Meta Department

Department of Meta
Departamento del Meta
Flag of Department of Meta
Coat of arms of Department of Meta
Motto: 
Llano Grande de Colombia y Meta
Anthem: Himno de Meta (Colombia)
Meta shown in red
Meta shown in red
Topography of the department
Topography of the department
Coordinates: 4°9′N 73°38′W / 4.150°N 73.633°W / 4.150; -73.633
Country Colombia
RegionOrinoquía Region
EstablishedJuly 1, 1960
CapitalVillavicencio
Government
 • GovernorMarcela Amaya (2016-2019)
Area
 • Total
85,635 km2 (33,064 sq mi)
 • Rank4th
Population
 (2018)[1]
 • Total
1,039,722
 • Rank19th
 • Density12/km2 (31/sq mi)
GDP
 • TotalCOP 58,440 billion
(US$ 13.7 billion)
Time zoneUTC-05
ISO 3166 codeCO-MET
Provinces4
Municipalities29
HDI0.769[3]
high · 7th of 33
Websitewww.meta.gov.co
Historical population
YearPop.±%
1973 242,664—    
1985 474,046+95.4%
1993 618,427+30.5%
2005 783,168+26.6%
2018 1,039,722+32.8%
Source:[4]

Meta (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmeta]) is a department of Colombia. It is close to the geographic center of the country, to the east of the Andean mountains. A large portion of the department, which is also crossed by the Meta River, is covered by a grassland plain known as the Llanos. Its capital is Villavicencio. The department has a monument placed in the very geographic centre of Colombia, at a place known as Alto de Menegua, a few kilometers from Puerto López.

Achagua, which is similar to Piapoco, is an Indigenous language spoken by a minority in the department.

  1. ^ "DANE". Archived from the original on November 13, 2009. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
  2. ^ "Producto Interno Bruto por departamento", www.dane.gov.co
  3. ^ "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  4. ^ "Reloj de Población". DANE. Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadísitica. Archived from the original on 28 October 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2017.