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Antioquia is located in central northwestern Colombia. Most of its territory is mountainous as it resides in the Andes mountain range. Antioquia has a history of being part of many territorial divisions within present day Colombia and prior to the constitution of 1886, Antioquia was it's own sovereign government.
The department covers an area of 63,612 km² (24,427 sq mi). Antioquia shares a border with the Cordoba Department and the Caribbean Sea to the north, Chocó Department to the west, Bolivar, Santander, and Boyaca to the east, and Caldas and Risaralda to the south.
Medellín is Antioquia's capital city, and the second largest in the country. Other important towns include Santa Fe de Antioquia, the old capital located on the Cauca, and Puerto Berrío on the Magdalena.
At the time of the Spanish conquest in the 16th Century, Antioquia was populated by the indigenous peoples named Caribs. According to archeological data, tribes pertaining to this ethnic group began to extend through the Caribbean coast near the Gulf of Uraba and later extended to the south mainly living in the basins of the rivers Cauca and Magdalena.
There is little recorded history pertaining to the Caribs, since the Spaniards classified all indigenous ethnic groups that fought against them. Two families descended from the Caribs and inhabit the Anqioquia Department; Catíos and Nutabes, mainly living in the basin of the Cauca River and the Aburra Valley (Now Medellín), and the Tahamíes live between the Porce River and the Magdalena River.
The first European to explore the area was the Spanish Rodrigo de Bastidas who in 1500 explored the Uraba region. Ten years later, Alonso de Ojeda founded a village named San Sebastián de Urabá, 2km from the present-day town of Necoclí), which was destroyed later by the natives. The area of present day Antioquia would not be recolonized until c. 1536 onwards. A Spanish Captain named Jorge Robledo was the first to arrive to the Aburra Valley where he founded the village of Antioquia, but was not officially established until 1546 in what is now, Santa Fe de Antioquia.
Antioquia is the 6th largest Department of Colombia. It is predominantly mountainous, crossed by the Cordillera Central and the Cordillera Occidental of the Andes. The Cordillera Central, further divides to form the Aburrá valley, in which the capital Medellín is located. The Cordillera Central forms the plateaus of Santa Rosa de Osos and Rionegro.
Despite 80% of the department's territory being mountainous, Antioquia also has a small stretch of caribbean coastline in the north.
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