| El Poblado Comuna de El Poblado Barrio El Poblado |
|
|---|---|
| — Commune — | |
| El Poblado Commune | |
| Nickname(s): Las Manzanas de Oro (The Golden Apples) | |
| Location of El Poblado shown in red. | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Urban commune | Colombia |
| State (Department) | Medellín |
| Barrio | Medellín Barrio |
| City | |
| Settled | 1616 |
| Area | |
| • Total | 23 km2 (8.89 sq mi) |
| • Land | 14.3 km2 (5.52898 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 2.350227 m (4.905 ft) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 94,704 |
| • Density | 25.5/km2 (66/sq mi) |
| HDI (2006) | 0.937 Very High[1] |
| Website | medellin.gov.co |
El Poblado is a comuna in the metropolitan area of the city of Medellín, Colombia. According to a 2005 census the population is 94,704 distributed among its land area of 1432.58 km². It is the wealthiest district of the city. The comuna consists of 24 barrios and is located at the south-east of the city boundaries. Its western boundary with the comuna of Guayabal runs along the Medellín River; it limits to the south with the city of Envigado, to the east with the township of Santa Elena and to the north with the comunas of La Candelaria and Buenos Aires.
El Poblado is also known as "Las Manzanas de Oro" (The Golden Apples)[2] because it is the main center of the industrial and commercial life of the second largest economy of Colombia.
The name El Poblado ("The Village") derives from the first Spanish settlement of the Aburrá Valley in 1616 that was built in what is today its main square. In 1675 the Spanish administration founded another village in El Sitio de Aná (The Aná Place), today's Berrío Square, designed to become the center of the future Medellín but El Poblado instead became the main economical center during the 20th century.
Contents |
The Spanish Francisco Herrera y Campuzano established the first European settlement in the Aburrá Valley, in what is today El Poblado Square, by a royal edict of March 2, 1616. The new village called "San Lorenzo de Aburrá" had a population of 80 indigenous people. A later edict stated that indigenous people, white and mestizos, could not live together and the Spanish administration moved the center to a new village in what is today the Berrio Square by 1675. El Poblado became a marginalized township until the 20th century.
In 1845 the parish was given the name "San José del Poblado" and had a plaza, streets and land for sle.[2] At that time the most famous fincas were Provenza, Manila, Patio Bonito, Vizcaya, Castropol and Astorga that would remain in the barrio names.
At the beginning of the 20th century El Poblado was a preferred place for rich families of the city to buy rural villas. At that time travel between El Poblado and Medellín was difficult but the area was attractive for the industrialists and business families that settled Barrio Prado in what is now the downtown area. With the construction of the Medellín - El Poblado Avenue the land became valuable for urban settlements and the villas or fincas were built in Envigado. In the 1930s farming families from outlying areas came to Medellín looking for new opportunities and attracted by the industrial revolution of the city in El Poblado. This inspired the creation of a new barrio, Barrio Lleras, financed by Banco Central Hipotecario.
In the 1950s El Poblado was included in the city due to the extension of industrial activities along the Medellín River to the south. The rich families of Barrio Prado started to move to El Poblado because La Candelaria became overpopulated and the land rose in price.
In the 1970s El Poblado became the place for Medellín's wealthy residents and the second urban center and was given nicknames such as "Milla de Oro" (Golden Mile) and the "Zona Rosa" was established – an exclusive tourist area for business, night clubs and general activities for locals and visitors.
El Poblado consists of 1,432.58 hectares (approx. 3,539 acres), encompassing 39% of the Medellín municipality. It is located in the southeastern zone of the city towards the mountains of the Aburrá Valley. The Medellín River borders its western side separating it from the Guayabal Commune and its elevations east of the river rise from approximately 1,538 meters (5,046 feet) above sea level to over 2,000 meters (6,562 feet) at its highest point.
Several streams descending from the eastern mountain flow into the Medellín River and pass throughout El Poblado with the most important ones being El Poblado and Aguacatala creeks.
| Range of age |
Nº of inhabitants |
% % |
|---|---|---|
| 0 - 14 | 23.216 | 24.5 |
| 15 - 39 | 37.328 | 39.4 |
| 40 - 64 | 28.775 | 30.3 |
| 65 y más | 5.385 | 5.6 |
| Total | 94.704 | 100.0 |
According to the 2005 Annual Medellín Statistics Report,[3] El Poblado has a population of 94,704 inhabitants (53,561 males and 41.143 females). It is also a very young population, with 63.9% being under 39 years old. 39.4% of the population has a range of ages between 15 and 39 years old and only 5.6% is over 65 years old.
Additionally, another 2005 report from the Medellín municipality [4] estimates that 66.5% of the housing in El Poblado belongs to the richest class in Colombia known as estrato 6; 27.5% belongs to the high-middle class (estrato 5); 4.2% belongs to the middle class; 1.3% to the low-middle class and 0.5% to the poor class.
The Commune is divided by 22 barrios:[5]
|
|
The main streets of the Comunas are oriented north to south following the direction of the Medellín River. Due to the undulating and varied relief of the area there are many kind of streets and are often named due to their orientation:
El Poblado follows the Medellín tradition of using names for the streets rather than numbers though it has its own kind of numbering its street (calles), different to the rest of the Medellín municipality. The number of the calles (those that go from east to west) increase from south to north: "Calle 1" at the south of the city and "Calle 120" at its north. However "Calle 1" in El Poblado which starts the increasing of numbers of the streets from north to south is distinguished by the word "sur" (South): Calle 1Sur is at the northern part of El Poblado and Calle 10Sur is at its south.
This is one of the main thoroughfares in Medellín[6] and it changes name several times along the eastern mountain of the city connecting the most northern barrios of Medellín like Manrique to the southern Envigado. In El Poblado it has the name of the comunas starting at its intersection with the 30th Avenue (Calle 30) at its north and connecting with the El Poblado - Envigado at its south. The Avenue passes by El Poblado Square where Medellín was born in 1616 and Calle 10 (the 10th Street) which is noted for its thriving commerce and nightlife.
The Avenue is oriented north to south and runs along the eastern side of the Medellín River and is the urban limit of the Commune. It is also the continuation of the Industrialist Avenue (Avenida los Industriales) that starts in 33rd Street finishing in 10th Street where it becomes Las Vegas until the end of the Commune in the south.
This is a road that connects Medellín to the near eastern region of the Antioquia State (for example to La Ceja and El Retiro). The road is also the eastern limit of the Commune and has a lot commercial buildings, hotels, restaurants and places to view the Aburrá Valley. The road starts in the intersection of the 33rd Street and El Poblado Avenue. It is a long ascent to the eastern mountain which gives a good view of the Valley. There is also a small and twisting road that goes from the center of the Commune to the highway crossing and named La Cola del Zorro (The Tail of the Fox road).
As an alternative from going north to south through El Poblado there are two transversales (Transverse streets): the Transversal Inferior (Bottom Transverse Street) and Transversal Superior (Top Transverse Street). It should also be noted that the main streets are oriented mostly from north to south, due to the rising mountainous terrain running from west to east. The most well known west-east streets following the rising terrain to highest spot of the Commune are:
The Commune is connected to the Guayabal Commune in the west by 4 bridges crossing the Medellín River in the following streets:
The Metro of Medellín has three stations in the territory of El Poblado along the "1rst line" going from north to south through the Industrials and Las Vegas Avenue.
Five bus companies provide services in the comunas from Medellín downtown:
The buses from Medellín to Envigado and Sabaneta cities also cross El Poblado.
The Metroplus is a new project in transport for Medellín that will integrate the subway stations to different sectors of the city. In the case of El Poblado, it will go from the Industrialists Station by El Poblado Avenue to the Zúñiga Creek. It will have 12 stations.
El Poblado contains some of the more well known squares and malls of Medellín.
As a commercial city the Medellín malls are considered amongst the best in Colombia and the ones in El Poblado lead the way. Some of the more important malls are:
The Commune has the highest level of education of the city with several private and government-owned schools and colleges.
Among the private schools in "El Poblado" we can find:
One of the more well known museums of Medellín is in El Poblado. The "Museo El Castillo" has architecture which appropriate for its present purpose as a shelter for fine art and antiquities. It was built in 1930 by architect Nel Rodríguez in a gothic European middle age style inspired by castles of Loire, France. Its first resident was José Tobón Uribe who brought the plans from France. He lived there until 1943 when the industrialist Diego Echavarría Misas bought the castle for his family. He donated the castle as a museum in 1971. The museum has gardens, libraries, rooms of exhibitions and concerts.