El Paso is a municipality in the

Cesar Department Cesar Department (), or simply Cesar, () is a departments of Colombia, department of Colombia located in the north of the country in the Caribbean Region of Colombia, Caribbean region, bordering to the north with the Department of La Guajira, to ...

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 ...

. El Paso is mostly known for having the second largest

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

in Colombia, located in the corregimiento of La Loma.

Etymology

El Paso means "The Path" in the Spanish language. The name was mentioned in a document establishing the encomienda with the Chimila indigenous peoples in the region. The documents mentioned "The path of the advanced" in reference to the path of Alfonso Luis de Lugo in 1544 from

Cabo de la Vela Cabo de la Vela (Spanish for "cape of sail") is a headland in the Guajira Peninsula in Colombia with an adjacent small fishing village. It is a popular ecotourism destination of the Caribbean region of Colombia. History Spanish explorer Juan ...

in the

Guajira Peninsula The Guajira Peninsula (, also spelled ''Goajira'', mainly in colonial period texts, ) is a peninsula in northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela in the Caribbean. It is the northernmost peninsula in South America and has an area of exte ...

, Tamalameque in his way inland to the New Kingdom.

Geography

The municipality of El Paso is located on the central western region of the Department of Cesar bordering to the north with the municipalities of Valledupar and

Bosconia Bosconia is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Cesar. Geography The municipality of Bosconia is located in the northwestern part of the Cesar Department. Borders to the north with the municipality of El Copey, to the east w ...

; to the east with the municipalities of

Los Robles La Paz Los Robles La Paz () or simply La Paz is a municipality and a town in the Department of Cesar, Colombia. The town is close to the Capital city of the Department of Cesar; Valledupar. The municipality of La Paz borders to the north with La Guajira ...

, Codazzi,

Becerril Becerril or Becerril de Campos is a town and municipality of the Colombian Department of Cesar. Geography The municipality of Becerril borders to the east with the country of Venezuela where the Serranía del Perijá mountain ranges is shared ...

and La Jagua de Ibirico; to the south with the municipality of Chiriguana; southwest with the municipality of Astrea and to the west with the

Department of Magdalena Magdalena () is a department of Colombia, located in the north of the country by the Caribbean Sea, with more than 1.3 million people. The capital of the Magdalena Department is Santa Marta and was named after the Magdalena River. The depart ...

History

The region of El Paso was inhabited by the Chimilas. During the

Spanish colonization of the Americas The Spanish colonization of the Americas began in 1493 on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) after the initial 1492 voyage of Genoa, Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus under license from Queen Isabella ...

the region was a

herd A herd is a social group of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic. The form of collective animal behavior associated with this is called '' herding''. These animals are known as gregarious animals. The term ''herd'' ...

under the jurisdiction of the village of

named the ''Hato of San Bartolome'', established by Captain Bartolomé de Aníbal Paleólogo Becerra. Becerra's father, Vicencio de Anibal was also a conqueror and had received the capitulation for the land and Becerra had inherited his rights over the land as established in the document. On August 16, 1602 the Spanish established an

Encomienda The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish Labour (human activity), labour system that rewarded Conquistador, conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. In theory, the conquerors provided the labourers with benefits, including mil ...

with the Chimilas in the area. El Paso was under the jurisdiction of

Valledupar Valledupar () is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia. It is the capital of Cesar Department. Its name, ''Valle de Upar'' (Valley of Upar), was established in honor of the Amerindian cacique who ruled the valley; ''Cacique Upar''. The ...

which was the main village in the region until Law 25 of June 1824 created the Canton of Valencia de Jesus which had segregated from the jurisdiction of Valledupar. On October 25, 1825 the Canton of Valencia de Jesus was suppressed and once again reestablished to Valledupar.

References

External links

El Paso official website
* El Paso in Wikipedia en español {{coord, 9.66222, N, 73.7519, W, source:kolossus-itwiki, display=title Municipalities of Cesar Department