Paisa Region - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Paisas are a people who inhabit a region over the northwest Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

in the Andes.

The region is formed by the departments

Departments of Colombia

Colombia is an unitary republic formed by thirty-two departments and a Capital District . Each department has a Governor and a Department Assembly , elected by popular vote for a four-year period. The governor cannot be re-elected in consecutive periods...

of Antioquia

Antioquia Department

Antioquia is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders the Caribbean Sea. Most of its territory is mountainous with some valleys, much of which is part of the Andes mountain range...

, Caldas

Caldas Department

Caldas is a department of Colombia named after Colombian patriotic figure Francisco José de Caldas. It's part of the Paisa Region and its capital is Manizales. The population of Caldas is 1,030,062, and its area is 7,291 km²...

, Risaralda

Risaralda Department

Risaralda is a department of Colombia. It is located in the western central region of the country and part of the Paisa Region. Its capital is Pereira.It was divided from the department of Caldas in 1966...

and Quindío

Quindío Department

Quindío is a department of Colombia. It is in the western central region of the country, crossed by the Andes mountains. Its capital is Armenia. It is famous for the quality of the coffee plantations, colorful architecture, benign weather, variety of hotel accommodations and touristic landmarks...

. Some regions of Valle del Cauca Department

Valle del Cauca Department

Valle del Cauca is a department of Colombia. It is in the western side of the country, facing the Pacific Ocean, and it is considered one of the most important departments in the Republic of Colombia. Its capital is Santiago de Cali...

(north) and Tolima Department (west) belong to the cultural identity of paisas. The main cities are Medellín

Medellín

Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...

, Pereira

Pereira, Colombia

Pereira is the capital city of the Colombian department of Risaralda. It stands in the center of the western region of the country, located in a small valley that descends from a part of the western Andes mountain chain. Its strategic location in the coffee producing area makes the city an urban...

, Manizales

Manizales

Manizales is a city and municipality in central Colombia, capital of Department of Caldas and part of the region of Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis, near the Nevado del Ruiz volcano....

and Armenia

Armenia, Colombia

Armenia is the capital of Quindío, a department in Colombia. The city is located at coordinates 4.5170° north, 75.6830° west, 290 kilometers west of Bogotá. Armenia is a mid-size city located between Bogotá, Medellín and Cali, the 3 largest Colombian cities. The city's area code for phone calls is...

.

The name of Paisa derives from the Spanish apocope

Apocope

In phonology, apocope is the loss of one or more sounds from the end of a word, and especially the loss of an unstressed vowel.-Historical sound change:...

of Paisano (one from the same country), although they are also known as "Antioqueños" (those from the old Antioquia that included the other Paisa provinces and that was a single administrative body until the creation of the Caldas State in 1905.) Although many refer to Paisas as an ethnic group (raza antioqueña or raza paisa), they are a part of the Colombian

Colombian people

Colombian people are from a multiethnic Spanish speaking nation in South America called Colombia. Colombians are predominantly Roman Catholic and are a mixture of Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians.-Demography:...

s and Latin American peoples.

Paisas can be found in other regions of Colombia and the Americas

Americas

The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

where they have migrated. They have a particular way of speaking Spanish to the point that some writers refer to it as "español antioqueño".

Genetics

The Paisas have been considered a genetically isolated population according to scientific studies. As evidenced by the analysis of mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomal markers, the initial founding of the Paisa population occurred through the admixture of Spanish males and Native females. Subsequently, within the emerging colonial society, marriage with individuals of Spanish ancestry was encouraged over marriage with individuals of Native ancestry, leading to the predominantly European ancestry of today's Paisa population. The mountains contributed to isolate the population until the end of the nineteenth century when it enters its own industrial revolution. The nineteenth and early twentieth century also brought European and Middle Eastern immigrants to the region notably from Spain, Italy, Germany, Lebanon, and Eastern Europe. Most of these immigrants ended up intermixing with the Paisa population.

Extremadura

Their first ancestors are primarily Spanish immigrants from Extremadura

Extremadura

Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...

, Spain (16th century). The first colonizers were Extremaduran like Gaspar de Rodas

Gaspar de Rodas

Gaspar de Rodas was a Spanish administrator in the area that now comprises the present-day departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Quindío and Risaralda, in what is now Colombia. He was the first governor of Antioquia, part of the New Kingdom of Granada. Born in Trujillo, Cáceres, he was the son of...

of Trujillo

Trujillo, Spain

Trujillo is a Spanish city of 9860 inhabitants , located in the province of Cáceres, in the Extremadura region. Famous for its monuments, it is a premier resort in Extremadura. It was the birthplace of Francisco Pizarro and his brothers, conquerors of Peru, as well as of Francisco de Orellana...

, who was the first colonial governor of the region. Several towns, cities and places in the Paisa Region are also Extremaduran: Medellín

Medellín

for Medellín of Badajoz

Medellín (Spain)

Medellín is a village in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain, notable as the birthplace of Hernán Cortés in 1485 and the site of the Battle of Medellín, during the Peninsular War...

; Cáceres

Cáceres, Antioquia

Cáceres is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia....

for the Province of Cáceres; Valdivia

Valdivia, Antioquia

Valdivia is a town and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia. Part of the subregion of Northern Antioquia.-History:Valdivia was inhabited by the Nutabes people upon the arrival of the Spanish colonists...

for conqueror Pedro de Valdivia

Pedro de Valdivia

Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva was a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. After serving with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in 1534, where he served as lieutenant under Francisco Pizarro in Peru, acting as his second in command...

Andalusia

Some conquerors from Andalusia

Andalusia

Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...

like Marshall Jorge Robledo

Jorge Robledo (conquistador)

Jorge Robledo was a Spanish conquistador. He traveled in Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru.He founded the cities of Santa Ana de los Caballeros , Cartago, Valle del Cauca and Santa Fe de Antioquia...

of Jaén

Jaén, Spain

Jaén is a city in south-central Spain, the name is derived from the Arabic word Jayyan, . It is the capital of the province of Jaén. It is located in the autonomous community of Andalusia....

, came also with the Extremadurans during the sixteenth century. However, during the seventeenth century a group of Andalusian migrants is said to have settled the region.

Basque people

The presence of Basque ancestry in the Paisa Region has been proven especially to the proliferation of Basque surnames and even some scholars point that it is maybe one of the regions of Hispanic America

Hispanic America

Hispanic America or Spanish America is the region comprising the American countries inhabited by Spanish-speaking populations.These countries have significant commonalities with each other and with Spain, whose colonies they formerly were...

with most concentration of ancestry from that Iberian region. The Basques arrived to Antioquia during the seventeenth century.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth century Basque

Basque people

The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...

families from Northern Spain settled in the Aburrá Valley

Aburrá Valley

Aburrá Valley , is the natural basin of the Medellín River and one of the most populous valleys of Colombia in its Andean Region with near 3 million inhabitants. The valley is located on the Central Range, over the Antioquian Mountain just between the Magdalean and Cauca valleys from east to west...

where Medellín

Medellín

and Envigado

Envigado

Envigado is a city of Colombia in the department of Antioquia, located at the south of the Aburrá Valley and belonging to the Metropolitan Area of Medellín. It has limits at its north with El Poblado, Medellín; at its south with Sabaneta; at its east with El Retiro and Caldas and at west with Itagüí...

are located, as well as small towns in eastern Antioquia, such as Marinilla

Marinilla

Marinilla is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia. Part of the subregion of Eastern Antioquia....

, El Retiro

El Retiro

El Retiro can refer to:* El Retiro: a former estate in Lake Wales, Florida, United States* Parque del Buen Retiro: a park in Madrid, Spain* El Retiro, Antioquia: a municipality in Colombia* El Retiro, Coahuila: a town in Mexico...

and El Santuario. This part of Antioquia reminded these families of northern Spain.

Sephardi Jews

It is a matter of debate of the presence of Jewish ancestry in the Paisa people. It has been possible that Spanish Jews

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

(known as marranos) fleeing the Cartagena de Indias Inquisition

Inquisition

The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...

took refuge in the Antioquian mountains during the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Some Colombian authors like Jorge Isaacs

Jorge Isaacs

Jorge Isaacs Ferrer was a Colombian writer, politician and soldier. His only novel, María, became one of the most notable works of the Romantic movement in Spanish literature....

and Miguel Ángel Osorio

Miguel Ángel Osorio

Miguel Ángel Osorio may refer to:*Miguel Ángel Osorio Benítez, Colombian poet and writer better known by his pseudonym, Porfirio Barba-Jacob*Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, Mexican politician who has served as Governor of Hidalgo...

claimed that Paisas have Jewish ancestry. Several Paisa surnames are of Jewish origin like Alvarez

Alvarez

Alvarez or Alvares may refer to:People:*Álvarez *Álvares*Alvarez of Córdoba , Roman Catholic saint* Vicente Álvarez Travieso, first alguacil mayor of San Antonio, Texas...

, Espinosa

Espinosa

Espinosa is a municipality in the north of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. As of 2007 the population was 31,322 in a total area of 1,876 km². The elevation is 572 meters....

, Perez

Pérez

Pérez is a surname with at least two distinct origins. One is a Spanish surname meaning "son of Pero, Pedro, or Peter." In Castilian Spanish, the name is pronounced ; in Latin America, . In American English, it is often the hyperforeign ....

and many others. Some scholars agree that the presence of Sephardic Jews in the ancestry of Paisas is a fact, but it does not mean that all Paisas come from them, as proven by their origin in other groups like Basques, Extremaduran, Andalusian and Catalonian.

Catalonian

Although the facts of the presence of Catalonian people in the origins of all Colombians have been a matter of studies, the Catalonian genetic and influence in the Paisa Region has been also of particular analysis, especially in the way Paisas use their Spanish language and elements of the traditional customs and surnames.

The name

Although the expression "Paisa" is of popular use as apocope of "Paisano" (one from the same country; countryman), the origin of the expression goes back to a separatist movement that brewed through the region in the mid nineteenth Century. Those politicians that secretly supported secession would refer to the new country as "Pais A", short for Pais Antioquia. The moniker eventually was fused to create the word "paisa". Consequently, "Paisa Region" is the region where the Paisa people live. A more ancient expression is Antioqueño (Antioquean; one from Antioquia). This one is more official, especially during the Colony (16th - eighteenth centuries) and the nineteenth century after the Independence of Colombia. All the region made a single body as "Province of Antioquia" first and "State of Antioquia" after. In 1905 was created the Caldas Department

Caldas Department

from the southern part of Antioquia, making that the world "Antioqueño" remains only for those of Antioquia, while "Paisa" became a more cultural one.

History

Although some sources argue that the American Indian

American Indian

American Indian may refer to:*Native Americans in the United States*Indigenous people of the Americas, the inhabitants of North and South America prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus*Indian American, an American with ancestors from India...

s that populated most of the Paisa Region were extinguished through European diseases and fights against the Spaniard conquerors, it is not fully demonstrated.

Francisco César made an expedition in 1537 from Urabá

Urabá

Urabá or Uraba may refer to:* Gulf of Urabá, a gulf in the Caribbean sea in Colombia.* Urabá Region, a subregion of Colombia.* Urabá Region, a subregion of Colombia.* Urabá Antioquia, a subregion of the Antioquia Department, Colombia....

to the Cauca River

Cauca River

The Cauca River is a river in Colombia that lies between the Occidental and Central cordilleras. Born in southwestern Colombia near the city of Popayán, it joins the Magdalena River near Pinillos in Bolívar Department, and the combined river eventually flows out into the Caribbean Sea. It has a...

to the lands of Dabeiba

Dabeiba

Dabeiba is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia....

, but his troops were rejected by the Nutibaras. In 1540 Marshall Jorge Robledo

Jorge Robledo (conquistador)

Jorge Robledo was a Spanish conquistador. He traveled in Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru.He founded the cities of Santa Ana de los Caballeros , Cartago, Valle del Cauca and Santa Fe de Antioquia...

founded Cartago

Cartago

Cartago is the name of at least three different places:* Cartago Province, Costa Rica* Cartago, Costa Rica, capital of the province of Cartago* Cartago, Valle del Cauca, Colombia* Cartago, California, United States-See also:*Special:Allpages/Cartago...

. In 1541 he founded Arma in what is today the south of Antioquia, near today Aguadas

Aguadas, Caldas

Aguadas is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Caldas....

and Santa Fe de Antioquia, at the banks of the Cauca River. This last town would become the provincial capital in 1813.

The first colonial governor was Don Gaspar de Rodas

Gaspar de Rodas

(1518–1607). The mountains of Antioquia attracted the Spaniards for its gold and lands for cattle, The first towns were located near gold mines and rivers. Although that, the region did not attract a population interested in create important centers for the Spanish civilization like Cartagena de Indias, Popayán

Popayán

Popayán is the capital of the Colombian department of Cauca. It is located in southwestern Colombia between Colombia's Western Mountain Range and Central Mountain Range...

or Bogotá

Bogotá

Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

and it remains almost isolated from the rest of the colony. This fact is the main element of the cultural identity of the Paisas within the Colombian national context.

Since the seventeenth century and until the end of the nineteenth centuries, Paisa families moved to the southern regions of Antioquia, in what is today the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis

Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis

Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis , also known as Coffee Triangle is a part of the Colombian Paisa region which is famous for growing and production of a majority of the Colombian coffee, considered by some as the best coffee in the world. There are three departments in the area: Caldas, Quindío and...

or the "Viejo Caldas" (Old Caldas

Caldas Department

). This constant internal migration is known in history as the "Colonización Antioqueña" (Antioquean Colonization). Most of the cities and towns founded in the Old Caldas (Caldas, Risaralda

Risaralda

Risaralda may refer to:* Risaralda Department, in Colombia* Risaralda River* Risaralda, Caldas a town and municipality in Caldas Department...

, Quindío and some towns of the north of Valle del Cauca and the west of Tolima

Tolima

Tolima may refer to:* Nevado del Tolima, a volcano in Colombia* Tolima Department of Colombia* Deportes Tolima, a football team in the First Division...

) are from that time.

During the wars for the independence of Colombia, the most important Paisa figure was General José María Córdova

José María Córdova

José María Córdoba also known as the "Hero of Ayacucho", was a General of the Colombian army during the Latin American War of independence from Spain.- Biographic data :Córdova was born in Concepción, Antioquia on September 8, 1799...

. He was from Rionegro

Rionegro, Antioquia

Rionegro is a city and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia, located in the subregion of Eastern Antioquia. The official name of the City is "Ciudad Santiago de Arma de Rionegro" but is named after the Negro River which is the most prominent geographical feature of the municipality...

and fought important battles to free the region from the Spanish regime under the orders of Simón Bolívar

Simón Bolívar

Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...

, who never went to the region. During the Bolívar's campaign to liberate New Granada, Córdoba participated in the Battle of Boyacá

Battle of Boyacá

The Battle of Boyacá in Colombia, then known as New Granada, was the battle in which Colombia acquired its definitive independence from Spanish Monarchy, although fighting with royalist forces would continue for years....

and was entitled "Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

" by the Libertador, although his young age (he was only 20). Then he was in charged by Bolívar to defend the Province of Antioquia and in fact he defeated the Spaniards during the Campaign of Nechí

Nechi

Nechi is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia....

between the end of 1819 and the beginning of 1820.

In 1826 Medellín

Medellín

was declared the capital of the Province of Antioquia. In 1856 a Federalist Political Constitution created the State of Antioquia and it faced some civil wars among Liberal and Conservatives. In 1877 the president of the federal state was Pedro Justo Berrío, who was one of the most prominent political leaders of the region at the end of the century and developed an active politic in education, transportation to communicate the region with the rest of the country like the train (1874) and economical development.

In 1886, with a centralized Political Constitution, it was created the "Department of Antioquia". Although the region was not affected directly by the Thousand Days War

Thousand Days War

The Thousand Days' War , was a civil armed conflict in the newly created Republic of Colombia, between the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and its radical factions. In 1899 the ruling conservatives were accused of maintaining power through fraudulent elections...

(1899–1902), it produced one of the main characters: General Rafael Uribe Uribe

Rafael Uribe Uribe

Rafael Uribe Uribe was a Colombian lawyer, journalist, and general in the liberal party rebel army.-Early years:...

at the side of the Liberal Party rebels

Colombian Liberal Party

The Colombian Liberal Party is a center-left party in Colombia that adheres to social democracy and social liberalism.The Party was founded in 1848 and, together with the Colombian Conservative Party, subsequently became one of the two main political forces in the country for over a century.After...

.

The progressive government of General Rafael Reyes

Rafael Reyes

Rafael Reyes Prieto was Chief of Staff of the Colombian National Army and President of Colombia .- Biographic data :...

(1904–1909) was of benefit in the development for the region, but one of his projects was the creation of new departments. One of the them was the Caldas Department

Caldas Department

to be taken from the southern part of Antioquia in 1905. During the twentieth century both Paisa departments (Antioquia and Caldas), would continue their development in industry, mines and agriculture. In 1966 the Caldas Department is divided in three parts: Caldas itself, Quindío and Risaralda

Risaralda

Risaralda may refer to:* Risaralda Department, in Colombia* Risaralda River* Risaralda, Caldas a town and municipality in Caldas Department...

.

At the end of the century the region faced the crisis of the growing of drug traffic mafias, paramilitary groups and guerrillas, especially in Antioquia with the Medellín Cartel

Medellín Cartel

The Medellín Cartel was an organized network of "drug suppliers and smugglers" originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia. The drug cartel operated in Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Central America, the United States, as well as Canada and Europe throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It was founded and...

and the north of Valle del Cauca. However, development has proved to be a Colombian model in regions like the Metropolitan Area of Medellín

Metropolitan Area of Medellín

The Metropolitan Area of Medellín or the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley is a metropolitan area and subregion in the Colombian Department of Antioquia...

according to the Inter-American Development Bank

Inter-American Development Bank

The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean...

Geography

Although what is known as "Paisa Region" is a cultural entity and it is not defined by administrative divisions, it is possible to locate some areas as the natural space of the Paisa people.

Antioquia Department
Antioquia Department
Antioquia is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders the Caribbean Sea. Most of its territory is mountainous with some valleys, much of which is part of the Andes mountain range...

: The biggest department (63,612 km²) with a population of 5,671,689. However, some areas of the department
Departments of Colombia
Colombia is an unitary republic formed by thirty-two departments and a Capital District . Each department has a Governor and a Department Assembly , elected by popular vote for a four-year period. The governor cannot be re-elected in consecutive periods...

are not considered culturally Paisa like the Antioquean Urabá
Urabá
Urabá or Uraba may refer to:* Gulf of Urabá, a gulf in the Caribbean sea in Colombia.* Urabá Region, a subregion of Colombia.* Urabá Region, a subregion of Colombia.* Urabá Antioquia, a subregion of the Antioquia Department, Colombia....

and the north of Antioquia, more integrated to the Caribbean Region of Colombia. The Paisas are located especially in the mountainous part of the province, at the center and south, in what is called the "Montaña Antioqueña" (Antioquean Mountain). The capital is Medellín
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...

, the second urban and industrialist center of Colombia. Other big cities are located in the Metropolitan Area of Medellín
Metropolitan Area of Medellín
The Metropolitan Area of Medellín or the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley is a metropolitan area and subregion in the Colombian Department of Antioquia...

, Rionegro
Rionegro, Antioquia
Rionegro is a city and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia, located in the subregion of Eastern Antioquia. The official name of the City is "Ciudad Santiago de Arma de Rionegro" but is named after the Negro River which is the most prominent geographical feature of the municipality...

, La Ceja
La Ceja
La Ceja is a town and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia. Part of the subregion of Eastern Antioquia.-External links:...

, Santa Fe de Antioquia, Puerto Berrío
Puerto Berrío
Puerto Berrío is a municipality and town in the Colombian department of Antioquia.-Geography:Puerto Berrío is located in a region of Antioquia known as the Middle Magdalena...

, Yarumal
Yarumal
Yarumal is a municipality in the Antioquia Department, Colombia. Yarumal was founded in 1787 as San Luis de Gongora. Municipal status was granted in 1821. The current name of Yarumal comes from a local plant belonging to the Moraceae family, known in botanical Latin as Cecropia peltata L...

and others. The southwest of the Department (Sureste Antioqueño
Southwestern Antioquia
Southwestern Antioquia is a subregion in the Colombian Department of Antioquia. The region is made up of 24 municipalities.-Municipalities:* Amagá* Andes* Angelópolis* Betania* Betulia* Caicedo* Caramanta* Ciudad Bolívar* Concordia* Fredonia...

) is also a part of the Colombian Coffee Axes.

Caldas Department
Caldas Department
Caldas is a department of Colombia named after Colombian patriotic figure Francisco José de Caldas. It's part of the Paisa Region and its capital is Manizales. The population of Caldas is 1,030,062, and its area is 7,291 km²...

: It was established in 1905 and has an area of 7,888 km² with a population of 908,841. The capital is Manizales
Manizales
Manizales is a city and municipality in central Colombia, capital of Department of Caldas and part of the region of Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis, near the Nevado del Ruiz volcano....

, founded by Antioquean colonizers in 1849.

Risaralda Department
Risaralda Department
Risaralda is a department of Colombia. It is located in the western central region of the country and part of the Paisa Region. Its capital is Pereira.It was divided from the department of Caldas in 1966...

: It was established in 1966 from the territory of Caldas. It has an area of 4,140 km² and a population of 863,663. The capital is Pereira
Pereira, Colombia
Pereira is the capital city of the Colombian department of Risaralda. It stands in the center of the western region of the country, located in a small valley that descends from a part of the western Andes mountain chain. Its strategic location in the coffee producing area makes the city an urban...

(founded in 1863).

Quindío Department
Quindío Department
Quindío is a department of Colombia. It is in the western central region of the country, crossed by the Andes mountains. Its capital is Armenia. It is famous for the quality of the coffee plantations, colorful architecture, benign weather, variety of hotel accommodations and touristic landmarks...

: It was established in 1966 also from Caldas with Armenia
Armenia, Colombia
Armenia is the capital of Quindío, a department in Colombia. The city is located at coordinates 4.5170° north, 75.6830° west, 290 kilometers west of Bogotá. Armenia is a mid-size city located between Bogotá, Medellín and Cali, the 3 largest Colombian cities. The city's area code for phone calls is...

as capital. It is one of the smallest departments of Colombia (1,845 km²) with a population of 518,691 persons.

Tolima Department: Some towns of the west of Tolima are of Paisa origin: Roncesvalles
Roncesvalles, Tolima
Roncesvalles is a municipality in the Tolima department of Colombia. The population of the municipality was 7,647 as of the 1993 census....

(founded by Antioqueans in 1905); Líbano
Líbano, Tolima
Líbano is a town and municipality in the Tolima department of Colombia. The population of the municipality was 39,785 as of the 1993 census. Along with Honda, Tolima, Líbano is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Líbano-Honda.-History:...

(f. 1849); Casabianca
Casabianca, Tolima
Casabianca is a town and municipality in the Tolima Department of Colombia. The population of the municipality was 6,501 as of the 1993 census....

(f. 1886); Murillo
Murillo, Tolima
Murillo is a town and municipality in the Tolima department of Colombia. The population of the municipality was 5,460 as of the 1993 census....

(f. 1871); Armero
Armero
The Armero tragedy was one of the major consequences of the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz stratovolcano in Tolima, Colombia on November 13, 1985...

(f. 1895); Villahermosa
Villahermosa, Tolima
Villahermosa is a town and municipality in the Tolima department of Colombia. The population of the municipality was 12,574 as of the 1993 census. The municipality is also one of the most important coffee producers of Tolima's north....

(f. 1887).

Valle del Cauca Department
Valle del Cauca Department
Valle del Cauca is a department of Colombia. It is in the western side of the country, facing the Pacific Ocean, and it is considered one of the most important departments in the Republic of Colombia. Its capital is Santiago de Cali...

: The towns and cities of the north of the Valle del Cauca Department are also of Paisa origin: Sevilla
Sevilla, Valle del Cauca
Sevilla is a town and municipality in the Valle del Cauca Department, Colombia. Widely recognized and famous as one of the best Colombian coffee producers...

(founded by Antioqueans in 1903); Alcalá
Alcalá, Valle del Cauca
Alcalá is a town and municipality located in the Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia.-External links:...

(f. 1819); Argelia
Argelia, Valle del Cauca
Argelia is a town and municipality located in the Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia. The main means of income for this region is coffee....

(f. 1904, known also as "Medellincito, Little Medellín); Bolívar
Bolívar, Valle del Cauca
Bolívar is a town and municipality located in the Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia....

(f. 1884); El Aguila
El Aguila, Valle del Cauca
El Aguila is a town and municipality located in the Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia....

(f. 1905); La Unión
La Unión, Valle del Cauca
La Unión is a town and municipality located in the Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia.-External links:...

(f. 1890); Versalles
Versalles
Versalles is a town and municipality located in the Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia....

(f. 1894); Zarzal
Zarzal
Zarzal is a town and municipality located in the north of the department of Valle del Cauca, in Colombia. Its economy is based primarily on the extensive cultivation of sugar cane, on small and medium enterprises in the metallurgic sector and on utilities. Commerce is also of great importance,...

(f. 1909).

Paisa diaspora

Although they are very attached to their country land, Paisas have been always promp to migrate in search of better opportunities. This fact has been of great benefit for the development of some regions in Colombia, first during the "Antioquean Colonization" of the Colombian Coffee Axis between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, and currently to other regions of the nation like the Llanos Orientales (East of Colombia). They keep their traditions and love for commerce, agriculture and mines wherever they go. In the Llanos Orientales, for example, several haciendas of cattle are owned by Paisa families. They are one of the main Colombian groups to migrate to foreign countries, especially to United States, Spain and some Latin American countries like Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

, Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

, Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

and Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

Economy

Paisas are distinguished in Colombia for their natural love and abilities for business and commerce. The Paisa Region coincided with the important economic centers of Colombia like the Metropolitan Area of Medellín

Metropolitan Area of Medellín

The Metropolitan Area of Medellín or the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley is a metropolitan area and subregion in the Colombian Department of Antioquia...

(textile

Textile

A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...

, industries like appliances, automobiles and chemicals, services like health care and fashion); the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis

Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis

in agriculture and other economic activities like flower growing, cattle, gold and coal mines, tourism and others.

Language

The way Paisas speak Spanish is distinctive within the national cultural context. It is also known as "Antioquean Spanish". This dialectal Spanish belongs also to the Americas Dialectal Voseo regions

Voseo

Voseo is the use of the second person singular pronoun vos in many dialects of Spanish. In dialects that have it, it is used either instead of tú, or alongside it....

as a regionalism. Paisas speak Spanish fast and soft. They have many local and regional expressions that must be translated to a standard version even for Colombians from other regions. Out of the rural Paisa dialect, comes a popular and urban version called as "Parlache" as well.

Voseo (as /you/, using /vos/ instead of /tú/): Paisas use /vos/ as the second person singular pronoun instead of /tú/ in colloquial and informal conservation and /usted/ to formal conversations, although it is common to use /usted/ even for relatives and friends. However, /vos/ is constricted to popular use and, unlike exclusive-/vos/-American regions that use it in official places like press and government, /vos/ in the Paisa Region is rarely used in official documents. Several Paisa writers use /vos/ in their works and it became a language distinction of the Paisa identity. The use of /tú/, however, is well known, especially under the influence of other Colombian groups migrating to the Paisa Region like the Costeños (from the northern coasts of Colombia.) Paisa writers who use /vos/ (you) in their works are Tomás Carrasquilla
Tomás Carrasquilla
Tomás Carrasquilla Naranjo was a Colombian writer who lived in the Antioquia region. He dedicated himself to very simple jobs: tailor, secretary of a judge, storekeeper in a mine, and worker of the Ministry of Public Works...

, Fernando González Ochoa
Fernando González (writer)
Fernando González Ochoa , was a Colombian writer and existentialist philosopher known as "el filósofo de Otraparte" . He wrote about sociology, history, art, moral, economy, epistemology and theology in a magisterial and creative way, using different genres of literature...

, Manuel Mejía Vallejo
Manuel Mejía Vallejo
Manuel Mejía Vallejo, was a Colombian writer and journalist. The specialist Luís Carlos Molina says that Mejía represents the Andean aspect of the contemporary Colombian narrative, characterized by a world of symbols which are little by little being lost in the memory of the mountain.Doctor...

, Fernando Vallejo
Fernando Vallejo
Fernando Vallejo Rendón is a novelist, filmmaker and essayist, born in Colombia. He obtained Mexican nationality in 2007.Vallejo was born and raised in Medellín, though he left his hometown early in life...

, Gonzalo Arango
Gonzalo Arango
Gonzalo Arango Arias was a Colombian poet, journalist and philosopher. He was famous in his country for being the founder of a literature and philosophy movement called "Nadaísmo" with other young Colombian thinkers of his generation and that was inspired by the Colombian philosopher Fernando...

and others.

Seseo (stressing the /S/ sound in words): Other feature of the dialectal Spanish of Paisas is the distinct Castilian sounding /S/. As any other American Spanish
American Spanish
Spanish language in the Americas, also known as American Spanish, refers to the Spanish spoken in the Americas, as opposed to European Spanish. Linguistically, this grouping is somewhat arbitrary, akin to having a term for "overseas British" encompassing variants spoken in the US, Canada, India,...

, Paisas do not distinguish /s/ from /z/ like in Spain.

Yeísmo (/Ll/ as /Y/): Paisas pronounce /Ll/ as /Y/ and for this reason there is not distinction between /cayó/ (it fell) and /cállo/ (became silent).

Land and inheritance

Paisas are very attached to their families and land. As their natural cultural space is on the mountains, it is also a symbol of their land. They give a great importance to surnames and ancestors. They even associate surnames to towns ("los Pérez son de San Pedro de los Milagros", the Pérez [family] are from San Pedro de los Milagros). Though the patrilinear character is very important for families, Paisas keep a strong matriarchal culture.

Paisas are well known in Colombia for their kindness and welcoming aptitude to persons from other regions and visitors. They are promptly to jokes and exaggerations that create enjoyable conversations, though can confuse those who are not used to their talking. They speak proudly of their land, towns, cities, history, traditions and abilities in commerce. It is common that Paisas do not use their local demonym

Demonym

A demonym , also referred to as a gentilic, is a name for a resident of a locality. A demonym is usually – though not always – derived from the name of the locality; thus, the demonym for the people of England is English, and the demonym for the people of Italy is Italian, yet, in english, the one...

(for example, "medellinenses, manizalitas, etc), but they refer to themselves as "Paisas".

Cuisine

The Paisa cuisine is very influenced by their traditional rural background of the mountains. It belongs to the Colombian Andes cuisine with abundance of bean

Bean

Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....

s, rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

, maize

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

, pork

Pork

Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....

and cattle

Cattle

Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

meat

Meat

Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...

, tropical fruits, potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

and several types of vegetables.

Bandeja paisa
Bandeja paisa
Bandeja paisa, also known as bandeja de arriero, bandeja montañera, or bandeja antioqueña, is a typical fusion cuisine Colombian dish...

: This is a more traditional dish and is generally composed by carne asada (grilled steak) or carne molida (finely ground grilled steak), chicharrón (fried pork rind), rice, red beans, a slice of avocado, sweet fried plantains, a fried egg, a small white corn arepa
Arepa
An arepa is a dish made of ground corn dough or cooked flour, popular in Colombia, Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking countries. It is similar in shape to the Salvadoran pupusa...

, and sometimes chorizo
Chorizo
Chorizo is a term encompassing several types of pork sausages originating from the Iberian Peninsula.In English, it is usually pronounced , , or , but sometimes ....

(sausage). Bandeja paisa is also a very popular dish served in Colombian restaurants in Europe and the United States.

Sopa de mondongo
Sopa de Mondongo
Sopa de mondongo is a soup made from slow-cooked diced tripe and, vegetables such as bell peppers, onions, carrots, cabbage, celery, tomatoes, cilantro, garlic or root vegetables originating from Latin America and the Caribbean.-Variations:Many variations of sopa de mondongo exist in Latin America...

.

Empanada antioqueña
Empanada
An empanada is a stuffed bread or pastry baked or fried in many countries in Latin America, Southern Europe and parts of Southeast Asia. The name comes from the verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. Empanada is made by folding a dough or bread patty around the stuffing...

.

Frijoles.

Mazamorra
Mazamorra
Mazamorra is a traditional maize-based Latin American food.-In Colombia:Mazamorra in Colombia is also known as Peto...

.

Rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

with Chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...

.

Arepa antioqueña.

Music

The Paisa Region is center of different genres of music among traditional, modern and adopted. The most important instruments of music by tradition are the tiple

Tiple

Tiple is the Spanish word for treble or soprano, is often applied to specific instruments, generally to refer to a small chordophone of the guitar family. A tiple player is called a tiplista.-Colombian tiple:...

and the guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

Traditional:

- Pasillo
  Pasillo
  Pasillo is a South American genre of music extremely popular in the territories that composed 19th century Gran Colombia: Colombia; Ecuador, where it is considered the national musical style; and to a lesser extent in the mountainous regions of Venezuela and Panamá...
  
  : In the Paisa Region has had a great diffusion as it is proven by the annual National Festival of the Colombian Pasillo in Aguadas
  Aguadas, Caldas
  Aguadas is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Caldas....
  
  . Carlos Vieco is one of the best known Paisa composers of Pasillo for example with "Hacia el Calvario" ("Towards Calvary").

- Rail Music: In Spanish Música de Carrilera is the Paisa "Country music
  Country music
  Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
  
  ". It was originated in Antioquia, especially along the Antioquean Railway. It is also known as "Música guasca".

- Songs of Heartbreak: In Spanish Música de despecho. In Colombia this genre became identity of the Paisa region. The composer and musician Darío Gómez
  Darío Gómez
  Darío de Jesús Gómez Zapata also known as El Rey del Despecho is a Colombian singer and composer of vals, corridos and boleros. His moniker El Rey del Despecho derives from the more than one thousands songs about heartbreaking love situations. His most known song is Nadie es Eterno...
  
  of San Jerónimo
  San Jerónimo, Antioquia
  San Jerónimo is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia....
  
  has been nominated "The King of the Songs of Heartbreak" (El Rey del Despecho). His song "Nadie es eterno" ("Nobody is Eternal") became one of the most popular song in Colombia. Other artists of this genre are El Charrito Negro, Luis Alberto Posada, Jhonny Rivera,Lady Yuliana,Pipe Bueno,Giovany Ayala,Grupo Tornado,Fernando Burbano, Bera, El Andariego and many others. The Paisa - American Lucía Pulido is the main artist of this genre in United States.

- Paisa Trova: In Spanish Trova paisa. It shows the creativity, mentality, jokes and identity of the Paisas. The most important is to create new Trovas in every performance. Don Salvo Ruiz and don Ñito Restrepo from Concordia
  Concordia, Antioquia
  Concordia is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia. Part of the subregion of Southwestern Antioquia.This municipality is located at 2000 mt over sea level 6° 2'59.82"N 75°55'11.88"W. Has a population of 25,000 including the surrounding areas...
  
  are regarded as the fathers of the Paisa Trova.

Adopted:

- Tango
  Tango music
  Tango is a style of ballroom dance music in 2/4 or 4/4 time that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay . It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, double bass, and two bandoneons...
  
  : This Argentinian
  Argentina
  Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
  
  and Uruguay
  Uruguay
  Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
  
  an music became popular in Antioquia during the first part of the twentieth century, maybe due to Argentinian migrations to Medellín
  Medellín
  Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...
  
  . In 1934 the King of Tango, Carlos Gardel
  Carlos Gardel
  Carlos Gardel was a singer, songwriter and actor, and is perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was born in Toulouse, France, although he never acknowledged his birthplace publicly, and there are still claims of his birth in Uruguay. He lived in Argentina from the age of two...
  
  , died in a plain crash in the Paisa capital. The Paisa writer Manuel Mejía Vallejo
  Manuel Mejía Vallejo
  Manuel Mejía Vallejo, was a Colombian writer and journalist. The specialist Luís Carlos Molina says that Mejía represents the Andean aspect of the contemporary Colombian narrative, characterized by a world of symbols which are little by little being lost in the memory of the mountain.Doctor...
  
  wrote "Aire de Tango" (Air of Tango), a work that shows the big influence of Tango in the modern Paisa folklore. The Tango Festival takes place in Barrio Manrique of Medellín where is the "Tangovía" and a monument to Gardel.

- Vallenato
  Vallenato
  Vallenato, along with cumbia, is currently a popular folk music of Colombia. It primarily comes from the Colombia's Caribbean region. Vallenato literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá in...
  
  : This music from the Caribbean Region of Colombia (Valledupar
  Valledupar
  Valledupar is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia. It is the capital of Cesar Department and was founded in 1550 by the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Santana. Its name, Valle de Upar , was established in honor of the Amerindian cacique who ruled the valley; Cacique Upar...
  
  ), has found in the Paisa Region its place. It was brought especially by young students from the north of Colombia who came to study in the Andean cities. There are several Paisa music groups of Vallenato.

Religion

Roman Catholicism in Colombia arrived in the region with the Spaniard colonizers at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Franciscan

Franciscan

Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

s settled along with colonizers and built churches and monasteries in the towns founded by the Spaniards. There is a theory that Spaniard and Portuguese Christian converted Jews arrived to the region as well. Roman Catholicism became the predominant religion and Paisas remained devout and churchgoing. The 1991 Colombian Political Constitution that decreed freedom of religion opened the gates to other religious denominations, though Paisas are considered Catholics by culture. The theory of Jewish origins has benefited the Jewish communities in the region as well. The two first Colombian persons recognized by the Catholic Church as blessed

Beatification

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...

or saint

Saint

A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...

s are from the Paisa Region: Laura Montoya (from Jericó

Jericó

Jericó is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia. It is part of the subregion of Southwestern Antioquia. The town is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jericó....

) and Mariano de Jesús Euse (from Yarumal

Yarumal

Yarumal is a municipality in the Antioquia Department, Colombia. Yarumal was founded in 1787 as San Luis de Gongora. Municipal status was granted in 1821. The current name of Yarumal comes from a local plant belonging to the Moraceae family, known in botanical Latin as Cecropia peltata L...

). A Paisa prelate from Tolima

Tolima

Tolima may refer to:* Nevado del Tolima, a volcano in Colombia* Tolima Department of Colombia* Deportes Tolima, a football team in the First Division...

, Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo

Alfonso López Trujillo

Alfonso López Trujillo was a Colombian Cardinal Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church and president of the Pontifical Council for the Family.-Youth:...

, was closxe to the John Paul II.

Notables

Several Paisa personalities have been famous in regional, national and international contexts in every field of science, sport, music, technology, economy, politics and even crime. Some of the most notable in an international context:

Artists: Sculptor Rodrigo Arenas Betancur
Rodrigo Arenas
Rodrigo Arenas Betancur was a Colombian sculptor, born on October 23, 1919 in Fredonia, Antioquia. At the time of his death in 1995 he was recognized as one of the most important sculptors in Colombia and Latin America...

, musician Juanes
Juanes
Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez , better known as Juanes is a Colombian musician who was a member of heavy metal band Ekhymosis and is now a solo artist. In 2000, his solo debut album Fíjate Bien won three Latin Grammy Awards.Juanes has sold more than 13 million albums...

, painter and sculptor Fernando Botero
Fernando Botero
Fernando Botero Angulo is a Colombian figurative artist. His works feature a figurative style, called by some "Boterismo", which gives them an unmistakable identity...

, Prima Ballerina Freya Monroy,painter Débora Arango
Débora Arango
Débora Arango was a Colombian artist, born in Medellín, Colombia as the daughter of Castor María Arango Díaz and Elvira Pérez. Though she was primarily a painter, Arango also worked in other media, such as ceramics and graphic art...

, philosopher Fernando González
Fernando González (writer)
Fernando González Ochoa , was a Colombian writer and existentialist philosopher known as "el filósofo de Otraparte" . He wrote about sociology, history, art, moral, economy, epistemology and theology in a magisterial and creative way, using different genres of literature...

, writers Tomás Carrasquilla
Tomás Carrasquilla
Tomás Carrasquilla Naranjo was a Colombian writer who lived in the Antioquia region. He dedicated himself to very simple jobs: tailor, secretary of a judge, storekeeper in a mine, and worker of the Ministry of Public Works...

, Fernando Vallejo
Fernando Vallejo
Fernando Vallejo Rendón is a novelist, filmmaker and essayist, born in Colombia. He obtained Mexican nationality in 2007.Vallejo was born and raised in Medellín, though he left his hometown early in life...

, Porfirio Barba-Jacob
Porfirio Barba-Jacob
Miguel Ángel Osorio Benítez , better known by his pseudonym, Porfirio Barba-Jacob, was a Colombian poet and writer....

, Gonzalo Arango
Gonzalo Arango
Gonzalo Arango Arias was a Colombian poet, journalist and philosopher. He was famous in his country for being the founder of a literature and philosophy movement called "Nadaísmo" with other young Colombian thinkers of his generation and that was inspired by the Colombian philosopher Fernando...

, painter Omar Rayo
Omar Rayo
Omar Rayo was a Colombian painter, sculptor, caricaturist and plastic artist. He won the 1970 Salón de Artistas Colombianos. Rayo worked with abstract geometry primarily employing black, white and red. He was part of the Op Art movement. Rayo's work shows that geometric art is as much a part of...

.

Sport: Football players René Higuita
René Higuita
José René Higuita Zapata is a former Colombian football goalkeeper nicknamed El Loco...

, Juan Pablo Ángel
Juan Pablo Ángel
Juan Pablo Ángel Arango is a Colombian footballer. He currently plays for Chivas USA in Major League Soccer.-Atlético Nacional and River Plate:...

, Iván Córdoba and Andrés Escobar
Andrés Escobar
Andrés Escobar Saldarriaga , nicknamed "The Gentleman of Football", was a Colombian footballer who was shot and killed in Medellín. It is widely believed that he was murdered due to his own goal in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, which supposedly would have caused gambling losses to several powerful drug...

, golfer Camilo Villegas
Camilo Villegas
Camilo Villegas is a Colombian professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the European Tour.-Early years:Villegas was born in Medellín, Colombia, and took up golf as a child...

.

Journalists: Baldomero Sanín Cano
Baldomero Sanín Cano
Baldomero Sanín Cano was a Colombian essayist, journalist, linguist, humanist and university professor....

.

Politicians: Álvaro Uribe
Álvaro Uribe
Alvaro Uribe Vélez was the 58th President of Colombia, from 2002 to 2010. In August 2010 he was appointed Vice-chairman of the UN panel investigating the Gaza flotilla raid....

, Belisario Betancur Cuartas, César Gaviria
César Gaviria
César Gaviria Trujillo is a Colombian politician and a Latin American statesman. He served as President of Colombia from 1990 to 1994, and Secretary General of the Organization of American States from 1994 until 2004.-Early life:...

, Sergio Fajardo
Sergio Fajardo
Sergio Fajardo Valderrama, a mathematician from University of the Andes, Colombia turned politician, was the mayor of Medellín from 2003 to 2007. He ran as an independent. Fajardo was granted a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison....

, Marco Fidel Suárez
Marco Fidel Suárez
Marco Fidel Suárez was a Colombian political figure. He served as president of Colombia from 1918 to 1921. He was born on April 23, 1855, in the town of Hatoviejo, Antioquia...

.

Heroes: General José María Córdova
José María Córdova
José María Córdoba also known as the "Hero of Ayacucho", was a General of the Colombian army during the Latin American War of independence from Spain.- Biographic data :Córdova was born in Concepción, Antioquia on September 8, 1799...

.

Religious: Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo
Alfonso López Trujillo
Alfonso López Trujillo was a Colombian Cardinal Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church and president of the Pontifical Council for the Family.-Youth:...

, Laura Montoya, Mariano de Jesús Euse.

Infamous: Pablo Escobar
Pablo Escobar
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was a Colombian drug lord. He was an elusive cocaine trafficker and rich and successful criminal. He owned numerous luxury residences, automobiles, and even airplanes...

.

External links

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