Caldas Department

Department of Caldas
Departamento de Caldas
Department
Nevado del Ruiz
Nevado del Ruiz
Flag of Department of Caldas
Flag
Coat of arms of Department of Caldas
Coat of arms
Caldas shown in red
Caldas shown in red
Topography of the department
Topography of the department
Coordinates: 5°06′N 75°33′W
Country Colombia
Region Andean Region
Established 1905
Capital Manizales
Government
 • Governor Henry Gutiérrez Ángel (2024-2027)
Area
 • Total 7,888 km2 (3,046 sq mi)
 • Rank 28th
Population
 (2018)
 • Total 998,255
 • Rank 17th
 • Density 130/km2 (330/sq mi)
Time zone UTC-05
ISO 3166 code CO-CAL
Municipalities 27
HDI (2019) 0.778
high · 6th of 33
Website gobernaciondecaldas.gov.co

Caldas (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkaldas]) is a department of Colombia named after Colombian patriotic figure Francisco José de Caldas. It is part of the Paisa Region and its capital is Manizales. The population of Caldas is 998,255, and its area is 7,291 km². Caldas is also part of the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis region along with the Risaralda and Quindio departments, which were politically separated from Caldas in 1966.

Subdivisions

Municipalities

  1. Aguadas
  2. Anserma
  3. Aranzazu
  4. Belalcázar
  5. Chinchiná
  6. Filadelfia
  7. La Dorada
  8. La Merced
  9. Manizales
  10. Manzanares
  11. Marmato
  12. Marquetalia
  13. Marulanda
  14. Neira
  15. Norcasia
  16. Pácora
  17. Palestina
  18. Pensilvania
  19. Riosucio
  20. Risaralda
  21. Salamina
  22. Samaná
  23. San José
  24. Supía
  25. Victoria
  26. Villamaría
  27. Viterbo

Districts

Caldas has 6 districts.

Dams

The Miel I Dam is situated in Caldas.

Demography

Historical population
Year Pop. ±%
1938 769,968 —    
1951 1,067,324 +38.6%
1964 712,916 −33.2%
1973 698,042 −2.1%
1985 883,024 +26.5%
1993 1,030,062 +16.7%
2005 968,740 −6.0%
2018 998,255 +3.0%
Source:

The population of Caldas is 984,128 (2013), half of whom live in Manizales. The racial composition is:

  • White / Mestizo (93.16%)
  • Amerindian or Indigenous (4.29%)
  • Black or Afro-Colombian (2.54%)

The local inhabitants of Caldas are known as caldenses. Of the five main regional groups in Colombia, the predominant group in Caldas are known as paisa, referring to those living in the Paisa region, which covers most of Antioquia, as well as the departments of Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío.