The city of Pereira is the capital city of the department of Risaralda and lies in the center of the western region of the colombian territory, located on a little valley descending from a part of the western mountains at Los Andes. Its strategic emplacement inside the coffee productive area, make out of the city one of the most important urban centers from Colombia. Its proximity to the three most important cities in the country Bogotá, Cali and Medellín as well as its proximity to sea and the biggest airport in the whole area.

History

The early settlers were the Quimbaya tribes, famous for its Gold artistic features, considered as the highest quality among cultures from pre-columbian America.

The spanish stablished their first settlement around the year 1540, the town of Cartago , was first stablished here and then moved around 1960 to the place where it is today; leaving the territory totally abandoned. Then in the middle of the XIX century, Antioquian settlers occupied the area and stablished the city in 1863. The city is thus the result from a big movement known as the "Antioquian Expansion". Which developed an enormous economic movement that boosted the development of the whole Country.

The most important product for the settlers was Coffee, which still today makes up the most important product. It has received not only the migrations from Antioquia, but still today, it get immigration from Valle and Bogotá, among other important cities inside Colombia.

In 1966 the city became the capitol city of the department of Risaralda.

Demographics

The population is approximately of 500.000 inhabitants as of 2005 making it the eighth biggest city in Colombia, it is remarkable the fact that Pereira has a twin city Dosquebradas of approximately 200.000 inhabitants, making the area one of the most crowded Urban areas in colombia

Points of Interest

Plaza de Bolivar

Very famous because of the monument "Bolivar Desnudo" - Naked Bolivar. It is located in the center of the city. The area is the focus of commercial and financial activities. The most important activities in the city take place here.

Viaducto Cesar Gaviria Trujillo

A little big longer than the manhattan bridge. It is the symbol and pride of the city. Finished in 1998 is one of the biggest bridges in South America. The bridge has the name Cesar_Gaviria, in honor of the 40th president of the nation, who was born in this city.

Matecana City Zoo

One of the most important attraction of this city is its city zoo, which is the largest in Colombia and one of the largest in South_america, it's internationally recognized for leading investigations in the preservation of animal life.

External link

• Pereira's official website (Spanish).