History of Valle del Cauca

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By Richard McColl

Until the arrival of the Spaniards, the territory now occupied by the Valle del Cauca was inhabited by hunter gatherer tribes which were prevalent in and around the area of the Calima River. As the Spanish empire grew, Popayan was founded and then later Cali by the Conquistador Sebastian de Belalcazar in 1536. During this colonial period the whole area fell under the auspices of the governing body in Quito, Ecuador. Later, after independence and the annexation of the Valle del Cauca, the territory was split between Popayan and Buenaventura. In 1857 a state was created including what are now the departments Choco, Caqueta and Pasto, and in 1908 these territories were divided up and Valle del Cauca as we know it today was created. In the 20th century, industrialization, a deteriorating economy and violence pushed people towards the major urban areas of Cali, Cartago, and Palmira, influencing the modernization of the department. To this day Cali and other towns suffer from ill distribution of wealth, mass migration due to the conflict, and the fallout that accompanied the rise and fall of powerful cocaine cartels.