Last modified: 2021-08-26 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: cauca | almaguer |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors
image modified from wikipedia, located by Felipe Carrillo, 3 April 2008
The municipality of Almaguer (21,812 inhabitants in 2003;
3,104 inh. in the town of Almaguer proper; 320 sq. km) is located
170 km east of Popayán.
On 10 October 1550, Briceño, Deputy Governor of Popayán, allowed Vasco de Guzmán to set up a pacification and settlement operation. Together with 59 men, Guzmán founded the settlement of Ciudad del Cesar, located 2,300 m a.s.l. The nefarious Alvaro de Oyón, coming from Peru like Guzmán, was appointed Mayor of the new settlement. Eventually sacked following complaints and desertion by the colonists, Oyón was replaced by Alonso de Fuenmayor, appointed Governor on 14 July 1551. Fuenmayor refounded the settlement and renamed it Almaguer, as a tribute to Briceño, who came from Almaguer, Mancha, Spain. The tradition says that the refoundation ceremony took place on 19 August 1551, on St. Louis' Day. However, this "tradition" seems to have been fabricated in the XVIIIth century, when the name "San Luis de Almaguer" was given to the settlement, as a tribute to Louis, son of King Philip V.
Proclaimed "Mining District of Spanish America" (Distrito Minero de la América Española), Almaguer was granted a coat of arms and the title of "Very noble and lawful town" ("Muy noble y muy leal ciudad") by King Philip II.
The flag of Almaguer is horizontally divided yellow-green-red (2:1:1). Yellow symbolizes richness, green symbolizes the environment, the flora and the fauna, while red symbolizes the blood shed by the liberators.
Source: Municipal website.
Ivan Sache, 20 July 2008