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Pre-Columbian period

Before the arrival of the Spaniards, which occurred during the first half of the 16th century, the area corresponding to the so-called Province of Padilla, was populated by the Chimila ethnolinguistic group, which formed a territorial division divided into two areas: To the North, the region del Cacique Euparí and to the south the low plains of Chiriguaná. The Chimilas belonged to the great Chibcha family.

Spanish colonization

Valledupar was founded on January 6, 1550 by the Spanish conquerors Captain Hernando de Santana and Juan de Castellanos. For the establishment of the foundation, the Spanish captain chose the northern part of the Upar Valley, bathed by the Guatapurí River, which in the Chimila language means “cold water”. Valledupar was erected as a parish in 1560.

Independence

On February 4, 1813, Doña María Concepción Loperena de Fernández de Castro declared the city's independence from the Spanish yoke.

Valledupar was erected capital of the Province of Valledupar in accordance with Law 15 of 1850, and was elevated to capital of the department of Valle de Upar of the Federal State of Magdalena in accordance with Law December 29, 1864. When the political division was restructured -administrative of the Colombian Unitary State, it was erected as a municipality of the Magdalena department according to ordinance number 57 of 1915, which established its extension and limits.

When the department of Cesar was created by Law 25 of 1967, Valledupar was chosen as its capital.

The Capuchin monks were the ones who baptized the city with the name of City of the Holy Kings of the Upar Valley, thus established in honor of the Magi, because the founding of Valledupar coincided with its day (January 6).



Valledupar is the capital of the department of Cesar, Colombia. It is located to the northeast of the Colombian Caribbean Coast, on the banks of the Guatapurí River, in the Cesar River valley formed by the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Perijá mountain range.

The city is an important center for agricultural, agro-industrial and livestock production in the region between the north of the Cesar department and the south of the La Guajira department. It is also one of the main musical, cultural and folkloric epicenters of Colombia as it is the cradle of vallenato, the most popular musical genre in the country and currently a symbol of Colombian music. Annually attracts thousands of visitors from Colombia and abroad during the Vallenata Legend Festival, the highest vallenato event.

Valledupar owes its name to the geographical accident where the city is built, the valley of the Cesar river, which runs south between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá to flow into the Magdalena river, and Eupari, the chief's name of the Chimila ethnic group that ruled the region at the time Captain Francisco Salguero arrived, a Spanish conqueror who named the area in his honor. The name was later abbreviated by scribes and conquerors throughout the Spanish colonial era as Valle D´Upar until the name of Valledupar became official.

The city of Valledupar is located on a plain in the foothills of the southeastern slope of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The urban area has a north-south length of 8.3 km and an east-west length of 6.2 km. The city has developed since its inception towards the west, north and south, being limited to the east by the Guatapurí River.

The central-eastern zone constitutes the primitive nucleus and currently makes up the commercial and service center, with Calle 16 being its central axis.

The residential sectors of strata 1 and 2 are located to the south and south-west, strata 3 and 4 in the middle zone, the extreme south and the northwest; and strata 5 and 6 to the north and northeast.

The southwestern sector is currently in the process of development, due to the operation of the university campus of the Popular University of Cesar since 1998; the road axis of this area is made up of diagonal 21 or Avenida Fundación.

Valledupar, given its latitude, is located in the zone of tropical domains, where the general characteristics of the climate are high temperatures and little annual thermal oscillation.

Regarding temperatures, according to the data accumulated since 1969 by IDEAM in its meteorological station located at the Alfonso López National Airport, the Annual Average temperature is 28.4 ° C, with maximum and minimum of 22 ° C and 34 ° C respectively, the maximum historical temperature recorded is 41.5 ° C and the minimum is 16 ° C. The hottest month is April with an average of 30 ° C and the coolest October with 26 ° C.

At a thermal level, Valledupar is the city of Colombia with the highest average temperature if only the departmental capitals are taken into account according to IDEAM and the measurements recorded at the Airport, not in the city center, although taking into account other climatic factors as is its low relative humidity that is 67%, the lowest among the capitals together with Neiva, and the permanent winds (it is the third city among the capitals with the most winds during the year only behind San Andrés and Riohacha). thermal comfort or thermal sensation that is perceived in the city, makes it comparable with cities such as Santa Marta and Barranquilla, and ´´ cooler´´ than others such as Montería and Barrancabermeja whose monthly average temperatures are lower but with high levels of relative humidity (> 80%) and almost no wind or breeze.

Currently, the city of Valledupar begins to diversify its economy, opening up new perspectives other than the traditional agricultural vocation of great historical validity. Since the creation of the Cesar department and the designation of the city as its capital, the economic development of the new city grew to reach levels never before reached, which in agriculture managed to consolidate itself as the first national producer of cotton and the second cattle herd. largest in the country after Córdoba; bringing with it new investments and a truly palpable well-being. Towards the mid-90s, the city, like the rest of the country, was plunged into a deep economic crisis that, despite great difficulties and administrative shortcomings, was largely overcome if not completely. The fall of the cotton business, widespread violence, and the arrival of large numbers of displaced people in the city forced the city to begin to open up new horizons in terms of livelihood, not without great difficulty.

Third sector

The demographic increase experienced in Valledupar brought with it new needs for services that have now led to the installation of a growing list of companies dedicated to providing health services, banking telecommunications and the development of commerce as an income-generating activity. At present and taking into account only the urban area of ​​the city, the sources of employment lie almost exclusively in this sector of the economy, since the industry has not yet taken off and agriculture, although it generates global income in departmental figures, does not generate employment the city's workforce estimated at 200,000 people.

Valledupar, like the other municipalities in the department, seek development mainly in agro-industrial projects. The dairy industry is important, of which the companies Dairy Partners Americas - DPA (formerly Cicolac), Coolesar, Klaren's and Lácteos La Primavera stand out.

The municipal economy revolves around the livestock sector. Livestock is extensive. The Cesar cattle ranch is the result of the crossing of Creole types with the zebu. The region is a producer of meat and milk. Other important agricultural products are cotton and rice.

Demonym

It is not known exactly where the word ´´vallenato´´ comes from, despite the many hypotheses that have been exposed. However, according to a thesis by the writer Ciro Quiroz, at the beginning of the 20th century, it had a derogatory connotation and the inhabitants of Valledupar themselves did not like it. For this reason, in 1915 Don Miguel Vence, a primary school educator, founded a Valledupar Language Academy, which met only once and determined that the name of those born in Valledupar was ´´Valduparense.´´ However, it is the denomination vallenato is very widespread due to the influence of the representative musical rhythm of the city.





Valledupar offers tourist sites such as:

Surroundings of Plaza Alfonso López Pumarejo, with old colonial buildings and the churches of La Concepción (it keeps the effigy of Santo Ecce Homo, patron of Valledupar) and del Rosario (Valledupar cathedral).

The Hurtado spa on the Guatapurí river, with the Hurtado bridge, the Sirena and the Lineal park, where the Pueblito Vallenato is located, where you can learn about the ancestral customs of the region.

La Mina Spa, a natural pool that forms in the Badillo River, 40 km away on the road that leads to the village of Atánquez.

La Pedregosa recreational center.

The Archaeological Museum.

The city's main tourist attraction is the Vallenata Legend Festival, held every year at the end of April in the Consuelo Araújo Noguera Vallenata Legend Park.

Another date to visit the city is during Holy Week.

Around the city there are indigenous populations of cultural interest such as Nabusimake.

The Valledupar Livestock Fair. It is held annually in the first semester. It is an open market in which the region's ranchers exhibit the best of cattle and equine livestock, as well as a wide selection of agricultural products. Handicrafts and musical groups are also offered.

Valledupar is widely known for being the birthplace of vallenato and celebrating the Vallenata Legend Festival annually. It is also one of the cultural epicenters of the Colombian Caribbean Coast. The most important folk dance is the pilón dance. Carnivals are held annually in the city. Cockfighting is deeply ingrained in the culture of the people.

The Vallenata Legend

Legend has it that in 1576, the Tupe nation rebelled against the Spanish because the wife of Don García Gutiérrez de Mendoza, in a fit of jealousy, had cut the hair of the Indian Francisca, a household servant, which was a great offense for the Indians. After García Gutiérrez left his herd in Unyaimo with other Spaniards on April 27, the indiecito Tupe Antoñuelo, who was his page, disappeared from the herd and reported the injury to the chief Tupe Blanco, who with his captain Panocha summoned his parties, the Coropomeima and the chimila Curunaima, assaulted the herd and killed the Spanish. Then they went to the city and tried to set the convent on fire, but it did not set fire, a fact that they attributed to a Guaricha (as the Indians called the Virgin, in this case the Virgin of the Rosary) who with her cloak kept away the arrows they were throwing. The Indians withdrew fearfully from the vision towards the savannas of Sicarare. The Spaniards, led by Captain Antonio Suárez de Flores, followed the Indians to the Sicarare lagoon (of fresh water) that had been poisoned by the natives with Tabasco, so that when the Spaniards arrived thirsty to drink from the lagoon , they fell dead. Then it is said that the Indians saw the Guaricha (the Virgin of the Rosary) walking up to the Spaniards, which gave them great fear, and they were killed or imprisoned. Then the governor of Santa Marta, Lope de Orozco, went out against the chimilas, capturing and killing the chief Coropomeima, the chief Blanco, Captain Panocha, the Indian Francisca and her husband Gregorio. As a result of these deaths, the Indians joined to attack the city fiercely, in such a way that a second conquest had to be carried out.



The literature produced in the city has traditionally been of a manners type and only until recent years have academic books and texts begun to be produced within the faculties of the Popular University of Cesar. The main writers of Valledupar have been José Francisco Socarrás, pioneer of psychoanalysis in Colombia, Rafael Carrillo Lúquez with his works of modern philosophy, Tomás Darío Gutiérrez, historian and lawyer, Hernán Urbina Joiro, historian, essayist and journalist, among others.



The music reigns in the city is the vallenato, considered the main folkloric expression in recent years. The dances are of the Afro-Caribbean type such as the fast-paced puya, and especially the pilón, a lilting rhythm that summarizes the daily activity of the vallenatos of yesteryear and their close relationship with the work of corn.



La parranda vallenata is a social gathering around a vallenato group made up of a cashier, a guacharaquero and an accordion player who performs traditional songs alluding to the landscape, the countryside and women. It is accompanied by alcoholic beverages such as rum, brandy and whiskey, which thanks to smuggling became deeply linked to the Vallenato culture. In a traditional vallenata party, the man keeps his composure and chivalry, no foul language is used and the women smile mischievously, clap but never dance. The new generations changed the format of the party by incorporating dance. The vallenata parranda lasts until the wee hours of the morning, when the sancocho is tasted.

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