Puerto Alfonso López () is a small town and municipality in the
Orinoquía Region (
Llanos
The Llanos ( Spanish ''Los Llanos'', "The Plains"; ) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical grasslands, ...
region) of
Meta Department
Meta () is a department of Colombia. It is close to the geographic center of the country, to the east of the Andean mountains. A large portion of the department, which is also crossed by the Meta River, is covered by a grassland plain known ...
,
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 known as Puerto López and is a port on the
Meta river. The town is located approximately 100 kilometers east of the town of
Villavicencio
Villavicencio () is a city and municipality in Colombia. The capital of Meta Department, it was founded on April 6, 1840. The municipality had a population of 531,275 in 2018. The city is located at 4°08'N, 73°40'W, 75 km (about 45 ...
. Its main industries are agriculture and cattle.
Puerto Lopez has been said to be the "belly button",
or
geographical center, of Colombia. Nearby is the Obelisco del Alto de Menegua, a 30 meter tall
obelisk that marks the intersection of 4 degrees north latitude and 72 degrees west longitude.
History
The town was established on 1 May 1935. It was centered on the river port and pre-existing village. On 3 May 1937, the Intendencia for Meta Department ordered the creation of the Yacuana District (''corregimiento'') whose capital is Puerto Alfonso Lopez. The municipality was established on 3 July 1955, in accordance with National Decree No. 2543 of 1945.
Climate
Notes
External links
Puerto Lopez official website
Municipalities of Meta Department
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