Cali - Introduction

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The full name of the city is Santiago de Cali and it is the third largest city of Colombia after Bogotá and Medellín. Cali is the provincial capital of the State of Valley of Cauca since 1911. It was founded on July 25, 1536 by the Spaniard conqueror Sebastian de Belalcazar. It puts Cali among the list of the oldest European foundations in the Americas, although its real industrial development would come only during the 20th century.

The city of Cali is an industrial and commercial center and the most important city of southern Colombia. The Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport or Palmaseca Airport, located in the nearby city of Palmira, is the second most important Colombian airport. In 2009 it received 2,667,526 passengers and from that number 433,658 came from abroad. In that same year, 42,092 tons of merchandise were moved through the airport, according to Areounáutica Civil de Colombia. There are directly flights from Cali to New York, Miami, Tucumán (Ecuador), Panama, Caracas, Houston and Madrid. It is interconnected with the other capitals' airports of the country.

Cali is also at the head of vital areas of agriculture production of Colombia: sugar mills and coffee fields (it is just at the south of the Coffee Axes region); and it is at the east of the International Sea Port of Buenaventura at the Colombian Pacific Ocean coast. It is also on the Pan-american Highway that goes direct to Quito.

The city is also known as the International Capital of Salsa Music and it is the headquarters of international events of drama, music and poetry. It was the main scenario of the professional career of Colombian-Argentinian drama director Fanny Mickey. A city of universities, it is the seat of the University of the Valley (Universidad del Valle) that has been the center of studies and teaching of celebrities like NASA scientist Raul Cuero or philosopher Estanislao Zuleta.

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