Caldas Department

Caldas (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkaldas]) is a department of Colombia named after Colombian patriotic figure Francisco José de Caldas. It is part of the Paisa Region and its capital is Manizales. The population of Caldas is 998,255, and its area is 7,291 km². Caldas is also part of the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis region along with the Risaralda and Quindio departments, which were politically separated from Caldas in 1966.

Department of Caldas Departamento de Caldas
Department
The Nevado del Ruiz in July 2007
Flag Coat of arms
Caldas shown in red
Topography of the department
Coordinates: 5°06′N 75°33′W
Country	Colombia
Region	Andean Region
Department	1905
Capital	Manizales
Government
• Governor	Henry Gutiérrez Ángel (2024–2027)
Area
• Total	7,888 km2 (3,046 sq mi)
• Rank	28th
Population  (2018)[1]
• Total	998,255
• Rank	17th
• Density	130/km2 (330/sq mi)
GDP [2]
• Total	COP 23,953 billion (US$ 5.6 billion)
Time zone	UTC-05
ISO 3166 code	CO-CAL
Municipalities	27
HDI	0.769[3] high · 6th of 33
Website	gobernaciondecaldas.gov.co

Subdivisions

Municipalities

1. Aguadas
2. Anserma
3. Aranzazu
4. Belalcázar
5. Chinchiná
6. Filadelfia
7. La Dorada
8. La Merced
9. Manizales
10. Manzanares
11. Marmato
12. Marquetalia
13. Marulanda
14. Neira
15. Norcasia
16. Pácora
17. Palestina
18. Pensilvania
19. Riosucio
20. Risaralda
21. Salamina
22. Samaná
23. San José
24. Supía
25. Victoria
26. Villamaría
27. Viterbo

Districts

Caldas has 6 districts.

Dams

The Miel I Dam is situated in Caldas.^[4]

Demography

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1938	769,968	—
1951	1,067,324	+38.6%
1964	712,916	−33.2%
1973	698,042	−2.1%
1985	883,024	+26.5%
1993	1,030,062	+16.7%
2005	968,740	−6.0%
2018	998,255	+3.0%
Source:[5]

The population of Caldas is 984,128 (2013), half of whom live in Manizales. The racial composition is:

• White / Mestizo (93.16%)
• Amerindian or Indigenous (4.29%)
• Black or Afro-Colombian (2.54%)

The local inhabitants of Caldas are known as caldenses. Of the five main regional groups in Colombia, the predominant group in Caldas are known as paisa, referring to those living in the Paisa region, which covers most of Antioquia, as well as the departments of Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío.