Antioquia is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, with Medellin serving as its capital. The region was inhabited by the Caribs and scattered groups of Muisca, and the Spaniards killed most of the Native Americans through disease, dispersing the rest and causing many to commit suicide to escape being enslaved. The first Spaniard to visit antioquia was Rodrigo de Bastidas in 1500, and the first Spanish military incursion occurred in 1537. Jorge Robledo founded Santa Fe de Antioquia in 1541, naming the region for the Biblical city of Antioch. Antioquia was mostly settled by Basques, while others came from Extremadura, Andalusia, and the Canary Islands. Thousands of Scottish and English settlers would arrive during the Colombian War of Independence, while the 19th and 20th centuries saw immigration from Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria. Due to its isolated, mountainous location among the Andes, Antioquia became more dependent on trade than agriculture. Antioquia was made a department in 1886, and it is now the sixth-largest department of Colombia, with 80% of itst erritory being mountainous. In 2023, Antioquia had 6,994,792 residents.
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