Abstract
Medellin is a 3.5 M inhabitant city located in an Andean valley in northwestern Colombia. Its initial prosperity was due to agriculture and cattle-raising carried out in the valley itself and sold to the surrounding gold mining fields. The investment of these monies in coffee plantations and industry boosted the city development, accelerated urban growth, and since the middle of twentieth century, relegated food production to surrounding regions, which are also responsible for almost the totality of natural resource supply: water, electricity, food, building and industrial raw materials. Among the problems which will have to be solved in order to reach a sustainable development are relocation of population living in areas exposed to natural risks, improvement of road communications with surrounding regions and of internal public transportation and pollution control.
Highlights
Medellin is a city with 3.5 M inhabitants located in a high Andean valley in north western Colombia with relatively difficult access
A detailed analysis of its economic growth is not intended; only a short comparison is made with other Colombian colonial cities to draw some conclusions about Medellin success to become the second city in population of the country
Why was the same fate not that of other urban centers located in much better geographic conditions? How could Medellin prevail when it was only a village surrounded by one of the poorest provinces of Nueva Granada at the end of 18th century? Is it due to the abundance of natural resources? The author, as a geologist, does not pretend to analyze in detail fundamental factors as economy, demography and politics, which have been already examined [1,2], but to trace eventual influences of natural environment on the city development
Summary
Medellin is a city with 3.5 M inhabitants located in a high Andean valley in north western Colombia with relatively difficult access. The relation between the city growth and its natural resources is examined from a historical standpoint. The author, as a geologist, does not pretend to analyze in detail fundamental factors as economy, demography and politics, which have been already examined [1,2], but to trace eventual influences of natural environment on the city development. Mayas had already suffered a complete decline Besides these cases, they found isolated belligerent tribes and slightly more developed cultures, like the Chibchas, who populated the Colombian Oriental Cordillera plateaus. They found isolated belligerent tribes and slightly more developed cultures, like the Chibchas, who populated the Colombian Oriental Cordillera plateaus This group has been considered by historians as “state in formation” [4]
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