Timbio is a town and municipality in the

Cauca Department Cauca Department (, ) is a department of Southwestern Colombia. Located in the southwestern part of the country, facing the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Valle del Cauca Department to the north, Tolima Department to the northeast, Huila De ...

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 ...

. Timbio is a municipality located at a distance of 16 km south of

Popayán Popayán () is the capital of the Colombian department of Cauca. It is located in the Pubenza Valley in southwestern Colombia between the Western Mountain Range and Central Mountain Range. The municipality has a population of 318,059, an a ...

, the Department’s capital city. The hispanic foundation of Timbio took place on November 1, 1535 where Captains Juan de Ampudia and Pedro Añasco, following orders of Sebastian de Belalcázar, had build a church for the commemoration of the Christian holiday of ALL SAINTS, which was close to the site where the

Spanish conquistadors 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 ...

defeated the people of Pubenza and Pambía in a battle at a site they named Mastales (today’s Las Cruces) where they killed around 3,000 people. Timbio is the third oldest municipality in Colombia settled by the Spaniards.

History of Timbío

The ancient inhabitants of Timbio were part of the Pubenza Confederation. The pubenenses maintained a degree o local autonomy, as they obeyed the respective chiefs and had their own social, political, economic and cultural organization. At the arrivals of the Spanish Conquistadors, the Pubenenses, lead by Chiefs Calucé and Payán, there was a defensive fortress on the lands of Pambio (today Las Cruces) from where they monitor movements of the hostile tribes from the south. It was at this fortress where they faced the troops of Juan de Ampudia. The Conquistadors invaded from the south of the country in a very violent manner killing and subduing many. According to Spanish chronicler Juan de Castellanos, there was great resistance. From October 23 to 30, 1535 the Spanish slaughtered around 3,000 indigenous people who depended on the chieftains of Calicanto, Sachacoco, Timbio, Oabio, Talaga and Calucé. They were defeated because they had no other weapons but stones, arrow and sharp cutting clubs. After the victory, Ampudia collected a great amount of gold, and took the opportunity to found established Timbio as Spanish settlement on Friday, November 1, 1535, with the celebration of the first mass by his accompanying priest García Sánchez.

Administrative Division

List of Veredas

Alto de San José
Antomoreno
Barro Blanco
Bellavista
Buenos Aires
Campo Alegre
Camposano
Cincodias
Cristalares
Cuchicama
El Altillo
El Altillo Alto
El Boquerón
El Descanso
El Deshecho
El Encenillo
El Guayabal
El Hato
El Naranjal
El Placer
El Retiro
El Tablón
El Uvo
Hato Nuevo
Hato Viejo
La Avanzada
La Banda
La Cabaña
La Chorrera
La Honda
La Laguna
La Marquesa
La Martica
La Rivera
Las Cruces
Las Cruces I
Las Cruces II
Las Huacas
Las Piedras
Las Yescas
Los Robles
Pan de Azúcar
Porvenir
Puente Real
Quilichao
Quintero
Sachacoco
Samboni
Samboni Bajo
San Pedrito
San Pedrito
San Pedro
Santa María
Siloé
Tunurco
Urubamba

References

Municipalities of Cauca Department {{Cauca-geo-stub