Pasto
| San Juan de Pasto | |||
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| City | |||
| San Juan de Pasto | |||
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| Nickname(s): Ciudad Sorpresa (Surprise City) Ciudad Teológica (Theological City) Tierra del Galeras (Galeras's Land) |
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| Motto: "Muy Noble Y Muy Leal Ciudad de San Juan de Pasto" ("Very Noble and Very Loyal City of San Juan de Pasto) | |||
 Location of the municipality and city of Pasto in the Department of Nariño |
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 San Juan de Pasto
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| Coordinates: 01°12′28″N 77°16′38″W / 1.20778°N 77.27722°WCoordinates: 01°12′28″N 77°16′38″W / 1.20778°N 77.27722°W | |||
| Country |
 Colombia
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| Region | Pacific Region/Andes Region | ||
| Department | Nariño | ||
| Founding | 1537 | ||
| Established | June 24, 1539 (Atriz Valley) | ||
| Founded by | Sebastián de Belalcázar | ||
| Named for | Saint John the Baptist | ||
| Government | |||
| • Type | Municipality | ||
| • Mayor | Harold Guerrero López | ||
| Area | |||
| • City | 1,181 km2 (456 sq mi) | ||
| • Urban | 26.4 km2 (10.2 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 2,527 m (8,291 ft) | ||
| Population (2007) | |||
| • City | 480,000 | ||
| • Density | 410/km2 (1,100/sq mi) | ||
| Demonym(s) | Pastuso | ||
| Time zone | Eastern Time Zone (UTC-05) | ||
| Postal code | 520001-520099 | ||
| Area code(s) | 57 + 2 | ||
| Website | Official website (Spanish) | ||
Pasto (Colombia), officially San Juan de Pasto, is the capital of the department of Nariño, located in southern Colombia. The city is located in the "Atriz Valley", on the Andes cordillera, at the foot of the Galeras volcano, at an altitude of 8,290 feet (2,527 m) above sea level. The city has a population of approximately 500,000 inhabitants.
Pasto was founded in 1537 by the Spanish conquistador Sebastián de Belalcázar. In 1539 another Spanish conquistador Lorenzo de Aldana moved the city to its current location, and established it under the name "San Juan de Pasto". Pasto is a reference to the name of the indigenous people who inhabited the region at the arrival of the conquerors, the Pastos. However, the Atriz Valley was inhabited by the Quillacingas. A major contributor to the economy and expansion of Pasto was a man of Italian origin named Guido Bucheli.
It has been an administrative, cultural and religious center of the region since colonial times. Because of this, the city is known as the theological city of Colombia. During the Independence Wars against Spain Pasto was a royalist city, unlike the rest of the country. Partly due to this political stance, and because of its geographical location, after independence Pasto remained isolated for a long time from the rest of the Colombia.
Under the Köppen climate classification, Pasto features a subtropical highland climate with relatively consistent temperatures throughout the course of the year. Despite the fact that the city is located close to the equator, due to its high altitude, Pasto average high temperatures typically ranges only between 15°C and 18°C while average low temperatures are usually between 9°C and 11°C. Pasto averages roughly 800 mm of precipitation annually.
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Wikipedia