Nariño () is a 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 ...

named after independence leader Antonio Nariño. Its capital is Pasto. It is in the west of the country, bordering

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 ...

and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, 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 ...

. Nariño has a diverse geography and varied climate according to altitude: hot in the plains of the Pacific and cold in the mountains, where most of the population resides, a situation that is repeated in a north-south direction. Other important cities include Tumaco and Ipiales.

History

The territory was occupied during the

Pre-Columbian era In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

by numerous Indian tribes, including Quillacingas, Awá, Pasto, and Tumas. The first European

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

who entered the territory was Andagoya Pascual in 1522, who traveled from the Colombian Pacific coast and then used information obtained by

Francisco Pizarro Francisco Pizarro, Marquess of the Atabillos (; ; – 26 June 1541) was a Spanish ''conquistador'', best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Born in Trujillo, Cáceres, Trujillo, Spain, to a poor fam ...

to organize the expedition that culminated in the conquest of

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. Juan de Ampudia and Pedro de Añazco first explored the mountainous part of the department, commissioned by Sebastián de Belalcázar in 1535, who then toured the territory in 1536 and reached Popayán and remained for some time before leaving for Spain.

Major Municipalities

Municipal population position

According to the latest census conducted in 2018; 1,335,521 people live in Nariño. The city of Pasto and the municipalities of Chachagüí, Nariño, Tangua, Chía,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and Yacuanquer form a single metropolitan area.

Administrative divisions

Nariño is composed of thirteen subregions and 64 municipalities organized among them: * Centro: Pasto, Chachagüí, La Florida, Nariño, Tangua and Yacuanquer. * Guambuyaco: El Peñol, El Tambo, La Llanada and Los Andes. * Juanambú: Arboleda, Buesaco, La Unión, San Pedro de Cartago and San Lorenzo. * La Cordillera: Cumbitara, El Rosario, Leiva, Policarpa and Taminango. * La Sabana: Guaitarilla, Imués, Ospina, Sapuyes and Túquerres. * Los Abades: Providencia, Samaniego and Santa Cruz. * Obando: Aldana, Contadero, Córdoba, Cuaspud, Cumbal, Funes, Guachucal, Gualmatán, Iles, Ipiales, Potosí, Puerres and Pupiales. * Occidente: Ancuya, Consaca, Linares and Sandona. * Pacífico Sur:

and Tumaco. * Piedemonte Costero: Mallama and Ricaurte. * Río Mayo: Belén, Colón, El Tablón, La Cruz, San Bernardo, San José de Albán and San Pablo. * Sanquianga: El Charco, La Tola, Mosquera, Olaya Herrera and Santa Bárbara. * Telembí: Barbacoas, Magüí Payán and Roberto Payán.

References

External links