---

Founded date: February 15, 1730

Historical review:

According to the historian Don Jesús María Otero, in the middle of the XVl century, the Paeces Indians, natives of Tierra Adentro and commanded by the cacique Diego Calambás fled from Vitoncó, their native land, towards the lands where the municipalities of Jambaló are today. Pitayó, Caldono, Toribío, Tacueyó, Paniquitá, Noviráo and others, for fear of reprisals from the other tribes of the provinces of Páez, who had united to punish the aforementioned chief and his people for having helped the Spanish in the conquest, submitting their countrymen



This version can be confirmed because the indigenous people of Caldono have a dialect, customs, traditions and a way of working that correspond to the ethnic groups of the Tierra Adentro countries.



The best known version of its foundation is that the Marqueza de la Majestad de San Miguel de la Vega founded the town in 1730 although other historians attribute the foundation to Captain Hernando Arias Saavedra, in the company of Cacique Calambas and priests and Doctriners.





Physical description:

Its municipal seat is located in the north of the Department of Cauca, 67 kilometers from the city of Popayán. It belongs to the hydrographic basin of the upper Cauca River and its main river is the Ovejas. According to the biophysical characteristics, Caldono has three micro-regions.



The municipality presents high variability in its slopes (1300 to 3000 masl) being

Characteristics of the area of ​​influence are the undulating mountain forms - broken to undulating, with orographic features such as the Asnenga and Solapa blades and the high Cresta de Gallo and Naranja. Much of its relief corresponds to the central mountain range

of the Colombian Andes.

Limits of the municipality:

It limits to the north with Santander de Quilichao, to the east with Jambaló, to the south with Silvia and to the west with Piendamó. Its political makeup is given by 6 townships, 86 villages, 4 reservations and 2 indigenous councils.

Total extension: 373.98 Km2

Urban area extension: 22.07 Km2

Rural area extension: 351.91 Km2

Altitude of the municipal seat (meters above sea level): 1800

Average temperature: 20 - 24º C

Reference distance: 67 km from Popayán

Ecology

HYDROLOGY: The municipality belongs in its entirety to the sub-basin of the Ovejas River. This subquanca has a total area of ​​92,100 hectares, of which 40.6% correspond to the municipality. The micro-basins are: Pescador, Mondomo, Salado, Cabuyal, Quichaya, Chindaco, Guicoche, Guasano, Puente Alto, Lás Ánimas and El Pilón. The hydrographic system includes currents (in an East-West direction) that descend from the Central mountain range to flow into the Cauca River through the Ovejas River.

GEOLOGY: The municipality of Caldono is part of a recent mountainous region, which maintains great tectonic activity caused by the presence of faults of variable depth. As a consequence, the territory is affected by the presence of earthquakes of different intensity. Geologically in the territory there is the presence of rocks that possibly go from the Paleozoic to the most recent.

Economy

In the Municipality of Caldono, the food demanded by the population is not being generated, however, miscellaneous crops predominate in monocultures or in associations (coffee, cassava, fique and plantain), unmanaged and improved pastures. Vegetables are grown in low volumes in confined areas.

Its production is used as a complement to the main income by the majority of growers. There are also crops of onion, tomato interspersed with

carrot, cabbage, others.

Communication channels

Terrestrial:

The sub-basin is crossed by the Pan-American highway and a series of secondary roads and penetration routes lead to it that allow it to have access to the markets of Popayán, Santander de Quilichao and Santiago de Cali. The municipality's road infrastructure is in fair condition, with some paved sectors (Km 7 Crucero Pescador to Siberia) and other rural roads

partially affirmed or not affirmed.







Caldono is one of the few towns that has a natural tourist variety.

This municipality located north of the cauca and 40 minutes from Cali, capital of the cauca valley, is distinguished by its tourist sites that are framed within the beautiful nature that surrounds the region.

Here, where hospitable people, beautiful women and big-hearted families abound, the history of historical monuments such as the Slave Bridge, a cultural heritage of national interest, is mixed with the imposing constraints that frame the modernity of the municipality. Thanks to the investment of more than 60 million pesos, the infrastructure that provides security guarantees to those who pass through it was illuminated.

Festivities

SAAKHELU ’KIWE’S.

The sakhelu ritual would be on a full moon in August. It is offered in gratitude to the spirits of the condor, the hummingbird, the sun, the moon. It is also the festival so that the seeds of people, animals, vegetables or spirits are happy and give strength to our lives, to the crops, to the territory, it is important because it also marks the times of the agricultural calendar. This ritual is a conciliator between the inhabitants of nature with the creative beings of life, from whom we seek their protection, joy and permanent relationship.

---