"Cali" redirects here. For other uses, see Cali (disambiguation). Cali City flag City Coat of arms City nickname: "La Sultana del Valle", "La Sucursal del Cielo" Location in the Valle del Cauca department Area  - Total 542 km² (209.27 mi²) Population  - Total (2004)  - Density 2,068,386 4,372/km² Time zone UTC–5 Location 3°27′00″N, 76°32′00″W Mayor Apolinar Salcedo City website Santiago de Cali, better known as Cali, is the main city and capital of the Valle del Cauca department in Colombia. With an estimated total population (as of 2005) within the city proper of almost 2.07 million[1], Cali is the third largest municipality in Colombia. There is no an official metropolitan area for Cali (it may include Cali, Palmira, Yumbo, Buga, Puerto Tejada, etc) it could be the second largest Colombia's metropolitan area. The adjective for people born in Cali is caleño. The name Santiago de Cali comes in one part to honour Saint James the apostle (Santiago in Spanish) whose feast day is celebrated on July 25. About the word Cali there are several opinions about its possible origin. Some attribute it to a mispronunciation of the word "Lili", the name of a local tribe. Others believe that the word "Cali" has quechua origin, and it was brought by the Yanaconas Indians that came from Quito serving Sebastián de Belalcázar. This theory is reinforced from the fact that near Quito there is an indigenous town named Cali Cali. Contents 1 Geography and climate 2 History 2.1 Precolombian and conquest 2.2 Founding and colonial period 2.3 Independence 2.4 Recent history 3 Politics 4 Transportation 5 Education 6 Cultural activities 6.1 Feria de Cali 6.2 Rio Cali race 7 Sports 8 Places of interest 9 External links Geography and climate Cali is located on the Cauca Valley to the west of the Cauca River and to the east of the Western Mountain Range near the hills known as Farallones de Cali. The city rests approximately 1,000 meters (3,280 ft.) above sea level and its topography is fairly flat. Approximately 100 km west of Cali lies the port city of Buenaventura on the Colombian Pacific coast; to the northeast are the industrial town of Yumbo and the city of Palmira, where Cali's international airport, the Alfonso Bonilla Aragón (CLO), is located; the colonial city of Popayán is two hours south by car in the Cauca department. Several rivers that descend from the Western Mountain Range and empty into the Cauca River pass through the metropolitan area of Cali. In the western part of the city the Aguacatal River flows into the Cali River, which continues on to the Cauca River. In the south the rivers Cañaveralejo, Lilí, and Meléndez flow into the CVC south channel which also empties into the Cauca River. Farther south, the banks of the Pance River are a popular place for recreation and leisure. The local climate is semi-tropical as the Western Mountain Range screens the flow of humidity from the Pacific coast toward the interior of the country. In the afternoons Cali enjoys a fresh cross breeze that originates in the west and blows east. The Western Mountain Range rises from an average of 2,000 meters above sea level in the northern part of the city to approximately 4,000 meters to the south. Because of this variation in altitude, the weather in the northwest portion of the city is drier than in the southwest. The average annual precipitation varies between 900 mm to 1,800 mm depending on the metropolitan zone for a citywide average of approximately 1,000 mm. Cali's average temperature is 24°C (74°F) with an average low temperature of 19°C and a high of 30°C. Due to its proximity to the equator there are no major seasonal variations. However, locals refer to the dry season as the city's "summer" period and call the rainy season "winter." There are typically two rainy seasons: from April to May and from October to November. Regardless, rain can be expected to fall at any point during the year nourishing the city's permanent green and lush vegetation. History Precolombian and conquest Before the arrival of the Spaniards the actual region of Cali was inhabited by many indigenous tribes, mostly speakers of Cariban languages. On the region between the Cauca River and the Western Cordillera, the Gorrones were established between the actual Roldanillo and Cali; the biggest Morron's town was settled on the River Pescador near the actual towns of Zarzal and Bugalagrande. Although cannibals, the Morrones traded with the Quimbayas who inhabited the north of the Valle del Cauca. On his way to Cali, Sebastián de Belalcázar first met the Timbas which ran away before the arrival of the Conqueror's men leaving behind their towns and gold. After the Timbas, towards the north, the Spaniards entered in the territory of the chief Jamundí and his tribe the Jamundíes between the rivers Pance and Jamundi. These Indians offered a strong resistance to the invaders, fighting with poisonous darts and arrows against the arquebuses and swords of the Spaniards. After taking Jamundíes' town the Spaniards looted the Indian's gold. Before taking complete control over the region the Spaniards had to defeat the chief Petecuy, whose tribe inhabited between the river Lilí and the Western Cordillera. Petecuy formed a big army formed by many tribes and fought the Spaniards on the Holy Tuesday of 1536. The Morrones gave up easily to the Spaniards and were divided in encomiendas. The already "mestizo" nature of the Spaniards made the process of mixing with the Amerindians easy. In fact, Belalcázar himself had several children born in the Americas from Indian mothers, as did his men. Cali was important for Belalcazar because it was beyond the Inca empire. After the capture and execution of the Inca Atahualpa at Cajamarca, Francisco Pizarro had sent Belalcazar to take possession of Guayaquil and Quito on his behalf. Cali, being beyond the Quechua empire, was claimed by Belalcazar as his own territory. After his death, his descendants maintained possession of much of the land until the war of independence against Spain. Founding and colonial period Statue of Sebastián de Belalcázar. The founder of Cali, Sebastián de Belalcázar, came to the American continent in the third voyage made by Columbus in 1498. In 1532, after serving in Darién and Nicaragua, he joined Francisco Pizarro in the conquest of Perú. In 1534 Belalcázar separated from Pizarro's expedition to found the city of Quito, and later in his search of El Dorado he entered the actual Colombian territory founding the cities of Pasto and Popayán. On July 25, 1536, Belalcázar founded Santiago de Cali, first established a few miles north of the present location, near the actual towns of Vijes and Riofrio. Under the orders of Belalcázar, captain Miguel Muñoz moved the city to its present location in 1537, where the chaplain Brother Santos de Añasco celebrated a mass in the place occupied by the Church La Merced today, and Belalcázar designated Pedro de Ayala as the first municipal authority. During the Colonia (colonial period), Santiago de Cali was part of the gobernación of Popayán, which was part of Quito's Audiencia. Although initially Cali was the capital of Popayán's Gobernación, in 1540 Belalcázar moved this function to Popayán due to better weather. Until the 18th century most of the territory of what is now Cali was occupied by haciendas (ranches), and the city was only a small town near the Cali River. In 1793, Cali had 6,548 inhabitants, 1,106 of whom were slaves. The haciendas were the property of the dominant noble class with many slaves dedicated mostly to stockbreeding and raising sugar cane crops. Many of these haciendas became neighborhoods of the present city like Cañaveralejo, Chipichape, Pasoancho, Arroyohondo, Cañasgordas, Limonar, and Meléndez. Cali was strategically positioned for trade, centrally located in relation to the mining regions of Antioquia, Chocó, and Popayán. In the colonial period, the first trail for mules and horses between Cali and Buenaventura was completed. Independence On July 3, 1810 Santiago de Cali proclaimed its independence from Popayán's Gobernación. This local uprising predates the national one in Bogotá by 17 days. Soon the local militia look for allies forming the "Ciudades Confederadas del Valle del Cauca" with Anserma, Cartago, Toro, Buga y Caloto. Immediately after the rebellion the Governor of Popayán, Miguel Tacón y Rosique, organized an army to control the uprising. The people from Cali called for help to the "Junta Suprema" in Bogotá which sent a contingent under colonel Antonio Baraya to support the independence cause. On the 28 March 1811 in the battle of Bajo Palacé the Army of Baraya defeated the royalist army with the help of Atanacio Girardot. In the following years there were many battles between royalists and local militia. After having been released from captivity by Napoleon, King Fernando VII of Spain sent a large army under the command of the Pacificador (peacemaker) Pablo Morillo who reclaimed power for Spain. In 1819 after Simón Bolívar defeated the bulk of the Spaniard army in the Batalla de Boyacá, there were new uprisings in the Valle del Cauca and the Criollos took control permanently. In 1822 Bolívar arrived in Cali, the city was an important military outpost and the region contributed with many men in Bolívar's battles to liberate the nations in the south. Recent history Until the beginning of the 20th century Cali was a small village, compared to other colombian cities, dependent on Popayán politically and economically. The consolidation of the railroad between the city and the Pacific Ocean in Buenaventura, and the growing trade between this port and the interior cities, transformed Cali from a small town to the most important city in the south and west of the country. In 1911, with 28,000 inhabitants, Cali became the capital of the new Department of Valle del Cauca, which was created in the north part of the Old Cauca Department. The whole region was by then largely cultivated, and its future as an agricultural provider seemed secure. There were, however, no real roads connecting this region to the rest of Colombia, so that until the main road to Bogotá was built in the 1930s, all travel and transportation was done on horse and mule. The road over the Western Cordillera to the Pacific Ocean was not completed until 1945. This was, however, very important for the city as this route was a faster and cheaper way for imported goods to reach Colombia’s main population centers in Bogotá and Medellín, as well as for exporting coffee. Cali’s growth was thus associated with the diminished importance of Barranquilla, as it was no longer the gateway to the main Colombian cities. By the early 1950s, Cali (now with 240,000 inhabitants) had embarked on an industrialization plan, fueled mainly by foreign capital. The rural areas surrounding the city were cultivated with sugar cane and many "ingenios", or industrial plants for the extraction of sugar from cane, brought prosperity to the region. Cali almost tripled in population during this decade due mainly to the war between the two main political parties, Liberals and Conservatives, also known as “La Violencia” in the northern part of the department and the Coffee region (currently, the departments of Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío). Since then, a growing network of roads and the advent of air transport finally ended the isolation of Cali and the Valle from the rest of Colombia and the world. On August 7, 1956, about 1,100 people were killed when seven army ammunition trucks, which had been badly parked right in town, exploded. This catastrophe, however, could have been worse, since these trucks were parked in the Plaza de Cayzedo right in the city's very populated downtown. In 1971, Cali hosted the Pan-American Games, an event which spurred its citizens to rebuild and improve many urban areas, avenues, and sporting venues. From this time many of the sports centers and arenas in the city were built. From the 1970s to the 1990s the Cali Cartel had a negative influence in the City. The war of this organization against the Medellín Cartel brought selective violence and terrorist attacks to the streets of Cali. Nowadays Cali is a sprawling city of over 2 million inhabitants, many of them recent immigrants from poor rural areas, who have created squalid slums on the outskirts while they absorb the skills needed to prosper in an urban setting, while the local government and its citizenry struggle to help them integrate. Like Medellín though, delinquent drug-related violence is responsible for far more homicides in the city than drug cartel activity. Politics Cali is governed by a mayor elected for a four year term. Under the mayor there are several administrative departments and secretaries. The legislative branch is a city council whose members are elected by citywide circumscription for four year terms. The first elected mayor was Carlos Holmes Trujillo from the liberal party. The current mayor is Apolinar Salcedo who is a blind and was a former member of the city's council. Transportation Cali has started building a massive transportation system, (MIO) (Masivo Integrado de Occidente) which consists of special buses and bus routes. This system is highly needed to organize the transport in the City. It should start operating in 2007. Currently people commute in the city using an intricate and disorganized network of buses with many routes and names. Cali is served by the Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport (CLO), which serves as an important national and international hub for the southwestern Colombia region. Its international terminal is served with daily international flights to and from Houston, Miami, Quito, Madrid, Panama City and other important cities. Education The most important institution is the Universidad del Valle (Valle State University), or Univalle, which was founded in 1945; with more than 20,000 students distributed in its schools and departments, Univalle is the only institution offering a wide variety of academic programs in the region. It stands out because of the developments in the areas of scientific and applied technological research. The Universidad Santiago de Cali is another academic center with a considerable number of schools and departments. Other universities, offering only a few academic programs are Universidad Autónoma de occidente, Universidad Javeriana, Universidad ICESI, Universidad Libre, and Universidad San Buenaventura. Cultural activities Feria de Cali "La Feria de Cali" the main feria in Colombia and America, is the main cultural event in the city. From December 25th to December 31st people enjoy of many activities like an opening cabalgata (parade of horseback riders), tascas, salsa concerts, bullfightings, parades, and athletic activities and competitions. Cali is also known as the "Capital de la Salsa" given the city's infatuation with that type of Afro-Caribbean music. In early July there is the Summer Salsa Festival which lasts for one week. It usually includes concerts by the world's great remaining salsa bands as well as dance shows and "melomano" competitions in which salsa connaisseurs try to out do each other by digging deep into the archives of salsa music and related sounds to find and reveal long lost tunes. Rio Cali race Cali has two main athletic events, a mid-year half marathon [2] and a December 10k race called Carrera del Río Cali. Sports Cali is known as the Colombia's sports capital. Cali's best known and most popular sports clubs are América de Cali and Deportivo Cali football ( soccer ) teams. Lately, Deportivo Cali has achieved better results in the national football tournament. Cali hosted the 1971 Pan American Games. Places of interest Plaza de Caicedo: The main square in the city in downtown. La Ermita: Gothic-style church located in the downtown area and a well-known tourist destination. La Tertulia: Museum of modern art. Museo Arqueológico La Merced: Colonial-type church, converted into an archaeological museum displaying items from ancient cultures which inhabited the region in pre-Columbian times. Torre Mudéjar: This tower and the little church that it is part of are the best preserved genuine sample in South America of the moorish-influenced architecture brought from Spain before the XVII century. It is part of the Franciscan complex in downtown Cali, Museo del Oro del Banco de la República: Museum containing archaeological exhibits of pre-Columbian cultures which existed in the region. Zoo of Cali: Considered on of the best in Latin America for its great variety of species. [3] Cerro de las tres cruces: A hill embellished with three big crosses from which the whole city is visible. Iglesia de San Antonio: Colonial-type church at the top of a hill. La Gruta: Hip downtown hangout where young people go to have fun. Cerro de Cristo Rey: Another hill embellished with a large statue of Jesus Christ. La Calle 13: Cali's "Red Light District". Canchas Panamericanas: Sports Complex that includes the Pascual Guerrero stadium, Evangelista Mora Gym, many sporting fields, pools and so forth. Is also widely known for a common iced drink (Cholado) sold here. Pance: Extended rural zone at the south of the city frequently visited for leisure purposes, surrounded by plentiful vegetation and irrigated by the Pance river. Also, one of the best spots in South America for finding Magic Mushrooms. El Topacio: for camping in contact with nature, a good hiking to Pico de Loro, and beautiful waterfalls. Parque Natural Los Farallones: with a top altitude of 4,000 meters is an outdoors activity for the more expirienced hikers. The view of the city, the Central cordillera, the Choco jungle, and the Pacific Ocean is amazing. Paramo de las hermosas: enjoy of this unique andean landscape, full of frailejón and small lakes. La Novena: A main street with many restaurants and fast-food places selling hamburgers, hot-dogs, chorizos, etc. It is located at the south and it's the Caleño's preferred street to visit after the big parties in Juanchito, at 3 A.M. External links Santiago de Cali travel guide from Wikitravel Santiago de Cali City Hall Gobernación del Valle del Cauca Universidad del Valle Universidad Santiago de Cali Universidad San Buenaventura Universidad Autónoma de Occidente Universidad ICESI Pontificia Universidad Javeriana - Cali CaliesCali.com portal El País newspaper Occidente free newspaper Cali Buena Nota portal [4] - PDF file in Spanish El Caleño newspaper description - in Spanish Pan American Games host cities 1951: Buenos Aires • 1955: Mexico City • 1959: Chicago • 1963: São Paulo • 1967: Winnipeg • 1971: Cali • 1975: Mexico City • 1979: San Juan • 1983: Caracas • 1987: Indianapolis • 1991: Havana • 1995: Mar del Plata • 1999: Winnipeg • 2003: Santo Domingo • 2007: Rio de Janeiro • 2011: Guadalajara • Search Term: "Santiago_de_Cali" Categories: Cities in Colombia | Municipalities of Valle del Cauca | Pan Am Games host cities

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