The departments of the Colombian Pacific region are four: Chocó, Valle del Cauca, Cauca and Nariño.
Of all of them, Chocó is the one with the highest percentage of territory in the region (90%). The others are divided between the Pacific, the Caribbean region and the Andean region.
Cali is the largest city in the region, capital of the Valle del Cauca department
Between all the departments there is a total population of just over 1 million inhabitants.
Regarding the geographical limits of each one of them, Chocó limits to the north with Panama, Nariño to the south with Ecuador and all of them to the east with the Colombian Andes and to the west, with the Pacific Ocean.
The departments of the Colombian Pacific
1- Chocó
It is the northernmost department of the region. Also, the only one that presents part of its territory in the Caribbean region.
Its capital is Quibdó, an inland city of just 110,000 inhabitants. In total, the department has just over half a million inhabitants.
The territory is occupied by the equatorial jungle, which serves as a natural border between South America and Central America.
Its climate is tropical rainy, like the rest of the region. It is the region of the planet with the highest annual rainfall.
2- Valle del Cauca
South of Chocó, this department is the second most populated in Colombia. It has 4,600,000 inhabitants and its main city is Cali, in turn the third most populated in the country. The intertropical climate is more moderate than that of Chocó, with less rainfall.
The economic and social development of the department is also greater, especially due to the importance of Cali.
Much of the emigration from the rural areas of the Colombian Pacific goes to Cali, even from other departments. For this reason, Cali has demographic indexes with many Afro-Colombians.
3- Cauca
South of Valle del Cauca and north of Nariño, Cauca has a population of almost 1 and a half million people. Its capital is Popayán, an inland city of 227,000 inhabitants.
It is an eminently agrarian area. Agriculture is the main economic activity of the department. In its soils we find coffee, corn, beans, sugar cane and the world's largest extension of coca leaf, according to the UN.
This makes the department one of the most punished by the armed conflict that involves the cartels and the Colombian armed forces.
It is also the Colombian department with the highest density of indigenous population.
4- Nariño
The southernmost of the four departments that make up the Colombian Pacific. Its total population is just over 1,700,000 inhabitants and its capital is San Juan de Pasto.
The capital of the department is located in a mountainous area near the Galeras volcano.
The climate is colder than in the rest of the Pacific region due to the altitude, which also generates a permanent cloudiness.
Its economy is tertiary, that is, it is based on the service sector and commercial activity, where agreements and transactions with Ecuador are important.
Being a border department, political and economic relations with the neighboring country are closer than in other areas of the country.
References
- Political and regional division of Colombia on ResearchGate, at researchgate.net
- Administrative Division of Colombia on GeoNames, at geonames.org
- Atlas of Colombia on WikiCommons, at commons.wikimedia.org
- Andean Community on European Commission Trade, at ec.europa.eu
- The Andean Volcanic Belt on European Space Agency, at esa.int