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Capital district and departments of Colombia Distrito Capital y los Departamentos de Colombia (Spanish)
Category	Unitary state
Location	Republic of Colombia
Number	32 Departments 1 Capital District
Populations	(Departments only):33,152 (Vaupés) – 5,750,478 (Antioquia)
Areas	(Departments only):50 km2 (19.3 sq mi) (San Andrés) – 109,665.0 km2 (42,341.89 sq mi) (Amazonas)
Government	Department government, National government
Subdivisions	Municipality

Colombia
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Colombia
Constitution Constitution of 1991 History
Legislature Congress Senate House of Representatives
Executive President (list) Vice President (list) Council of Ministers
Elections National Electoral Council Recent elections: Presidential: 2010, 2014 Legislative: 2010, 2014
Administrative divisions Departments Municipalities
Major political parties Liberal Party Conservative Party National Unity Radical Change Party Alternative Democratic Pole Green Party MIRA
Related topics Foreign relations Human rights Military Armed conflict (since 1964)
Other countries Atlas
v t e

Colombia is a unitary republic made up of thirty-two departments (Spanish: departamentos, sing. departamento) and a Capital District (Distrito Capital).^[1] Each department has a Governor (gobernador) and a Department Assembly (Asamblea Departamental), elected by popular vote for a four-year period. The governor cannot be re-elected in consecutive periods. Departments are country subdivisions and are granted a certain degree of autonomy.

Departments are formed by a grouping of municipalities (municipios, sing. municipio). Municipal government is headed by mayor (alcalde) and administered by a Municipal Council (concejo municipal), both of which are elected for four-year periods.

Chart of departments

Each one of the departments of Colombia in the map below links to a corresponding article. Current governors serving four-year terms from 2015 to 2019 are also shown, along with their respective political party or coalition.

• Estimate for Cundinamarca includes the country's capital, Bogotá.

Territorios indígenas

The indigenous territories are at the third level of administrative division in Colombia, as are the municipalities. Indigenous territories are created by agreement between the government and indigenous communities. In cases where indigenous territories covering more than one department or municipality, local governments jointly administer them with the indigenous councils, as set out in Articles 329 and 330 of the Colombian Constitution of 1991. Also indigenous territories may achieve local autonomy if they meet the requirements of the law.

Article 329 of the 1991 constitution recognizes the collective indigenous ownership of indigenous territories and repeats that are inalienable. Law 160 of 1994 created the National System of Agrarian Reform and Rural Development Campesino, and replaced Law 135 of 1961 on Agrarian Social Reform; it establishes and sets out the functions of INCORA, one of the most important being to declare which territories will acquire the status of indigenous protection and what extension of existing ones will be allowed. Decree 2164 of 1995 interprets Law 160 of 1994, providing, among other things, a legal definition of indigenous territories.^[2]

Indigenous territories in Colombia are mostly in the departments of Amazonas, Cauca, La Guajira, Guaviare and Vaupés.^[1]

History

República de la Gran Colombia

When it was first established in 1819, República de la Gran Colombia had three departments. Venezuela, Cundinamarca (now Colombia) and Quito (now Ecuador).^[3] In 1824 the Distrito del Centro (which became Colombia) was divided into five departments, and further divided into seventeen provinces. One department, Istmo Department, consisting of two provinces later became Panama.^[4]

República de la Nueva Granada

With the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1826 by the Revolution of the Morrocoyes (La Cosiata), New Granada kept its 17 provinces. In 1832 the provinces of Vélez and Barbacoas were created, and in 1835 those of Buenaventura and Pasto were added. In 1843 those of Cauca, Mompós and Túquerres were created. At this time the cantons (cantones) and parish districts were created, which provided the basis for the present-day municipalities.^[4][5]

By 1853 the number of provinces had increased to thirty-six, namely:Antioquia, Azuero, Barbacoas, Bogotá, Buenaventura, Cartagena, Casanare, Cauca, Chiriquí, Chocó, Córdova, Cundinamarca, García Rovira, Mariquita, Medellín, Mompós, Neiva, Ocaña, Pamplona, Panamá, Pasto, Popayán, Riohacha, Sabanilla, Santa Marta, Santander, Socorro, Soto, Tequendama, Tunja, Tundama, Túquerres, Valle de Upar, Veraguas, Vélez and Zipaquirá.^[5] However, the new constitution of 1853 introduced federalism, which lead to the consolidation of provinces into states. By 1858 this process was complete, with a resulting eight federal states: Panamá was formed in 1855, Antioquia in 1856, Santander in May 1857, and Bolívar, Boyacá, Cauca, Cundinamarca and Magdalena were formed in June 1858. 1861 saw the creation of the final federal state of Tolima.^[6]

República de Colombia

The Colombian Constitution of 1886 converted the states of Colombia into departments, with the state presidents renamed as governors. The states formed the following original departments:

• Antioquia Department


• Bolívar Department


• Boyacá Department


• Cauca Department


• Cundinamarca Department


• Magdalena Department


• Panamá Department


• Santander Department


• Tolima Department

Maps gallery

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  Departments of Colombia with municipalities
  

  
  

  
  


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  Map with numbered departments
  

  
  

  
  


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  Departments of Colombia with names
  

  
  

  
  


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  Political map of Colombia
  

  
  

  
  


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  Topography of Colombia, highly variable per department
  

  
  

  
  

See also

• ISO 3166-2:CO


• List of Colombian flags


• List of country subdivisions


• List of political and geographic subdivisions by total area


• States of Colombia


• List of Colombian departments by Human Development Index

References

External links

• 
  (in French) List of Colombian departments governors
  


• 
  "Departments of Colombia". Statoids.