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The events that preceded the founding of the city of Ibagué are part of the Conquest of America and the rights granted by the Spanish nobility to the conquerors to create encomiendas for their benefit, exploitation and evangelization. In June 1550, the encomendero Andrés López de Galarza and Francisco de Trejo began a military campaign to take by arms the territories of the center of Tolima. On June 25 of that same year, when the campaign began, the conquerors arrived at a place they called: "The valley of the spears." Where they are stopped and diverted by the native tribes, who deny the passage to the conqueror, initiating a cruel war that would last sixty years and cost four thousand Spanish men and forty thousand Indians. The indigenous resistance was led by the Cacica de Ambi-Ana, Titamo ruler of the Cuello river basin assisted by the Cacica de Cucu-Ana, Quicuima ruler of the Cucuana river basin, who harassed and fought in several encounters the passing of Andrés López de Galarza, member of the Royal Chamber of Castile in Madrid, treasurer of the Royal Audience and brother of the Oidor of the Royal Audience of Bogotá, Juan López de Galarza. The continuous attack of the natives, forced López de Galarza to request reinforcements that arrived under the command of Captain Melchor Valdés.

Without making a difference, they were forced to move until they reached a secluded plateau in the region called Ana-Ima (Anaime), Kala-ana, present-day Cajamarca territories. The town of San Bonifacio de Ibagué was founded there on October 14, 1550 by the Spanish captain Andrés López de Galarza. But the constant attacks of the Pijaos motivated his transfer to the banks of the Combeima River on February 7, 1551, a site that he currently occupies. For the year 1562, the encomendero of the fort of San Bonifacio Capitán Domingo Lozano began from Ibagué the pacification of the Pijao of “Turibio de los Paeces” with the collaboration of Diego de Bocanegra and his successful campaign was awarded with the commission of the Paeces. Until the early seventeenth century and by 1602 Ibagué was nothing more than a strong conqueror for the protection of the encomienda of Gaspar Rodríguez del Olmo under the siege of the native Pijao. On October 28, 1602 there was a posh assault to recover some Indian women who had been kidnapped by the conquerors for their servitude in the fort of San Bonifacio. Then, due to the continuous complaints of the regents of the fort of San Bonifacio de Ibagué, the Royal Audience of Santa Fe de Bogotá decreed by Order of November 22, 1602: Slaves to the Pijao for ten years, at which time Ibagué attained military importance as the vanguard for the war against these people. The first campaigns from this fort were carried out without much success by Gaspar Rodríguez del Olmo between June and August 1603. Many chapters of war frame Ibagué between 1603 and 1609 with historical events such as the Pijao assaults led by the mohán and chieftain of Kimba -Ana Calarca on the fort of San Bonifacio.

The colony

In time of the colony, the city of Ibagué was lost under the security of a small colony of subjects of the Spanish crown in settlements of Creoles, mestizos and castizos used for the exploitation of the encomiendas. In the case of Ibagué, it corresponded to alluvial gold mining from the Combeima river, which benefited until it was exhausted. This region is rich in deposits of this metal due to its location in front of the volcanoes: Nevado del Tolima and Cerro Machín. During the colony, Mariquita had greater pre-eminence in the region, as it was the place of collection of the gold exploitations of the region as it was chosen by the Spanish crown for its geographical location and the wealth of its gold and silver mines in addition to being the starting point of the road that was used for more than two centuries to go up to Santafé and other towns. In 1782, the Spanish scientist José Celestino Mutis, within the Botanical Expedition program that was based in Mariquita, visited Ibagué and carried out some studies on the flora of the place.

The Republic

Between 1857 and 1887, with the prevailing political chaos, the struggles of the most prosperous urban centers in turn to be the seat of the state government became more acute. During these thirty years Natagaima, Purificación, Guamo, Ibagué and Honda became capitals. In 1854, the National Congress met in Ibagué under the presidency of Senators Pedro Fernández Madrid and Salvador Camacho Roldán, to judge President José María Obando and entrust Vice President José de Obaldia with the executive power. This happened in the National Building where the Congress of the United Provinces of New Granada chaired by Camilo Torres Tenorio, called ´´the verb of the revolution´´ and today there are the offices of the Directorate of National Taxes.

Under such conditions, Ibagué was the capital of the Republic. Ibagué took the lead only from the 1880s, when its population increased due to migrations caused by the attractive mining boom that occurred in the mountainous periphery. Its economy is activated and in 1887 it is declared the capital of Tolima Grande and in 1905 of the current Tolima and seat of the ecclesiastical government and where personalities such as Tulio Varón General of the liberal revolutionary forces stand out, who defended against the attacks of the conservatives in the War of the thousand days in the valley of Tolima that for the time they called "the plan of Tolima".

After 1930, it took the first sharp jump in its population growth and began its slow transformation from town to city. The next notable increase in population occurred in the middle of the 20th century with the peasant exodus that caused the phenomenon known as ´´La Violencia´´, characterized by the confrontation between the two historical Colombian parties, experienced with special intensity in the region. Ibagué.





Ibagué or San Bonifacio de Ibagué is the capital of Tolima, one of the 32 departments in Colombia. It is located on the north bank of the Combeima River, a tributary of the Coello River, which takes its waters from the snow-capped Tolima volcano and is mentioned as the limit of Ibagué by Baltasar Maldonado in the record of the Cayma rooms of August 26, 1551.

"Which said hill is going to give a Morro Nevado and waters slopes to said hill, towards the towns of Tolima, and the said towns of Tolima are and I name by term the city of Ibagué." Baltasar Maldonado.

It limits to the north with Anzoátegui and Alvarado to the east with Piedras and Coello to the south with San Luis and Rovira and to the west with Cajamarca and the departments of Quindío and Risaralda. Its inhabitants cultivators of music and since 1887 with the Conservatory of Ibagué and the Conservatory of Tolima, they made it worthy of the title of "Musical City of Colombia".

Its main access is through the Perales Airport and Route 40 or Pan-American Route 250 kilometers south of Bogotá and where Route 43 ends, which leads to the Atlantic Coast, Magdalena Medio and Antioquia.

The municipality of Ibagué bases its economy on the agricultural sector, commerce, agribusiness and partially on tourism. A great producer of rice, coffee and cattle, it has also established itself as the third largest textile city in Colombia, after Medellín and Bogotá.

In 1929 the Committee of Coffee Growers of Tolima was created and in 1931 the Chamber of Commerce of Ibagué. In 1945 the section of the National Federation of Merchants FENALCO and in 1947 the National Federation of Rice Growers Fedearroz. However, only in the second half of the twentieth century did Tolima businessmen begin to become aware of the need for the capital association, which maintains a very low dynamic. In 1953 the Tolima Livestock Fund was founded, which became an important development entity for the sector for many years.

In 1964, at the initiative of the rector of the University of Tolima Néstor Hernando Parra, the Association for the Development of Tolima was created and in 1981 the Committee of Economic Guilds, which extended its coverage to the most representative civic associations. These entities have tried to promote tourism without the expected success, which could be due, among other factors, to the fact that the necessary alliance between the public and private sectors has not been continuous but intermittent.

The 21st century surprised Ibagué with a worrying problem in terms of unemployment and underemployment, a situation that at the end of 2002 ranked the city as the one with the highest unemployment among the capitals of the Department, with an index of 21.9%, followed by Bucaramanga with 19.0%.

The problem described generates an imbalance in the economy of Ibagué; However, taking advantage of the tariff preferences of the ATPDEA Law constitutes a business opportunity for reactivating and expanding the industrial sector, as two favorable conditions are registered for their use. On the one hand, the regulation comes from the main commercial partner of the country and Tolima and, secondly, such benefits were extended to the products of the clothing sector (textiles and clothing), the main line of exports originating in the department. . It should be noted that in 2001 this subsector participated with 63.5% of the exported amount and in 2002, which was not a good year in terms of foreign sales, it contributed 54.1%.

But thanks to the large number of projects that are being carried out in the city which are generating thousands of jobs, the improvement of Ibagué's finances and the increase in confidence on the part of investors, for example in the case of Homecenter, Almacenes Éxito, Carrefour (its second store will open soon), Multicentro, Cinemark and the Saludcoop Clinic that have beautified the musical city, unemployment has decreased and currently the city has dropped to eighth place in unemployment according to the DANE study in the 13 main metropolitan areas of Colombia.





With the shouts we republish in Gran Colombia and due to the cultural changes of encyclopedism in Europe, accompanied by the musical fondness that mestizos and creoles had, music is a driving factor for the culture of its municipal seat. That after two hundred years he manages to capture in cultured scores the happy native musical airs with dances such as the bambuco, bundes, rajaleñas and sanjuaneros or make an imprint in waltzes with new rhythms such as corridors and guabinas. They traveled the routes of the European rebellious Americas with republican ideas and enlightened in the flourishing arts of European painting, literature, and music. In 1886, it is visited by a French subject known as Count Gabriac, who baptized it ´´Musical City´´ after realizing the importance that its inhabitants gave to music and the talent of its artists. After this a musical taste appeared, in the nascent aristocracy of the city, which promoted the appearance of music schools that would eventually give rise to the Ibagué Conservatory and the Tolima Conservatory.

The National Festival of Colombian Music and the National Competition of Duets "Princes of the Song" are held in Ibagué, which have been declared Cultural Heritage of the Nation by Law No. 851, which seeks to highlight, promote and stimulate the artistic manifestations that lead to the preservation of Colombian music. Within the framework of the National Festival of Colombian Music, other events have been created that have come to enrich the musical culture with: The contest of the 10 Most Beautiful Songs of Tolima, the National Contest of duets "Princes of the Song" , the competition for the Unpublished Song "Leonor Buenaventura de Valencia", the award for the best performance in the style of "Garzón y Collazos" and the National Competition for the Best Tambora San Juanera, Jorge Ramírez Salazar Award - "Emeterio´´.

In 2001 the Ibero-American Symphony Orchestra was created to celebrate 182 years of the Colombian Army and since then it has been performing in various stages of the country and internationally, carrying messages of awareness, love and peace through the voices of its soloists. and the verses of his songs, invited by the Presidency of the Republic, the Government and private companies.

Different municipalities of Tolima, such as Natagaima, Chaparral, Ortega and Coyaima, among others, have officially or sentimentally adopted as their respective hymns, well-known Tolima folk songs such as ´´Ibagué Sueño Encantado´´, a work composed by Jairo Alberto Bocanegra.

Folklore

In 1959 the first edition of the Colombian Folk Festival was held, an event that has been held annually since then. Its inspiration was Adriano Tribín Piedrahita, who obtained the support of Governor Rafael Parga Cortés and Mayor Luís Eduardo Vargas Rocha, who highlights the samples of Colombian and Latin American music.

The musical city of Colombia celebrates different fairs and festivals, mostly of a cultural nature, the most important in the city is the Colombian Folk Festival and National Folk Kingdom that is celebrated in the month of June and culminates in the month of July in the San Pedro festivities; The folk festival is an ancient tradition in the city where Colombian culture is rescued, although previously the International Folklore Festival was also held in the same month, which was suspended since 1998.

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