of 129,237, predominantly A ...
valley. According to a 2005 census the ethnic composition of the department is: * Blacks, Mulattos and
Zambos Zambo ( or ) or Sambu is a racial term historically used in the Spanish Empire to refer to people of mixed Amerindian, Indigenous Amerindian and West African people, African ancestry. Occasionally in the 21st century, the term is used in the ...
(82.1%) *
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 (12.7%) *
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 ...
, Castizos and
Mestizos ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to ...
(5.2%)


Towns and municipalities

Quibdó Quibdó () is the capital city of Chocó Department, in the Pacific/Chocó natural region, Pacific Region of Colombia, and is located on the Atrato River. The municipality of Quibdó has an area of and a population of 129,237, predominantly A ...
is the largest city, with a population of almost 100,000. Other important cities and towns include Istmina, Condoto, Alto Baudó, Riosucio and El Carmen de Atrato in the interior, Acandí on the Caribbean Coast, and Bahía Solano on the Pacific Coast. Resorts and Tourist destinations include Capurganá on the Caribbean Coast, and Juradó, Nuquí, and Solano Bay on the West Coast.


Municipalities

# Acandí # Alto Baudó # Atrato # Bagadó # Bahía Solano # Bajo Baudó # Belén de Bajirá # Bojayá #
Cértegui Cértegui () is a municipality and town in the Chocó Department, Colombia. Climate Cértegui has an extremely wet tropical rainforest climate (Af). References

Municipalities of Chocó Department {{Chocó-geo-stub ...
# Condoto # El Cantón de San Pablo # El Carmen de Atrato # El Carmen del Darién # Istmina # Juradó # Litoral del San Juan # Lloró # Medio Atrato # Medio Baudó # Medio San Juan # Nóvita # Nuquí #
Quibdó Quibdó () is the capital city of Chocó Department, in the Pacific/Chocó natural region, Pacific Region of Colombia, and is located on the Atrato River. The municipality of Quibdó has an area of and a population of 129,237, predominantly A ...
# Río Iró # Río Quito # Riosucio # San José del Palmar # Sipí # Tadó # Unguía #
Unión Panamericana Unión Panamericana is a municipality and town in the Chocó Department, Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North Am ...


See also

* Bojayá massacre


Notes


References

*
todacolombia.com – Chocó Department


External links


VisitChoco.com
Choco Department Tourism and Trip Planning website (English and Spanish)

in French * ttp://nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/colombia/txt/2002/annex01.htm "Mision de Observacion a la Situación de las Comunidades Afrodescendientes en Colombia: Anexo 1"in Spanish;
Choco 7 dias
- local newspaper founded by Elacio Murillo, former member of the Choco state assembly who wa
assassinated by gunmen
on 12 January 2007.
Alternative Development, Economic Interests and Paramilitaries in Uraba
TNI Drug Policy Briefing No 27, September 2008 by Moritz Tenthoff * https://www.keybiodiversityareas.org/ Key Biodiversity Areas * Forests of the biogeographic region of Chocó in critical danger of disappearing, ProAves. 23 November 2020. https://proaves.org/en/forests-of-the-biogeographic-region-of-choco-in-critical-danger-of-disappearing/ * Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena-Threats, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Conservation International. https://www.cepf.net/our-work/biodiversity-hotspots/tumbes-choco-magdalena/threats {{DEFAULTSORT:Choco department Departments of Colombia States and territories established in 1947