Bucaramanga
| Bucaramanga | |||
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| Nickname(s): "The Pretty City", "City of Parks" | |||
| Motto: Montani semper liberi | |||
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  Bucaramanga
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| Coordinates: | |||
| Country |  Colombia |
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| Region | Andean Region | ||
| Department | Department of Santander | ||
| Foundation | 1622 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor | Fernando Vargas, (L) | ||
| Area | |||
| - City | 165 km2 (63.7 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 959 m (3,146 ft) | ||
| Population | |||
| - City | 608,102 | ||
| - Density | 2.216/km2 (5.7/sq mi) | ||
| - Metro | 1'212.657 | ||
| Website | www.bucaramanga.gov.co |
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Bucaramanga is a municipality and the capital city of the department of Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth largest city economy and sixth population in Colombia, with 1,212,657 people in its metropolitan area. Bucaramanga has over 160 parks scattered throughout the city and has been given the nicknames "La Ciudad de Los Parques" "City of Parks" and "La Ciudad Bonita de Colombia" "Colombia's Beautiful City". It is internationally recognized for its parks.
Bucaramanga has grown rapidly since the 1960's, mostly in neighboring locations within the metropolitan area. Floridablanca, Girón and Piedecuesta are inextricably linked geographically and commercially with Bucaramanga, forming a large metropolitan city.
Local manufacturing, especially of textiles and shoes, has struggled in the face of legal and contraband imports in recent decades. The city is the base of the Colombian Petroleum Institute (ICP)[1], the research branch of the state oil company Ecopetrol and the Colombian Natural Gas Company (Ecogas).
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History
Girón was the first and most significant town founded by Spanish colonizers in the region and Bucaramanga (founded in 1622) did not overtake Girón in population or economic significance until the early 1800s. In the 1860s and 1870s the city attracted a core of German merchants and adventurers (the most famous of whom was Georg von Lengerke) and tensions between the newcomers and local merchants flared in 1879. With the political reorganization of 1886 Bucaramanga replaced Socorro as departmental capital. The region (although not the city itself) was devastated by the civil war of 1899-1902 - commonly known as the Thousand Days War and Bucaramanga grew only modestly in the first half of the twentieth century.
Geography and Climate
Bucaramanga is located on a plateau in the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes, and many residents occupy unstable lands descending steeply from the meseta. Westbound of it, the Rio de Oro Canyon is located at an altitude of 600m AMSL. Eastbound, the Andean Range rises up in high peaks, reaching almost 3,700m AMSL in the place locally known as "Paramo de Berlin" The city is located at . The official metropolitan area includes the municipalities of: Girón, Piedecuesta and Floridablanca, but Lebrija is home to Bucaramanga's airport and is commonly considered part of greater Bucaramanga. All four neighboring municipalities contain extensive rural areas despite recent urbanization.
Although its altitude is not considered very high, Bucaramanga's climate is not hot nor cold with 22 degrees Celsius being the average temperature. Compared to cities at the same average altitude (such as Cali), Bucaramanga has much cooler daytime temperatures due to the cold wind coming down the Eastern peaks; its night temperatures are not cold due to the warm air coming from the Canyon. This fact makes the daily thermal oscillation to be narrower than other Colombian cities.
| Climate data for Bucaramanga | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
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Municipal Flag
The municipal flag of Bucaramanga was designed by the historian Gustavo Gomez Mejia. Made of two green stripes with a yellow one in the middle. In the center is a blue disk, surrounded with a red circle. In the middle of the blue disk is a white star. In the red circle is written the following legend: "Below the azure of its sky and defended by the generous blood of its sons, Bucaramanga is opened to the four horizons of the motherland". (Ivan Sache, 23 March 2001)
Municipal Coat of Arms
The words "Montani Semper Liberi" are Latin for "Forever free in our mountains".
The City
Bucaramanga is also known as the "Ciudad de los Parques" ("City of the Parks") and "Ciudad Bonita" ("Beautiful City"). The city is served by one transportation terminal and the Palonegro Airport, which is located west of the city. In general, the more prosperous areas are along and above Carrera 33 (Cabecera area) and to the south, over the Viaduct in Floridablanca (Cañaveral area), while the poorest areas are to the north (Kennedy area). The site of the old airport, the last big piece of undeveloped land on the plateau itself, was turned into middle-class apartment housing (Ciudadela Real de Minas) in the 1980s. The government center for the city and department, built around the old colonial plaza, is several blocks removed from the commercial center of the city. The departmental university, the Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS), is in the northeastern part of the city; there are several private universities of varying quality.
In January 20, 2006, Colombian company Telecom launched WiMAX, thus becoming the first city in Colombia and the second in Latin America to have it.
City's Communes and Neighborhoods
Bucaramanga is divided in 17 Communes which group several neighborhoods
- Commune 1: Norte
Neighborhoods : El Rosal, Colorados, Café Madrid, Las Hamacas, Altos del Kennedy, Kennedy, Balcones del Kennedy, Las Olas, Villa Rosa (sectores I, II y III), Omagá (sectores I y II), Minuto de Dios, Tejar Norte (sectores I y II), Miramar, Miradores del Kennedy, El Pablón (Villa Lina, La Torre, Villa Patricia, Sector Don Juan, Pablón Alto y Bajo).
- Commune 2: Nororiental
Neighborhoods: Los Angeles, Villa Helena I y II, José María Córdoba, Esperanza I, II y III, Lizcano I y II, Regadero Norte, San Cristóbal, La Juventud, Transición I, II, III, IV y V, La Independencia, Villa Mercedes, Bosque Norte.
- Commune 3: San Francisco
Neighborhoods: Norte Bajo, San Rafael, El Cinal, Chapinero, Comuneros, La Universidad, Mutualidad, Modelo, San Francisco, Alarcón.
- Commune 4: Occidental
Neighborhoods: Gaitán, Granadas, Nariño, Girardot, La Feria, Nápoles, Pío Xll, 23 de Junio, Santander, Don Bosco, 12 de Octubre, La Gloria.
- Commune 5: García Rovira
Neighborhoods: Quinta Estrella, Alfonso López, La Joya, Chorreras de Don Juan, Campohermoso, La Estrella, Primero de Mayo.
- Commune 6: La Concordia
Neighborhoods: La Concordia, San Miguel, Candiles, Aeropuerto Gómez Niño, Ricaurte, La Ceiba, La Salle, La Victoria.
- Commune 7: La Ciudadela
Neighborhoods: Ciudadela Real de Minas.
- Commune 8: Sur Occidente
Neighborhoods: San Gerardo, Antiguo Colombia, Los Canelos, Bucaramanga, Cordoncillo I y II, Pablo VI, 20 de Julio, Africa, Juan XXIII, Los Laureles.
- Commune 9: La Pedregosa
Neighborhoods: Quebrada la Iglesia, Antonia Santos Sur, San Pedro Claver, San Martín, Nueva Granada, La Pedregosa, La Libertad, Diamante I, Villa Inés, Asturias, Las Casitas.
- Commune 10: Provenza
Neighborhoods: Diamante II, San Luis, Provenza, El Cristal, Fontana, Granjas de Provenza.
- Commune 11: Sur
Neighborhoods: Ciudad Venecia, Villa Alicia, El Rocío, Toledo Plata, Dangond, Manuela Beltrán I y II, Igzabelar, Santa María, Los Robles, Granjas de Julio Rincón, Jardines de Coaviconsa, El Candado, Malpaso, El Porvenir, Las Delicias.
- Commune 12: Cabecera del Llano
Neighborhoods: Cabecera del Llano, Sotomayor, Antiguo Campestre, Bolarquí, Mercedes, Puerta del Sol, Conucos, El Jardín, Pan de Azúcar, Los Cedros, Terrazas, La Floresta.
- Commune 13: Oriental
Neighborhoods: Los Pinos, San Alonso, Galán, La Aurora, Las Américas, El Prado, Mejoras Públicas, Antonia Santos, Bolívar, Alvarez.
- Commune 14: Morrorico
Neighborhoods: Vegas de Morrorico, El Diviso, Morrorico, Albania, Miraflores, Buenos Aires, Limoncito, Los Sauces.
- Commune 15: Centro
Neighborhoods: Centro, García Rovira.
- Commune 16: Lagos Del Cacique
Neighborhoods: Lagos del Cacique, El Tejar, San Expedito.
- Commune 17: Mutis
Neighborhoods: Mutis, Balconcitos, Monterredondo, Héroes, Estoraques I y II, Prados del Mutis.
People
Many important personalities from Colombia are from Bucaramanga such as Luis Carlos Galán, presidential candidate murdered in 1989, Carlos Ardila Lülle, one of the most important businessmen in Colombia.
Education
The city has a good reputation due to its numerous universities, amongst them:
Universidad Industrial de Santander
The Universidad Industrial de Santander is an official institution which offers 95 degrees and a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses within the health sciences, humanities, sciences and engineering colleges. Also it offers seven technological programs in different fields through the Distance Learning Institute. Nowadays, after 50 years of existence, there are nearly 14.000 students registered in undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as a total 22.000 alumni. It proudly stands as the leading higher education institution in the northeastern part of the country and ranks fourth among official universities nationwide. Also, the University has created affiliate branches in Barrancabermeja - home of the most important oil refinery in the country -, El Socorro and Málaga. Recently it has extended its services to Barranquilla and Bogotá through the offer of its Graduate Programs.
Universidad de Santander (UDES)
Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga
Universidad Santo Tomás
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana
Sports
Club Atlético Bucaramanga Corporacion Deportiva, known simply as Atlético Bucaramanga, is a Colombian football club based in the city of Bucaramanga. The club was founded in 1949, and plays their home games at the Alfonso López stadium.
Transportation
Local Bus
Intercity Bus
Air
- Palonegro International Airport
Tourism
- Panachi
Media
- Newspaper: Vanguardia Liberal.
- Television : Television Regional del Oriente
References
External links
- Bucaramanga travel guide from Wikitravel
- Bucaramanga Link - Vínculos más representativos de la "Ciudad Bonita".
- Wikitravel Spanish page (Spanish)
- Real estate for sale in Bucaramanga (Spanish)
- Physical data (Spanish)
- A brief history (Spanish)
- Website of the mayor's office (Spanish)
- City photo Guide (Spanish)
- Metropolitan area of Bucaramanga(Spanish)
- Local Chamber of Commerce (Spanish)
- Maps and virtual tours(English and Spanish)
- Bucaramanga Daily Photo
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