Qualla: Tolima Department https://qualla.com/tolima-department en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/2/d/r/tolima-department-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Tolima Department https://qualla.com/tolima-department Tolima Department: Introduction https://qualla.com/tolima-department/ Photo credit Jc1599, CC BY-SA 4.0. The name means snowed. Tolima is what the Pijao called the mountains that crown their ancestral territory, and the department took the name when it was carved out of Cundinamarca in 1861. At the high end, Nevado del Tolima rises 5,215 meters (17,110 feet) above sea level, its summit a glacier-capped cone that last erupted in 1943. At the low end, wide valleys drop below 400 meters, where temperatures regularly push past 40 degrees Celsius. This is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, and it contains, within 23,562 square kilometers, nearly every ecosystem the Andes offer.

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/2/d/r/tolima-department-wp/d2dr-tolima-department-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Tolima Department: The Pijao and the Panche https://qualla.com/tolima-department/ Photo credit Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0. Before Spanish contact, two peoples of the same linguistic family divided Tolima between them. The Pijao lived in the south. The Panche held the north, in the foothills running down to the Magdalena Valley, and were widely known as fierce warriors. The Panche fought the Muisca fo...

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Image: Bernard Gagnon | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/2/d/r/tolima-department-wp/d2dr-tolima-department-the-pijao-and-the-panche.mp3 0:06 2 full Tolima Department: The Musical City https://qualla.com/tolima-department/ Photo credit Digitalinforma, CC BY-SA 4.0. Ibagué, Tolima's capital, is known throughout Colombia as la Ciudad Musical - the musical city - and carries the title with some legitimacy. It hosts one of the country's classic conservatories, the Conservatorio del Tolima, founded by Alberto Castilla in the early twentieth cent...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/2/d/r/tolima-department-wp/d2dr-tolima-department-the-musical-city.mp3 0:06 3 full Tolima Department: Armero https://qualla.com/tolima-department/ Photo credit Diego Andrés Lastra Romero, CC BY-SA 4.0. On 13 November 1985, Nevado del Ruiz - the volcano that stands on Tolima's northern border with Caldas - erupted. The eruption itself was moderate. What made it catastrophic was ice. The heat of the eruption melted portions of the summit glacier, and the resulting lahars - torren...

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Image: Diego Andrés Lastra Romero | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/2/d/r/tolima-department-wp/d2dr-tolima-department-armero.mp3 0:06 4 full Tolima Department: Where Two Cordilleras Run https://qualla.com/tolima-department/ Photo credit Chilangoco, CC BY-SA 3.0. The department's geography is defined by its vertical range. The Central Cordillera of the Colombian Andes fills the west. The Eastern Cordillera rises along the southeastern edge, containing the source of the Cabrera River. Between them runs the Magdalena Valley - the main north...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/2/d/r/tolima-department-wp/d2dr-tolima-department-where-two-cordilleras-run.mp3 0:06 5 full Tolima Department: Ten Presidents and a Tamal https://qualla.com/tolima-department/ Photo credit Diego Andrés Lastra Romero, CC BY-SA 4.0. Tolima has produced ten Colombian presidents: Domingo Caycedo, José María Melo, Manuel Murillo Toro, José María Rojas Garrido, Miguel Abadía Méndez, Alfonso López Michelsen, Darío Echandía, Carlos Lozano y Lozano, Gabriel París, and Deogracias Fonseca. It has also produced the Ta...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/2/d/r/tolima-department-wp/d2dr-tolima-department-ten-presidents-and-a-tamal.mp3 0:06 6 full