Amazonas is a department of Colombia in the south of the country. Its name comes from the Amazon River that drains much in the department and the rainforest that covers a large part of the department. The capital is Leticia.
Leticia is Colombia's southernmost town (4.09° south 69.57° west) as well as its only major port on the river. It has an elevation of 96 meters above sea level and an average temperature of 27 °C (80.6 °F). Leticia has long been Colombia's shipping point for tropical fishes for the aquarium trade. Leticia has approximately 37,000 inhabitants on the left bank of the Amazon river, and at the point where Colombia, Brazil and Peru come together in an area called Tres Fronteras.
A long standing border dispute involving Leticia, between Colombia and Peru, was decided in 1934 by the League of Nations after these two nations engulfed in an armed conflict known as the Colombia-Peru War. This was the first instance of action by an international body in its powers covered by the Monroe Doctrine.
Even though it is a city within the borders of Colombia and a capital of one of its departaments, Leticia is very peaceful and isolated from the problems of the rest of the country; FARC activity is limited in the deep south of Colombia.
El Encanto is a town and municipallity in the Amazonas Department, Colombia. It is located in the mouth of the Caraparaná River, tributary of the Putumayo River (Içá). El Encanto can be reached by air or river. The local navy base has a runway available only to military and official planes. By river the closest towns with airport access are Puerto Arturo, Peru from downstream, and Puerto Leguizamo (Putumayo Department, Colombia) upstream.
Puerto Nariño is the second municipality of the Amazonas department of Colombia, located on the shore of the Amazon River. It has about 6,000 residents, most of them are indigenous and its specificity is that it is entirely pedestrian, no car or motorcycle being allowed, as an experiment in an ecological community. The traffic with the smaller communities along the river, and with Leticia, the only other Colombian municipality in the region, takes place by motorboats. Its name comes from a famous Colombian general, Antonio Nariño, who took an active part in the independence war against the Spanish occupiers.
La Chorrera is a city and municipality in the southern Western Hemisphere of Panama. It is where 2% of the country wood come from.
Municipalities and communities
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