Villavicencio

Villavicencio on the map of Meta

Villavicencio is a city in Colombia and capital of the department del Meta. The city is located about 75 kilometers southeast of Bogotá on the river Guatiquía and has 384,000 inhabitants.

Geography

Villavicencio is located on 423 m height between the Andes and the Venezuelan- Colombian plane of the Llanos. The climate is tropical, with an annual average temperature of 27 ° C. Originally Villavicencio breakpoint and market for agricultural products on the way from the Llanos to Bogota. Therefore Villavicencio is still an embossed through trade and industry sub-center of its agrarian hinterland, where mainly maize, rice, bananas and sorghum are grown. The skyline Villavicencios is impressive for a city of its size.

History

The area around present-day Villavicencio belonged to the Jesuit Hacienda Apiay until the Jesuits in 1767 by King Charles III. expelled from Spain and the lands were secularized. The lands were transferred from the Spanish Crown Basilio Romero. 1792, the Hacienda was acquired by the siblings Jacinta and Vicente Rey. Their heirs sold the land piece by piece, so that the settlement was Apiay, which consisted mainly of dealers, ranchers and coloni, was established in the oral tradition after 1836 de facto legalized and 1840 and named after the river Gramalote. As the founder of the families of the dealer Esteban Aguirre apply, and Santos Reina. The oldest surviving official documents to Gramalote date from the year 1842. 1845 a church was built. 1850, the town was renamed in honor of the freedom fighter Antonio Villavicencio ( 1775-1816 ).

Research Institute for Tropical Biology

The German zoologist Johann Friedrich Graf von Medem (1912-1984) taught there in the early 1960 's, the " Estacion de Biologia Tropical" one. Bred on the farm and he examined crocodiles and turtles. It is designed for international guest researchers to the starting point of many scientific expeditions.

Traffic

In Villavicencio, there is the La Vanguardia Airport ( IATA code: VVC, ICAO: SKVV ) with a 1,712 m long runway.

Sports

In Villavicencio Football Club Llaneros FC founded in 2012 is a resident of the plays its home games at the Estadio Manuel Calle Lombana and plays in the Colombian second division. From 2002 to 2011, the now dismantled club Centauro Villavicencio, who played one year in the first division was.