Pereira, Colombia
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- For information about other uses of Pereira, see Pereira (disambiguation).
The city of Pereira is the capital city of the Colombian department of Risaralda. It stands in the center of the western region of the country, located in a small valley that descends from a part of the western Andes mountain chain. Its strategic location in the coffee producing area makes the city one of the most important urban centers in Colombia, as does its proximity to the three most important cities in the country – Bogotá, Cali and Medellín – and to the sea and the biggest airport in the whole area. In 2004 it reported a population of 576,329.
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History
The early settlers were the Quimbaya tribes famous for their gold artistic creations, considered of the highest in quality among cultures from pre-Columbian America.
The Spanish established their first settlement around the year 1540. The town of Cartago was first founded here and then moved around 1691 to the place where it is today. Much later, in 1816, the brothers José Francisco and Manuel Pereira sheltered in the zone after being defeated (as part of the patriot army that fought with Simón Bolivar for the freedom of Colombia) at the battle of Cachirí. Francisco Pereira Martinez wanted that the ground that kept him and his brother safe from the spaniards, became a city. At August 24th of 1863, four days after the death of Mr Francisco, the Priest Remigio Antonio Cañarte headed a caravan from Cartago, founding this way, the Ville of Pereira six days later (August 30th), right were is placed, actually, the "Plaza de Bolivar". With the time, settlers from Antioquia occupied the area and established in the city, giving an impulse to the emerging village. The city is thus the result of a major demographic and territorial movement known as the "Antioquian Expansion" or "Antioquian Colonization", which propitiated an enormous economic movement that boosted the development of the whole country. With the time, due to its strategic location, its suitable soil for agriculture and its benevolent weather, the city started to develop exponentially; in addition, the first settlers created a festivity to promote the city, this celebration was made in the anniversary of the city (which conveniently coincided with the harvest), they decided to name it "Harvest Fest" (Fiestas de la cosecha); this festivity was promoted widely across the country, and, eventually became a major one, that generated several phrases that still survive in the lexic of colombians as: "asi no vamos a llegar a ningún Pereira" (which could be translated as: this way, we're not going to arrive to Pereira, which is used to mean that the actions taken aren't useful to achieve a goal), "hicieron su Agosto" ("they made their August" meaning that someone made a really good deal, due that everyone used to sell all its merchandise at the festivities of the city). The festivities also brought a negative tag, that still today survives, for women from Pereira; due that in it's duration, there were plenty of sexual workers, which generated in the visitor the perception that there were a lot of prostitutes in Pereira, but the truth was that almost all the women that were doing this job, came from all over the country in the time of the celebration to fullfil the demand and left after the end of the carnival.
The most important product for the settlers was coffee, since the soils of these part of the Andes have a big compound of volcanic ashes (thing that makes them very fertile) the cultives were massive and of high quality. Coffee is still today the most important crop produced in the area, in fact pereira is right in the center of the region called "eje cafetero", cafeterian axis, in English. Pereira has received not only the migrations from Antioquia, but still today, receives migrants from Valle, Bogotá, and other major Colombian cities. However, during the economic recession of 1999, and the low-growth years of 2000 and 2001, many Pereirans emigrated to the United States and Spain. Some particular neighborhoods, like the neighborhood called Cuba, are believed to average at least one member of the family living abroad.
Demographics
With the last nation-wide census in Colombia happening in 1993 it is hard to assess accurately the current population. This is especially exacerbated by the fact that many emigrants that left Colombia to live the US, Spain, Mexico and Costa Rica are known to come from Pereira. Colombia's national institute of statistics (DANE.gov.co) ran a Pereira-specific recount on 2004.
The population is believed to be of approximately 576,329 inhabitants as of 2005, making it the sixth biggest city in Colombia. Pereira also has a twin city, Dosquebradas(from the plaza de bolivar)(5 min. in car),of approximately 200,000 inhabitants and a series of satellite cities: Cartago(40 min), La Virginia(40 min), and Santa Rosa de Cabal(60 min.) that together reach the 210,000 inhabitants, the total amount of inhabitants in the nearest influential area of the city is then, of about 986,000 making the area one of the most crowded urban areas in Colombia. Pereira, Dosquebradas and La Virginia conform the Metropolitan Area Of Mid West, these three cities will be connected via a massive transport system of articulated buses called Megabús; which is projected to be expanded later on to Cartago and Santa Rosa de Cabal, and to count with a series of aerial tramway car systems to communicate with several other areas between Dosquebradas, Pereira and Santa Rosa de Cabal. The first stage of the system is projected to be running in November of 2006.
Points of interest
Plaza de Bolívar
-->Very famous because of the "Bolívar Desnudo" – Naked Bolívar monument . It is located in the main square in the center of the city in front of the cathedral, between 7th and 8th street. The area is the focus of commercial and financial activities. The most important activities in the city take place here.
Viaducto César Gaviria Trujillo
-->The César Gaviria Trujillo Viaduct is one of the proud symbols of the city along with El Bolívar Desnudo in its main square. Finished in 1998, it is one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in South America. The bridge is named in honor of the 40th president of Colombia, César Gaviria, who was born in Pereira.
The bridge communicates Pereira with its neighboring city of Dosquebradas, and provides an important connection for road traffic between the cities of Armenia, Pereira and Manizales.
Estadio Hernan Ramirez Villegas
Able to host 35000 people, the stadium is the main building in the "Villa Olimpica" neighborhood, and has hosted major soccer matches from Copa America and several international tournaments. The stadium serves as home for the city's professional soccer team Deportivo Pereira.Matecaña City Zoo
One of the most important attractions of this city is its city zoo, which is the largest in Colombia and one of the largest in South America, it is internationally recognized for leading investigations in the preservation of animal life.History Natural Museum inside Zoo.
External links
the most read newspapers in Pereira are La Tarde and El Diario del Otun- [Pulso magazin] (Spanish).
- [La Tarde newspaper] (Spanish).
- [El Diario del Otun] (Spanish).
- [Pereira] (Spanish).
- [Universidad Tecnologica] (Spanish) - Pereira's leading university, which features a highly regarded engineering school
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