Putumayo Department

Putumayo (Spanish pronunciation: [putuˈmaʝo]) is a department of Southern Colombia. It is in the south-west of the country, bordering Ecuador and Peru. Its capital is Mocoa.

The word putumayo comes from the Quechua languages. The verb p'utuy means "to spring forth" or "to burst out", and mayu means river. Thus it means "gushing river".

History

Originally, the southwestern area of the department belonged to the Cofán Indians, the northwestern to the Kamentxá Indians, the central and southern areas to tribes that spoke Tukano languages (such as the Siona), and the eastern to tribes that spoke Witoto languages. Part of the Kamentxá territory was conquered by the Inca Huayna Cápac in 1492, who, after crossing the Cofán territory, established a Quechua population on the valley of Sibundoy, known today as Ingas. After the Inca defeat in 1533, the region was invaded by the Spanish in 1542, and from 1547 was administered by Catholic missions.

The current territory of Putumayo was linked to Popayan during the Spanish Colonial Period and in the first Republican decades belonged to the "Azuay Department", which included territories in Ecuador and Perú. Later a long process of territorial redistributions began:

1831: Popayán Province.
1857: Estado Federal del Cauca.
1886: Cauca Department.
1905: Intendencia del Putumayo.
1909: Intendencia del Caquetá.
1912: Comisaría Especial del Putumayo.
1953: Department of Nariño.
1957: Comisaría Especial del Putumayo.
1968: Intendencia Especial del Putumayo.
1991: Putumayo Department.

Municipalities

Flag

The flag of the Department of Putumayo is a rectangle with horizontal tricolored stripes. The green stripe symbolizes the jungles that almost entirely cover the Department. The white stripe symbolizes the peaceful character of the people of Putumayo. The black stripe symbolizes oil, the Depatment's main economic resource.

The flag is similar to the flag of the Spanish region of Extremadura, the flag of Oostburg and some of the historical flags of Afghanistan.