locc2dabrain

Santiago de Cali (IPA: [sanˈtjaɰo ð̞e ˈkali]), often shortened to Cali (IPA: [ˈkali]), is the main city, municipality and capital of the Valle del Cauca Department in western Colombia. It was founded July 25, 1536 by Spanish conqueror Sebastián de Belalcázar.
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.

History
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 Jamundí. 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.

Pre-Columbian era and conquest
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.

Founding and colonial period
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 looked for allies forming the "Ciudades Confederadas del Valle del Cauca" with Anserma, Cartago, Toro, Buga and 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 many men to the war of independence that liberated the nations in the south.

Independence
On August 7th, 1956, at around 1 a.m., seven Colombian army trucks filled with 42 tons of dynamite exploded near the train station, destroying around eight city blocks and leaving a toll of thousands of dead and wounded.
Cali hosted the Pan American Games in 1971, an event which is considered by many as the height of the city's golden age as a model of civic orderliness.
During the 1980s the city saw an increase in violence and corruption due to the ascendancy of the Cali Cartel, a drug mafia dedicated to the trafficking of cocaine.
On April 9th, 2007, a 110-pound car bomb gutted the five-floor police headquarters before dawn, killing a taxi driver and injuring 34. Authorities blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has been trying to overthrow Colombia's democratic government for nearly five decades. Later that week on April 12th, tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of Cali to protest the bombing of the city's police barracks. Carrying giant banners reading "I reject terrorism" and "Death to fear," protesters were joined by Colombia's Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos.

Recent History

Location

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 (66°F) and a high of 30°C (86°F).
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.

Location
Geography
Climate Cali

Geography and climate
Santiago de Cali offers large preserve historical areas with cultural variety and other attractions. The city is rich in historical monuments such Sebastián de Belalcázar wich is a monument dedicated to the city founder, is located on the west over a hill in a residential area of the city, in a traditional district of Cali, is very frequented by tourists and natives. Also religious monuments such "Cristo Rey" and "Las tres cruces";
In downtown you can found many historical churches like "La Merced" and "La Ermita".Cali contains a well preserved Historical center, the most important zone is "La plaza de Caycedo", wich is considered the center of the city, is a large park and plaza surrounded by many historical and modern buildings like "Edificio Otero, La Catedral and El Palacio de Justicia". The plaza is close to other touristic places like Iglesia de San Francisco, The municipal theater and La Merced.
The night life in Cali is very glad, there is variety of nightclubs and restaurants. In the city you can found whole districts dedicated only for tourism, for example Granada, one of the most traditional districts in Cali, full of gourmet restaurants, fashion stores, boutiques and glad people ready to make you feel well. Also Cali has many shopping malls distributed in all the city some of the most importants are; Unicentro Cali, Jardin Plaza, Centenario, Chipichape, Palmetto and cosmocentro.

Historical tourism
Modern tourism Tourism
Cali is governed by a mayor elected for a three 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 last elected mayor was Apolinar Salcedo, who is blind and a former member of the city's council. He was dismissed from his post by the Procuraduría General de la Nación on May 8th, 2007 because of irregularities in an official contract. Ramiro Tafur was designated by Valle del Cauca Governor Angelino Garzón to complete Salcedo's term, which ends December 31st, 2007.

Politics

Transportation
List of the Trunk or principal corridors:
For information about El MIO, in the ofial web site of metrocali; www.metrocali.gov.co (spanish).

Masivo Integrado de Occidente (MIO)
Cali is served by the Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport also known as Palmaseca International Airport This airport served Santiago de Cali, and its suburbs. It is Colombia's second largest airport in terms of passengers transporting 2,171,551 in 2006 and is the 4th in cargo. Alfonso Bonilla Aragón is located in a long, narrow valley that runs from north to south, and is surrounded by mountains up to 14,000 feet (4,000 m) high.
International flights

American Airlines: Miami
Avianca: Miami, New York-JFK (via Medellin), Madrid
Icaro: Quito
Continental Airlines: Houston-Intercontinental
Copa Airlines: Ciudad de Panamá
TAME: Tulcán Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport
The most important higher education 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,less law studies. 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 important universities, offering academic programs are Universidad Autónoma de occidente, Universidad Javeriana, Universidad ICESI, Universidad Libre, and Universidad San Buenaventura.

Education

Feria de Cali
Cali has two main athletic events, a mid-year half marathon [4] and a December 10k race called Carrera del Río Cali.fufi76riu

Rio Cali race
The city of Santiago de Cali is recognized as the sport capital city of Colombia, as it is the first Colombian city to have had hosted the Pan American Games in the 1970's.
Santiago de Cali is home of two of the greatest soccer clubs in the country, these clubs are America de Cali and Deportivo Cali. The city has two soccer stadiums: Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero and Estadio del Deportivo Cali. Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero is currently home of both America de Cali and Deportivo Cali, since Estadio Deportivo Cali is still under construction. After completion of construction, Estadio Deportivo Cali will be home to Deportivo Cali while Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero will remain as America de Cali's home stadium.

Though there is no current basketball team that calls Santiago de Cali home, basketball is the second-most played sport in the city. Near the center of the city, on "La Carrera del Cholado", basketball is one of the most preferred sports. Soccer still surpasses basketball in sport popularity.
Although bullfighting is only active during the Feria de Cali which is held in December, it is anticipated by many citizens in Cali, and all around Colombia. The bullfighting ring is called La Plaza de Toros de Cañaveralejo, located the southwest of Cali. Gallery