Meta Department
Meta is located in the eastern plains of Colombia, in the Orinoquía region. Its capital is Villavicencio and it has a large agricultural economy.
The department of Meta is located in the eastern plains of Colombia, in the Orinoquía region. Its capital is Villavicencio.
It borders to the north with Bogotá, District Capital, Cundinamarca and Casanare, to the east with Vichada, to the south with Guaviare and Caquetá, and to the west with Huila.
It is one of the largest departments in the country, surpassed only by Amazonas, Vichada and Caquetá.
Located between 1° 39′ and 4°53′ of north latitude and 71°05′ and 75°02′ of west longitude from Greenwich.
The Meta is a department with a great hydrological wealth due to the numerous affluents of the Orinoco River that cross the department and that are born in the Eastern Cordillera.
Although it is part of the eastern plains of Colombia, it has Andean mountainous areas, including the natural park known as the Serranía de la Macarena.
It also has the Ombligo de Colombia, in the municipality of Puerto López.
IMPORTANT DATA
CAPITAL
VILLAVICENCIO
POPULATION
1’016.672
GENTILICIO
METENSE
SURFACE AREA
85.635 km²
GOVERNOR
Rafaela Cortés Zambrano
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
Meta Department Map
Follow the municipalities of Meta located on the map:
Map by: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA
Meta Department Subregions
The Meta department is divided into 4 subregions which are:
- Ariari
- Capital
- Piedemonte
- Río Meta
Meta Department Municipalities
The Meta department has 29 municipalities listed below in their respective subregions:
Ariari
- Lejanías
- Fuente de Oro
- El Dorado
- El Castillo
- San Juan de Arama
- Granada
- La Macarena
- La uribe
- Mapiripan
- Mesetas
- Puerto Concordia
- Puerto Lleras
- Puerto Rico
- Vista hermosa
Capital
- Villavicencio
Piedemonte
- Acacías
- Barranca de Upía
- Cabuyaro
- Cubarral
- Cumaral
- El Calvario
- Guamal
- Restrepo
- San Carlos de Guaroa
- San Juanito
Río Meta
- Castilla La Nueva
- Puerto Gaitán
- Puerto López
- San Martín
RELIEF
It is formed by the extensive eastern plain and the remaining area belongs to Venezuela. It is divided into five regions, the zone of the Eastern Cordillera, a 60 km wide scarped strip located along the department’s border.
Other major elevations are found in the southern and northern parts, where the Neiva, Oseras, and Galápagos hills stand out among others. Last, two mountain ranges branch off, one in an eastern direction corresponding to Picachos and the other decreasing in a southeastern direction.
HYDROGRAPHY
Numerous water courses bathe this territory, in it three basins are distinguished:
- Meta
- Guaviare
- Oriental
The fluvial routes such as Meta, Ariari, and Manacacias are listed as the main ones in the department.
CLIMATE
The average temperature is 26°C and generalizes in the department because the entire zone is in the plain.
It is said that for seven months of the year it is winter and five summer.
ECONOMY
The Meta department has a livestock, agricultural, and mining economy (with oil wells and crude oil and gas extraction). In the area, livestock predominates, so it is considered its base product; agriculture is based on plantain, cassava, corn, and is considered one of the most fertile soils in Colombia. The mining activity is also important due to the presence of oil fields.
NATURAL RESERVES
One of the great attractions has to do with the National Natural Parks Cordillera de los Picachos and Chingaza. The first is located in 86,000 hectares that extends between the departments of Huila, Caquetá, and Meta, where we find peaks that majestically rise and the National Park Chingaza where the dam of the same name was built.
HIMNO
Lyrics:
Arnulfo Briceño Contreras
Music: Arnulfo Briceño Contreras
I
The llanero sings
if he swallows the road
Like a majestic centaur
He meets the jilguero.
II
Oh, my plain!
emerald enchantment
Where the blue of the sky
is confused with your soil
In the vast distance.
III
At dawn
The sun kisses you
And from the estero to the morichal
The herons pierce the air
That whispers in the palms
A song of freedom
IV
Oh, my plain!
fine emerald
Is your crystal sky;
To your beauty the llanero sings
if he swallows the road
Like a majestic centaur
He meets the jilguero.
V
Oh, my plain!,
Thousands of stars
Watch over your silent nights
Like shining brooches
On a mantle of softness.
You are silent.
Tender lovers confess their love to you
You hear the derangement of verses
And among passionate flames
The dew kisses the flowers.
VI
Oh, my plain!
The entire nation of your nobility boasts
With your bravery
You warmed the soul of those
Who gave everything
To see it victorious
Dignified, great, and sovereign
Great and sovereign.
You may also be interested in