Departments of Colombia


Colombia is a unitary republic made up of 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. Departments are country subdivisions and are granted a certain degree of autonomy.
Departments are formed by a grouping of municipalities. Municipal government is headed by mayor and administered by a municipal council, both of which are elected for four-year periods.
Some departments have subdivisions above the level of municipalities, commonly known as provinces.

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.
IDDepartmentGovernorPartyCapitalArea PopulationEstablished
00Capital DistrictClaudia López HernándezGreenBogotá1538
01AmazonasJesús Galindo CedeñoCoalición 'Juntos por el Amazonas'Leticia1991
02AntioquiaAníbal GaviriaCoalición 'Es el Momento de Antioquia'Medellín1826
03AraucaJosé Facundo CastilloCoalición 'Unidos por Arauca'Arauca1991
04AtlánticoElsa NogueraCoalición 'La Clave es la Gente'Barranquilla1910
05BolívarVicente Antonio BlelConservativeCartagena1857
06BoyacáRamiro Barragán AdameGreenTunja1539
07CaldasLuis Carlos VelásquezCoalición 'Unidos por Caldas'Manizales1905
08CaquetáArnulfo Gasca TrujilloConservativeFlorencia1982
09CasanareSalomón Andrés Sanabria CDYopal1991
10CaucaElías Larrahondo CarabalíCoalición 'Porque Sí es Posible'Popayán1857
11CesarLuis Alberto Monsalvo GneccoCoalición 'Alianza por el Cesar'Valledupar1967
12ChocóAriel Palacios CalderónCoalición 'Generando Confianza por un Mejor Chocó'Quibdó1947
13CórdobaOrlando David BenítezLiberalMontería1952
14CundinamarcaNicolás García BustosCoalición 'Gran Cundinamarca'Bogotá1857
15GuainíaJuan Carlos Iral GómezDe La UInirida1963
16GuaviareHeydeer Yovanny PalacioCRSan José del Guaviare1991
17HuilaLuis Enrique DussánCoalición Coalición 'Huila Crece'Neiva1905
18La GuajiraNemesio Roys GarzónCoalición 'Un Cambio por La Guajira'Riohacha1965
19MagdalenaCarlos CaicedoG.S.C. Fuerza Ciudadana - MagdalenaSanta Marta1824
20MetaJuan Guillermo ZuluagaDe La UVillavicencio1960
21NariñoJhon Alexander RojasCoalición 'Mi Nariño'Pasto1904
22Norte de SantanderSilvano Serrano GuerreroConservativeCúcuta1910
23PutumayoBuanerges RoseroCoalición 'Así es el Putumayo, Tierra de Paz'Mocoa1991
24QuindíoRoberto Jairo JaramilloLiberalArmenia1966
25RisaraldaSigifredo Salazar OsorioConservativePereira1966
26San Andrés y ProvidenciaEverth Julio HawkinsCoalición 'Todos por un Nuevo Comienzo'San Andrés1991
27SantanderMauricio AguilarCoalición 'Siempre Santander'Bucaramanga1857
28SucreHéctor Olimpo EspinosaLiberalSincelejo1966
29TolimaJosé Ricardo OrozcoConservativeIbagué1886
30Valle del CaucaClara Luz RoldánCoalición 'Todos por el Valle del Cauca'Cali1910
31VaupésElícer Pérez CDMitú1991
32VichadaÁlvaro Arley LeónCoalición 'Álvaro León Sabe Como Es'Puerto Carreño1991

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 cover 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.
Indigenous territories in Colombia are mostly in the departments of Amazonas, Cauca, La Guajira, Guaviare, and Vaupés.

History

República de la Gran Colombia

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

República de la Nueva Granada

With the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1826 by the Revolution of the Morrocoyes, 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 and parish districts were created, which provided the basis for the present-day municipalities.
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. 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.

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: