Vaupés () is a department of southeastern

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 ...

in the jungle covered

Amazonía Region Amazonía region in southern Colombia comprises the Departments of Colombia, departments of Amazonas (Colombian department), Amazonas, Caquetá Department, Caquetá, Guainía Department, Guainía, Guaviare Department, Guaviare, Putumayo Depart ...

. It is located in the southeast part of the country, bordering

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

to the east, the department of Amazonas to the south, Caquetá to the west, and Guaviare, and Guainía to the north; covering a total area of 54,135 km². Its capital is the town of Mitú. As of 2018, the population was 40,797, making it the least populous department in Colombia.

History

During the colonization by the Spanish and first days of the first republic, the territory of Vaupes was part of the Province of Popayán, during the Greater Colombia. After the independence from Spain between 1821 and 1830 became part of the first version of the

Boyacá Department Boyacá () is one of the thirty-two departments of Colombia, and the remnant of Boyacá State, one of the original nine states of the "United States of Colombia". Boyacá is centrally located within Colombia, almost entirely within the mount ...

. Between 1831 and 1857 the territory became part of the National Territory of Caquetá to later be part of the

Sovereign State of Cauca Cauca State was one of the states of Colombia, which existed from 1857 until 1886. Today the area of the former state makes up most of modern-day west and southern Colombia, with some portion of its vast territories acquired by present-day Peru, ...

. In 1886 became part of the then recently created

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 ...

. With the expansion of the rubber industry and the industrial revolution, exploration for rubber reached the area bringing colonizers that altered and in some cases extinguished the majority of the indigenous population. The territory was first made into a territorial division in 1910 and functioned as Commissaries (Comisarias) with the town of Calamar as capital (located in present-day Guaviare) but later moved to the town of Mitú to make an "act of presence" near the border with

. In 1963 Guainía segregated from the Vaupes and became a commissary. In 1977, Guaviare followed the same path. The department was created after the

Colombian Constitution of 1991 The Political Constitution of Colombia of 1991 (), is the Constitution of the Republic of Colombia. It was promulgated in Constitutional Gazette number 114 on Sunday, July 7, 1991, and is also known as the Constitution of Human Rights. It re ...

which established it as a Department of Colombia on July 4, 1991.

Economy

The department's main economic activities feature logging and fishing, with much exportation to neighboring Brazil.

Demographics

The vast majority of the population consists of indigenous inhabitants. It is the least populated department in the country.

Transportation

Because of its location in the Amazon jungle, it has no roads connecting it with the rest of the country or internally from settlement to settlement, and commerce and contact with the outside world is achieved through travel along the main rivers and by means of air travel. Several of the small settlements have airstrips with service to the department's capital, Mitú, and from there with the rest of the country. Finagro; Vaupes Department
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Administrative divisions

Because of its small population and vast extension of land, Vaupés only has three municipalities. Other sections of the department were classified as special types of corregimientos, which has certain hybrid functions from a municipality and corregimiento.