Tolima one of the 32 departments of Colombia, is located in the Andean zone, the western center of the country. It is surrounded in north east by the department of Caldas, in the west by the department of Cundinamarca, in the south by the department of Huila and in the west by the departments of Cauca, Valle del Cauca, Quindío and Risaralda. It has a surface of 23.562 km ². Its capital and main city are Ibague. Other important cities are Honda, Líbano, Espinal, Mariquita, Armero.

History

In all the territory of this department at the time précolombienne the Pijaos lived, whose descendants still live in 70 small indigenous reserves. The name of the department comes from the word pijao meaning " enneigé" .

Spanish colonization starts with Sebastián de Belalcázar, which leaves the town of Cali in 1537 for recontrer Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada to Bogota. On the road, Belalcázar bases a first base which will give origin to the current town of Ibague. The final foundation of the city was carried out by the captain Andrés López de Galarza, as well as the bases of the future town of Cajamarca. These two cities will have later a big part in the area of the coffee, called in Spanish " eje cafetero" .

See Anna Torres.