Ibague - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

IBAGUE, or SAN Bonifacio De Ibague, a city of Colombia, and capital of the department of Tolima, about 60 m.W. of Bogota and 18 m. N.W. of the Nevado de Tolima. Pop. (woo, estimate) 13,000. Ibague is built on a beautiful plain between the Chipalo and Combeima, small affluents of the Cuello, a western tributary of the Magdalena. Its elevation, 4300 ft. above the sea, gives it a mild, subtropical climate. The plain and the neighbouring valleys produce cacao, tobacco, rice and sugar-cane. There are two thermal springs in the vicinity, and undeveloped mines of sulphur and silver. The city has an endowed college. It is an important commercial centre, being on the road which crosses the Quindio pass, or paramo, into the Cauca valley. Ibague was founded in 1550 and was the capital of the republic for a short time in 1854.