Pasto - History

Pasto city is the capital of Nariño department, surrounded by green mountains and apparently permanent mist and cloud. Founded in 1536, Pasto was a royalist stronghold during the revolution against Spain.

It lies in the south western of Colombia, situated 8,291 feet (2,527 m) above sea level at the base of the big Galeras Volcano (4,276 m).

Pasto is one of the oldest cities in Colombia and, although regular earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have ensured that not much remains from the early days of the Spanish Conquest, it does still have something of a colonial feel, with its run-down old houses and ornate wooden balconies.

Although now less important as a trade centre than it was in the colonial era, Pasto controls traffic between Ecuador and the Cauca Valley and is the commercial centre for the surrounding agricultural and gold-mining area.

The University of Nariño grew from a school established in Pasto in 1827 (university status, 1964). The city lies on the Pan-American Highway, 76 miles (122 km) from the Ecuadoran border, and is linked by road with the Pacific port of Tumaco.

The area for which Pasto is an urban centre contains a large Indian population (1985 - 244,700 and 1995 - 325,540).

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