Bucaramanga
—  City  —
File:Bmangacollage.png
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): "The Pretty City", "City of Parks"
Motto: Montani semper liberi
Location of the city and municipality of Bucaramanga in the Santander Department.
Bucaramanga Location in Colombia
Coordinates: 7°8′N 73°0′W / 7.133°N 73.000°W / 7.133; -73.000Coordinates: 7°8′N 73°0′W / 7.133°N 73.000°W / 7.133; -73.000
Country	Colombia
Region	Andean Region
Department	Santander
Foundation	1622
Government
• Mayor	Luis Francisco Bohorquez (L)
Area
• City	165 km2 (64 sq mi)
Elevation	959 m (3,146 ft)
Population
• City	608,102
• Density	Bad rounding here3,700/km2 (Bad rounding here9,500/sq mi)
• Metro	1,212,657
Demonym	Bumangués
Time zone	Eastern Time Zone (UTC-05)
Postal code	680001-680011
Area code(s)	57 + 7
Website	Official website (Spanish)

Bucaramanga is the capital city of the department of Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth largest economy in Colombia, and has the sixth largest population in country, with 1,212,656 people in its metropolitan area. Bucaramanga has over 160 parks scattered throughout the city and has been given the nickname "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 1960s, mostly into neighboring locations within the metropolitan area. Floridablanca, Girón and Piedecuesta are inextricably linked geographically and commercially with Bucaramanga, forming a large metropolitan city.

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).

History [edit]

Bucaramanga in 1851

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 19th century. In the 1860s and 1870s the city attracted a core of German merchants and adventurers (the most famous of whom was Geo von Lengerke and tensions between the newcomers and local merchants flared in 1879 when occurred the event of "La Culebra Pico de Oro" (The snake of gold beak). 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 20th century.

Municipal Flag [edit]

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 [edit]

This section requires expansion. (September 2010)

The words "Montani Semper Liberi" are Latin for "Forever free in our mountains".

Demography [edit]

According to the data obtained from the 2005 census and information provided by the Metropolitan Area of Bucaramanga an estimated population of 524,112 inhabitants is Bucaramanga.^{[citation needed]}

Of the total population, 46.8% are men and 53.2% women. The average number of persons per household is 3.6 people. 16.6% of persons aged 10 years and over Bucaramanga cohabiting, 46.3% were single, 26.7% were married, 5.8% were separated and 4.6% are widowed. The 9.2% of the population over age 4 who currently resides from another municipality and 0.3% in another country. The 6.1% of the population has some permanent injunction, which corresponds to 6.3% in men and 6.0% in women.^{[citation needed]}

52.4% of dwellings are houses Bucaramanga, while 40.4% are apartments and 7.2% contribution room or other.^{[citation needed]}

Economy [edit]

Industry [edit]

Center Bucaramanga, Santander park and building the Triad.

An industrial activity that has increased national recognition is the footwear industry. The Manufacturers Association of Footwear and Allied, Asoinducals, is located in the city.^[2] The footwear sector has a major market nationally and internationally in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Italy, some Caribbean islands, United States, Peru, Venezuela and Mexico.^[3] There is also a clothing industry, as well as the provision of health services, finance, and in a high degree of education, to the point that we can say that the city is shaping up for the 21st century as the Technopolis Los Andes. There are a growing number of technological research centers in various topics such as energy, gas, oil, corrosion, asphalt, leather and agro-industrial development tools, among others. A significant sector of the economy is the agricultural Bumanguesa whose principal activities are: agriculture, livestock and poultry are carried out in areas surrounding the departments of Santander and Cesar, but its administration and marketing are developed in the city.

The city has Chimitá Industrial Zone located west of the city near the town of Giron, there are countless companies from different specialties like Terpel. Also in the city is one of the main plants Brewery Bavaria. The city is planning to build the Franca area of Santander to be located within the metropolitan area of Bucaramanga.^[4]

The 2005 census conducted by the DANE presents the following figures, 16.5% of establishments engaged in industry, 52.1% are engaged in trade, 29.8% are engaged services and 1.6% are engaged in other activities. The 3.7% of households have Bucaramanga economic activity in their homes. In establishments with between 0 and 10 54.4% Trade jobs is the most frequent activity. and in establecimeintos with between 10 and 50 people's main activity is services (41.7%). As for the rural sector of the city, DANE figures showed that 75.9% of rural homes occupied, with people present on census day, were farming. Of these homes, and that farming had DANE found that 70.1% is devoted to agriculture, 94.1% to work livestock, and 5.6 fish remaining.^{[citation needed]} 5.6% work. These data are presented that most housing laa simultaneously have 2 or 3 types of activities.

Thanks to the commercial and business development that has been taking, Bucaramanga has positioned itself as a city of congresses and events to have infrastructure like Fair and Exhibition Centre - CENFER, which has become the biggest commercial showcase of eastern Colombia, as are performed annually there countless fairs and exhibitions in all branches of the national trade.^[5]

The City also has a polyfunctional center for events and shows, which gives a space for Bucaramanga performing great shows and some puzzle games, sports or business. A number of meeting rooms and conferences allow Bucaramanga hold conventions with more adequate security logistics, execution, convenience and comfort of the service offered by the Bucaramanga for entrepreneurs around the country.

The trade fairs as well as direct benefits to the respective sector, mark other areas of the economy such as transport, hotels, restaurants, shops and various exhibitor service activities such as advertising, design and decoration, modeling, etc.

In this town is made of the fairs focusing largest exporter in the region: the International Exhibition of Children's Fashion EIMI, only specialized in this issue in Latin America^[6] Bucaramanga and which derives its name from "children's fashion capital." It takes place in the engine CENFER and export apparel sector in the region, generating 40% of sales outside of the industry.

Business [edit]

In recent years, in the city of Bucaramanga have built major shopping centers and other buildings, as in the case of the Mall La Florida CC of 6 floors connected by two pedestrian bridges and one vehicle to another building housing a supermarket chain which subsequently Mercadefam were merged and replaced by chain Carrefour.

The Mall Megamall, opened in 2007, where the first store of the French hypermarket chain Carrefour, besides the famous shopping district staged Llano Header: Header Mall stage I, stage II and stage III and, of special note, the stage IV Header malls and shopping center La Quinta or V stage. The Acropolis Mall in Ciudadela Real de Minas. The Mall San Andresito the island and the traditional and modernized (2005) Canaveral Mall located in the southern sector of the city and from November 2012 the Centro Comercial El Cacique considered one of the largest in Latin America and not forgetting the new shopping center that will be open in April 2013 of the Falabella in the neighborhood cane in front of two of the most important commercial centers of the city that are Florida and Canaveral cc. In these centers, we find large theaters of major companies such as Cine Colombia, Royal Films and Cinemark, the largest clothing stores like Adidas, Levi's and diesel and also national and Arthur Street including: restaurants and cafes as Presto chain, El Corral, McDonald's, Crepes & Waffles, Juan Valdez. In supermarkets, the Warehousing Success has five major stores throughout the City and a distribution center for eastern Colombia.^[7] Carrefour opened in 2007 the first store and after its merger with Santander Mercadefam now has seven stores in the city. Along with all this, there are stores in Bucaramanga variety of small and medium as Mercomfenalco, Cootracolta Cajasan and, among others, that compete with the big brands.

View of the city of Bucaramanga in 2006.

Labor Market [edit]

Historically the city of Bucaramanga has been one of the cities with the lowest number of unemployed in the country. As of September 2010 according to DANE statistics between July and September 2010, the city had an unemployment rate of 11.8%, increasing by 3.3% compared to October and December 2009 which showed a rate of 8,5%;^[8] La tasa global de participación (TGP) es de 70.1%; la tasa de ocupación (TO), del 61,8%; la tasa de subempleo subjetivo (TS Sub), del 39,0%; la tasa de subempleo objetivo (TS Obj) del 13.7%.^[9]

Transport [edit]

Trunk Highway Metrolínea in Bucaramanga - Floridablanca and Canaveral station.

The 'Metrolínea' is the Integrated Mass Transit System of Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area. Its construction began in 2006 during the Mayor of Honorio Galvis operation is currently in its first phase and continue the construction of several planned phases. Its first phase was inaugurated phase December 22, 2009^[10][11] with this phase of the service is inaugurated the first 6 lines which are: Avenida del Libertador (Diagonal 15), autocentral, Prospero Finch Avenue (27th Avenue), La Cumbre, Highway Floridablanca Villabel Bucarica and which have 91 stopways. He is currently in the process of coupling the second phase will cover the areas of Piedecuesta, Ciudadela Real de Minas, the Avenue of the Americas (Race 33) which will have Autosur trunks, Real de Minas and the Americas.

National road connection [edit]

Bucaramanga is connected to the mainland by two main routes. The first is the National Route 66 which comes from Barrancabermeja and Cucuta communicates with and then into Venezuela, the second the Ruta Nacional 45A that comes from Bogota and San Alberto comes up this road connects with the Colombian Caribbean region and major cities across the Ruta Nacional 45.

Air transport [edit]

Bucaramanga Palonegro Airport.

In air transport, Bucaramanga is served by the Palonegro International Airport, located west of Bucaramanga in the town of Lebrija, on the road to Barrancabermeja in the historic hill Palonegro. Inside the building was a small museum with some of the objects of war found the time to build the airport, which has been considered a pharaonic work Colombian engineering, due to its location on the hill dozing.

The airport was opened in 1974, replacing the old airport Gómez Niño located in Ciudadela Real de Minas current. The airport currently operates under the administration Palonegro consortium Colombo-Korean SAS East Airports Group that won the concession to operate for 15 years.^[12] Receives flights from major cities in Colombia and Santander, as well as international flights from the city of Panama. The main terminal is 20 minutes from the city in the fast lane of the freeway west to Girón.

By 2009 he was ranked among the 8 aeropuertos Colombia's most important, which is why money was invested in the expansion of the national boarding lounge and money is being invested in the new international room.

People [edit]

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, Claudia Florez and Ivan Garzón.

Colombian artist Oscar Rodríguez Naranjo came back from France during the Second World War and settled in Bucaramanga. Rodríguez Naranjo taught at the art school while he made a number of paintings that would build up his reputation in Colombia.^[13] In 1941 he became the Director of the Academia de Bellas Artes in Bucaramanga. Famous artist Margarita Velandia known by her work in city museum.

Education [edit]

Universidad Industrial de Santander. Geometry Lesson Memorial Auditorium and Luis A. bald

Universidad Industrial de Santander. Faculty of Humanities

Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga.Headquarters The Garden.

The city has a good reputation due to its numerous universities, among them: Industrial University of Santander (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)
• Autonomous University of Bucaramanga (Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga)
• Saint Thomas Aquinas University (Universidad Santo Tomás)
• Pontifical Bolivarian University (Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana)

Culture [edit]

Neomundo.

Museum of Modern Art in Bucaramanga.

Culture in Bucaramanga has several expressions, from the visual arts such as painting, sculpture, photography, and recently also in demonstration proposals that incorporate new technology for artistic communication, such as video. In Bucaramanga throughout its history it has hosted many cultural offerings in various areas, so that in the city there are arts groups.

One of the main pillars of culture in Bucaramanga Santander and cultural center was the literature, in the past there was a cultural movement around literature that produced a number of writers who were aware of significant community interest in literature

In 1995, the administration of Mayor Luis Fernando Peña Cote decided to convert Gabriel Turbay Public Library to host the newly created Municipal Institute of Culture, attributing the role of the library building as Gabriel Turbay operating space management institute, which has meant the movement of areas of the library to use the administrative area of the Municipal Institute of Culture. The creation of the Municipal Institute of Culture was conceived in order to expand the possibilities of sponsoring culture in the metropolitan area. But as the culture has not traditionally played a leading role in local government, colleges do not receive sufficient funding and incentives to fulfill their purposes for which they were created and performed his job as budget allows.

This Institute provides library services, art workshops, presenting a variety of shows and cultural work with the different neighborhoods of the city, just as sponsoring cultural activities with private initiative and has cultural radio station (Station Cultural Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento) on 100.7 FM dial.

Gastronomy [edit]

Corn arepa and tamal pelao typical food of Bucaramanga Santander and Santander.

In Bucaramanga, you can find all kinds of Restaurant specialize in all types of cuisine (international, specialized, typical, fast), a significant number of restaurants are located in the header area of Llano. Typical dishes from the kitchen Santander, you can highlight the Santander-mute a soup made from various grains and accompanied by various types of meat-, the fricassee, a preparation of viscera and blood of goat or mixed with white rice camuro and accompanied by roasted kid. Oread meat, corn arepa pela'o, Santander and the tamale sobrebarriga are other prized meals.

The ants culonas are perhaps the most striking of the food Santander, are abundant in the months of March and April. They removed the head and wings and roasted in fire. Some people attribute aphrodisiac also highlights the traditional sweet celery, lemon, citron, rice, caramel and pineapple-mostly produced in neighboring Floridablanca-and the Wafers and veleño sandwich.

Tourism [edit]

Hotel Dann Carlton.

Chicamocha Canyon, where the National Park or PANACHI Chicamocha, one of the biggest attractions in the region.

In Bucaramanga and neighboring municipalities can perform a variety of tourism, ecological tourism through its parks, adventure tourism Ruitoque table in 15 minutes from the city is the "Voladero the Eagles" where you can go Paragliding. The downtown area boasts colonial buildings like the churches of San Laureano, Dolores Chapel. Some houses such as the house of Bolivar, of Louis Peru de Lacroix. Other colonial buildings are located in the neighboring municipalities of the city. Bucaramanga tourist diversity earned him being chosen as one of the seven tourist destinations of national pride through a voting process that was convened by Colombia is passion and Bavaria.

Bucaramanga has a very good hotel infrastructure composed in part by some of the best hotel chains in the country. Several areas of the city center are important restaurants and nightclubs in the city.

Lookouts [edit]

view from the observation deck of Bucaramanga Palonegro, near the airport.

Morrorico: Located east of Bucaramanga, the road to Cucuta, you can see a panorama of the city, here is the statue of Sacred Heart, which is visited at Easter time, and the inhabitants and parishioners sector have the belief that the statue does miracles. Also in this area is planned the construction of a cable car or cable metrocable called to transport the inhabitants of the sector.

Palonegro: On the road to the airport of the same name, where you can have a splendid view of the metropolitan area of Bucaramanga. in place encuentan whereabouts visited several nightclubs and especially on weekends.

Natural and Historic around [edit]

'Chicamocha National Park' (PANACHI): on the road that leads to Bogotá at the maximum height of the Cordillera Oriental in the municipality of ARATOCA, offers an exceptional view of the mighty river canyon Chicamocha, is equally Chicamocha National Park, from where you can appreciate at its best canons of rivers Chicamocha and Suarez.

Chicamocha National Park, one of the major attractions of the region.

Giron:: Located 9 km of Bucaramanga. Founded in 1631, the gold mines were important during the colonial era of tremendous architectural heritage, which made it a national monument. Stands the Museum of Religious Art, with valuable paintings and ancient liturgical objects, The Basilica of the Lord of Miracles, pilgrimage site, and the Chapel of Corregidor, on the outskirts.

Socorro: Located 121 kilometers from Bucaramanga. Cradle of the uprising of the villagers, is located in the province Comunera, northeastern department of Santander. It was founded in 1681 and 1711 he was awarded the title of "Very Noble and Loyal Villa". In 1781 Manuela Beltran broke the edict that raised taxes and contributions, which led to the revolt of the Communards. In the main square stand monuments to José Antonio Galán, leader of the uprising, and Antonia Santos. Other attractions are the house of culture and the cathedral.

Barichara: Located 118 kilometers from the city of Bucaramanga. was founded by the Parra family Pradilla around the veneration of the Virgin of the Stone, in May 1975 he received the title of "The cutest little town of Colombia" and by resolution 005 of 30 June 1975 was declared "National Monument". this village of cobblestone streets and wooden balconies is an oasis of peace, among its attractions include:

• Guane: colonial population in which the church stands seventeenth century, with its sanctuary of St. Lucia, and the Archaeological Museum, for its important collection of marine fossils, colonial and antique books.

• San Gil: located 96 kilometers (60 mi) from Bucaramanga. The historic center of the town with steep streets and on the banks of the river Fonce National Monument. One of its main attractions is the park The Gallineral, occupying an island in the river, the moss hanging from the trees and the sound of water make it a must-visit site.

Other attractions are the San Gil Ragonessi ecological park, spa blue well, the Grotto Hill, Cerro de La Cruz and adventure sports like rafting, mountain climbing, mountain biking and motocross, among others.

Climate [edit]

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 600 meters (2,000 ft) 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 7°08′N 73°08′W / 7.133°N 73.133°W / 7.133; -73.133. 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.

Under the Köppen climate classification, Bucaramanga features a tropical monsoon climate, though it’s a noticeably cooler version of the climate. The city falls just short of a tropical rainforest climate as its driest month, January, averages just under 60 mm of rainfall. 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.

Sports [edit]

The city of Bucaramanga is characterized in the national exhibit different sports that are practiced in the Olympics, you can easily find various sports venues of public and private in the city. However microfútbol football and sports are practiced in the city. Indersantander and Inderbu are the entities responsible for the management and development of local sport and Santander.^[15][16]

Fútbol [edit]

Estadio Alfonso López.

Bucaramanga has Estadio Alfonso Lopez with capacity for 28,000 people and has Synthetic Turf rated star 2 supported by the FIFA. This scenario is the club house Atlético Bucaramanga and Santander Real. The city also has the football stadium fan Mars temple city of Bucaramanga and where every year in the month of December is performed Tennis Tournament Mars.

Other sports [edit]

Alejandro Galvis Ramirez Bicentennial Coliseum built in 2011.

For other sports, the city has the Colosseum Vicente Diaz Romero which has capacity for 8,000 people. This scenario is the home team basketball Búcaros Santander. In the Olympic village are also the Olympic pools, who received a remodel in 2010. Another scenario where different sports are practiced is the Moon Edmundo Santos Coliseum located in the area of the royal citadel of mine, that due to the remodeling of Vincent Romero Diaz got the home games of the professional teams Football Living Room Independent Santander and Bucaramanga FSC.

In 2010 began the construction of the Alejandro Galvis Ramirez Bicentennial Coliseum by reason of Futsal World 2011 held in Colombia and which was Subsede Bucaramanga. The Coliseum had an investment of COP $ 18,771,000. has a capacity of 7,100 spectators and its inauguration was held in March 2011

The Coliseum was the site of the World principar Hockey inline skates that was played in the city from 29 June to 14 July 2012 and was attended by countries around the world. competing in this scenario adapted. For the practice of track and field is the stage of Enrique Figueroa Rey known as Flora Stadium, a stadium there softball and a recent skating rink located in the area of Ciudadela Real de Minas.

Bucaramanga has twice been the scene of the National Games in the year 1941 and 1996, headquarters of the Pan American Cycling Championships in the year 2000 Challenger ATP Seguros Bolivar Tennis in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 where players have the most important part of Colombia, and some of the best in the world.

Transportation [edit]

• Local Bus: Metrolinea

• Intercity Bus: Terminal de Transportes de Bucaramanga

• Air: Palonegro International Airport

Tourism [edit]

• Panachi
• Tourism activities

Media [edit]

• Newspaper: Vanguardia Liberal
• Television : Television Regional del Oriente

References [edit]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2010)

External links [edit]

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Bucaramanga.

• Bucaramanga travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Tourism information Bucaramanga
• (Spanish) Bucaramanga Link
• (Spanish) bucaramanga.com
• (Spanish) Website of the mayor's office
• (Spanish) City photo Guide
• (Spanish) Metropolitan area of Bucaramanga
• (Spanish) Local Chamber of Commerce
• Bucaramanga Daily Photo
• (Spanish) Vanguardia Liberal; Cuando a Bucaramanga la hicieron capital

v t e Municipalities in Santander Department Aguada Albania Aratoca Barbosa Barichara Barrancabermeja Betulia Bolívar Bucaramanga Cabrera California Capitanejo Carcasi Cepita Cerrito Charala Charta Chima Chipata Cimitarra Concepción Confines Contratación Coromoro Curiti El Carmen El Guacamayo El Peñón El Playón Encino Enciso Florián Floridablanca Galan Gambita Girón Guaca Guadalupe Guapota Guavata Guepsa Hato Jesus María Jordan La Belleza Landazuri La Paz Lebrija Los Santos Macaravita Málaga Matanza Mogotes Molagavita Ocamonte Oiba Onzaga Palmar Palmas Socorro Paramo Piedecuesta Pinchote Puente Nacional Puerto Parra Puerto Wilches Rionegro Sabana de Torres San Andrés San Benito San Gil San Joaquín San José de Suaita San José Miranda San Miguel San Vicente de Chucurí Santa Bárbara Santa Helena del Opón Simacota Socorro Sucre Surata Tona Valle San José Vélez Vetas Villanueva Zapatoca