Quibdó
| Quibdó | |||
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| Municipality and town | |||
Downtown and Atrato River
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| Coordinates: 5°41′32″N 76°39′29″W / 5.69222°N 76.65806°WCoordinates: 5°41′32″N 76°39′29″W / 5.69222°N 76.65806°W | |||
| Country |
 Colombia
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| Region | Pacific Region | ||
| Department | Chocó Department | ||
| Founded | 1648 | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Zulia María Mena García (Radical Change) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 3,337.5 km2 (1,288.6 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 43 m (141 ft) | ||
| Population (2012) | |||
| • Total | 126,384 | ||
| • Density | 38/km2 (98/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | Colombia Standard Time (UTC-05) | ||
| Area code(s) | 57 + 4 | ||
| Website | Official website (Spanish) | ||
Quibdó (Spanish pronunciation: [kiβˈðo]) is the capital city of Chocó Department, in western Colombia, on the Atrato River. The municipality of Quibdó has an area of 3,337.5 km² and a population of 100,000. mainly consisting of Afro Colombians and Zambo Colombians.
In prehistoric times the Chocó rainforest served as a major barrier isolating the Mesoamerican and Andean civilisations, and the extremely humid climate also failed to attract the Spanish colonists. The region was eventually granted by the Emberá Indians to the Franciscan order in 1648, but subsequent attacks by hostile tribes meant attempts at settlement were abandoned, only to be established again six years later.
It was not until the nineteenth century when there was interest in finding a shipping route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to avoid traveling via the Straits of Magellan that the Chocó region again became of significant interest to European colonial powers, as the Atrato River Valley was thought the best possibility for this purpose by the explorer Alexander von Humboldt; however it was eventually shelved in favour of the Panama Canal. At the same time research on using the Chocó to connect the Pacific and Atlantic was being carried out, gold and platinum were discovered in the Atrato Valley and this ensured Quibdó’s growth and status as the chief town in the region.
Another crucial development at this time was the movement of freed black slaves into the Chocó, primarily engaging in shifting cultivation to cope with the extreme leaching from the super-humid climate, though fishing and the collection of forest products also helped these groups maintain their livelihood; 1853 watercolors by Manuel María Paz document two mestizo or European men with an Afro-Colombian street vendor, and depict the dress of Afro-Colombian and European women in the town square. These black communities established trade with highland cities such as Medellín via rough mule trails that lasted until the 1950s, after which a combination of population growth and declining values for the region’s natural resources gradually led to an economic downturn for the region and especially Quibdó.
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Wikipedia