Granada, Meta Department, Orinoquía Region, Colombia

🇨🇴 Granada is a town and municipality in the Meta Department, Colombia. The municipality has an area of 348.3 square km (134 sq mi) and a population of 68,876. The municipality is located between 3° 26" latitude north and 73° 43" longitude west and between 372 and 410 metres (1,220 and 1,345 ft) above sea level. The daily mean air temperature varies between 24 and 25.6 °C (75.2 and 78.1 °F). Annual rainfall is between 2,400 and 2,800 millimetres (94 and 110 in). The town is connected to Santa Fé de Bogotá along a 180 km (110 miles) road and lies about 80 km or 50 miles from the regional capital Villavicencio.

History In the municipality of Granada, there were three indigenous cultures: the Guayupe (the largest group), the Sae and the Operigua, who did not have their territory well defined; They only presented language and cultural differences, which were not studied, as they yielded to the pressure of the first European colonizations, promoted by the companies that exploited rubber, cinchona, balata and wood.

Granada, previously called Boquemonte, as it is the entrance to a royal road through the forests of the plain of the Ariari river; lived the same population dynamics as the Orinoquía, a natural region known as the Eastern Plains, made up of the political-administrative divisions corresponding to the departments of Meta, Arauca, Casanare and Vichada.

The Ariari region, whose most important municipality is Granada, began with the population displacement from the Cundiboyacense highlands and Sumapaz in the middle of the last century, and was accentuated between 1950 and 1970 with migrations towards the upper Ariari, made up of the municipalities from Cubarral, Granada, El Castillo, Medellín del Ariari, Fuente de Oro and Lejanías.

On June 23, 1956, Boquemonte changed its name to Nueva Granada; Likewise, on November 19 of the same year, by decree 299, he was elected to the category of municipality.

Bridge El Alcaraván The El Alcaraván bridge connects Granada with the municipalities of San Juan de Arama, Vista Hermosa, Mesetas and Uribe.

Summer Festival The summer festival is one of the best known and most important in the region, this is due to the different cultural and sporting events. Every year this festival is celebrated in the month of January, enjoying the shores of the beautiful beaches of the Ariari River, activities are known such as: campercross, extreme sports, motocross, aerobics, soccer, beach volleyball, reign, mountain bike etc. Also what makes this festival unforgettable are the different artists who attend this event to make everyone happy, finally the traditional event, the regatta through the Ariari river, where hundreds of people gather to embark on their journey in the waters of the river.

Economy The economic activities of the municipality are: - Agricultural production, with crops of irrigated and rainfed rice, corn, banana, African palm, cocoa, cassava, sugar cane, papaya, citrus and passion fruit.

Secondly, the traditional extensive and semi-extensive grazing livestock.

Now tourism, fish farming for consumption and ornamental fish and, last but not least, open-air exploitation.So it is a town known for its livestock, and has one of the best fairs and festivals, where you can see exhibitions from fine paso horses to coleus.