Yolombó is a town and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

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 ...

n department of Antioquia. It is part of the subregion of Northeastern Antioquia, located 108 km from

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

History

Yolombó is an indigenous term that comes from the area. In 1535, Don Pedro de Heredia, the founder of

Cartagena de Indias Cartagena ( ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Region of Colombia, Caribbean Coast Region, along the Caribbean Sea. Cartagena's past ...

, discovered, in the Antioquian region, a village of indigenous people of the same name, Yolombó. The town was initially called, "San Lorenzo de Yolombó." No official date of its founding is known to exist. In the middle of the 17th century, gold was found in the area and made Yolombó a celebrated and important town. Parish records revealed the growing prominence of the town by the settlement of high ranking Spanish families. Up until 1750, its prosperity earned Yolombó the name, Ciudad Illustre (Illustrious City). However, the prosperity was short-lived. Between 1760 and 1800 the gold mines were depleted with the advent and use of efficient mining technology. Following this economic decline, Yolombó was downgraded to a township of the city

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

in 1879 until 1883. In 1883 Yolombó was once again promoted to the status of District and Township and it has remained as such until 2009 when it became a

. Yolombó has a diverse climate and rich biodiversity. At 1,450m above sea level, the mountainous landscape offers both scorching and frigid temperatures. It is known for its exotic agriculture, forests full of medicinal plants and precious wood, and is also a land that is abundant in water and pasture.

Demographics

Total Population: 23,958 (2015) * Urban Population: 7,216 * Rural Population: 16,742 Total Literacy Rate: 84.3% (2005) * Urban Literacy Rate: 90.5% * Rural Literacy Rate: 81.5% According to DANE census records from 2005, the racial makeup of Yolombó is composed of: *

Mestizo ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

(98.0%) * Afrocolombian (1.9%) *

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

(0.1%)

Climate

Yolombó has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...

(Af) with heavy rainfall the year round.

Notable residents

* Sofía Medina de López – Colombian politician, first female

Mayor of Medellín This is a list of mayors of Medellín, Colombia. Ordinary mayors of Villa de la Candelaria Until 1863, the administrator of Medellin was known as the Ordinary Mayor of Villa de la Candelaria de Medellín. * José Zapata y Múnera * Tomás Ibarr ...

(1976–1977)

Yolombó in the media

Yolombó was popularized in part by Tomás Carrasquilla's historical novel, "La Marquesa de Yolombó" (''The Marchioness of Yolombó'').

References

Municipalities of Antioquia Department Villages in Colombia {{Antioquia-geo-stub