Cali Geography and History
Santiago de Cali (or simply called Cali) is Colombia's 3rd biggest city and the capital of the Valle del Cauca.
Cali is a dynamic city with over 2 millions inhabitants. It is an industrial city with a fast growing economy.
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Location and Orientation
Cali has a great geographical location on the west coast of Colombia.
The city Lies in a valley, with Los Farallones mountains on the West, the Cauca river on the East and extended plains on the North and the South. Cali is close to the port of Buenaventura, Colombia's main port on the Pacific ocean.
Cali has a great geographical location on the west coast of Colombia.
The city Lies in a valley, with Los Farallones mountains on the West, the Cauca river on the East and extended plains on the North and the South. Cali is close to the port of Buenaventura, Colombia's main port on the Pacific ocean.
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Climate
It is a pretty low city (just over 1000 m) compared to her big sisters Bogotá (2650m) and Medellín (1485m) which assures a beautiful climate (in this case, tropical savanna climate) warm and sunny all year round. It reflects a lot on the energy of the population, Calinos are famous for being warm and friendly, they dress little and party a lot, that's probably why they have the reputation of being some of most beautiful and hottest population of Colombia.
=> We highly recommend to come and check it out for the Feria de Cali, the world's biggest Salsa festival!
The average annual precipitation varies between 900 mm to 1,800 mm, Cali's average temperature is 24 °C (75 °F) with an average low temperature of 19 °C (66 °F) and a high of 30 °C (86 °F).
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A short history
Santiago de Cali was founded in July 25th 1536 by Sebastián de Belalcázar, who was part of the equipage of Columbus 3rd Journey to the Americas in 1498. He actually entered Colombia while searching for "El Dorado". While on his quest he founded the cities of Pasto, Popayán and then Cali.Cali was originally populated by several indigenous tribes (Gorrones, Morrones, Timbas...). They were officially conquered on Holy Tuesday of 1536 when Spaniards defeated the chief Petecuy who had formed a big army with several tribes to fight the Spaniards invasion.
Cali remained a pretty small city until the 18th century (les than 10,000 inhabitants) most of them living in haciendas and dedicated to plantations, sugar cane, cotton and cattle.
This is not before the 20th century that the city will start to become a major city due to a strategic position for trade and business. Nowadays, most of Colombia's exports pass though Cali, on their way to the port of Buenaventura.
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