Villavicencio

The German Conquistador Nikolaus Federmann reached the altiplano of Bogotá in 1536 by approaching it from the plains of Venezuela, a large unsettled area that is formed by the Orinoco basin. However, this vast area remained unexplored and uncolonized for the next 300 years. Colombia was settled along the mountainous folds of the Magdalena and Cauca valleys, and all of its commerce with the outside world was oriented towards the Caribbean Sea, thus, because of its mountainous barriers, the extreme heat, and inhospitable climate, the Llanos remained forgotten and unsettled.

The Llaneros, the inhabitants of the plains, are fierce horsemen who first fought for the Spanish royalists and then for the Venezuelan and Colombian rebels during the War of Independence. By crossing the Cordillera Oriental with Bolívar, they surprised the royalist army on the plains of Boyaca on the 6th of August, 1819, and cleared the way for the taking of an abandoned Santa Fe de Bogotá one week later. In the 1840s, some farmers from Caqueza, a town on the eastern folds of Bogotá, started the modest settlement of Gramalote, which officially became the parish of Villavicencio in 1855. The parish was named for Antonio Villavicencio, a patriot in the Colombian war of independence. Vaccines, a mule road, and the availability of vast areas of free land, drove new colonizers to continue the settlement of Villavicencio. As the roads improved the access to the Llanos, the farmers could send their produce and cattle to the markets of Bogotá.

After the assassination of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, a popular Liberal politician in 1948, the large landowners saw a pretext to drive farmers out of their lands. The Llaneros resisted by driving the army out of population centers. The guerrillas never took Villavicencio, but they brought the fighting to the military base of Apiay. As the fighting between the government and the Llanero guerrillas was out of control, a military coup in June 1953, took Gustavo Rojas Pinilla to power who immediately negotiated a cease fire and amnesty for the insurgents.

The city is located in the Orinoquia Region, where the Oriental Plains begin. Most of the city's land is flat ground draining away from the Andes. The Guatiquia borders the city to the north and east. Caqueza and Chipaque are located northwest of Villavicencio. A true portal to the Llanos, the roads south of Villavo lead to Acacias and San Martin, the first historical town of the Llanos, which was an early Jesuit settlement. East of Villavo they point towards Apiay, Puerto Lopez and the fluvial port of Orocue on the Meta river, a strong affluent of the Orinoco.

Villavicencio has a Tropical rainforest climate. The climate is hot and sometimes humid, though its proximity to the foothills of the Oriental Andes brings mild breezes to the city at nightfall. Average temperatures is 27 degrees Celsius.

Cattle, agriculture, and the exportation of crude oil fuel the Villavicencio economy. Imports from the surrounding area include coffee, bananas, and rice.

La Vanguardia Airport serves Villavicencio with flights to the rest of Colombia on four airlines, including Colombian major airlines Avianca and Latam Colombia.

University of the Llanos is a public university located Villavicencio. Other higher education institutions include Cooperative University of Colombia, Saint Thomas Aquinas University, Saint Martin University, Uniminuto, UAN.

The city has a football (soccer) team, the Llaneros futbol club which plays in Colombia's second division.

The Colombian Football Federation announced that Villavicencio will be one of the venue cities to host the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup.[6]

To the natural possibilities that its territory offers for the rest, the works of modernization of the highway are added that shortened in distance and time the passage with the capital of the Republic. In this way Villavicencio and other adjacent municipalities (Acacías, Cumaral, Restrepo, Puerto Lopéz, Puerto Gaitán, Cáqueza) are offered as new tourist destinations. In preparation to meet this demand, tourism development plans and strategies are implemented by the departmental and municipal governments, as well as the Cotelco branch. In relation to physical infrastructure, the city has an acceptable hotel inventory, as well as agro-tourism properties.

Villavicencio shares the condition of land of immigrants with the region of the Eastern Plains of Colombia; from its foundation to the present, people from the interior of the country and the coasts have sought and found in the city the conditions and the receptivity to establish themselves; At the same time, they have contributed to forge a mestizo culture in which, nevertheless, they struggle to impose a stronger relationship with the region, a bond of identity with the llanera culture. Mamona, coleo, cockfighting, joropo, dance, legends, myth, the renewed and popularized use of the poncho, among others are currently struggling not to disappear before the thrust of urban or modern life. Folklore is made up of the traditional customs of the people.

• Cato Manuel Lizaraso Ekrene, Norwegian film director
• Carolina Gaitán, Colombian television actress
• William Pulido, former professional cyclist
• Óscar Ruiz, former football referee and lawyer
• Henrry Sanchez, psychologist
• Nathalia Sánchez, gymnast
• Kelly Drake, Nurse

• Phonebook of Villavicencio
• Movie Times in Villavicencio
• Real Estate in Villavicencio