Líbano, Tolima

Líbano is a town and municipality in the Tolima department of Colombia. The population of the municipality was 39,785 as of the 1993 census. Along with Honda, Tolima, Líbano is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Líbano–Honda.

History

Before the arrival of Europeans, the Panches, Pantagoras, Bledos, and Marquetones lived in the region. They were among the tribes most feared by the Muisca. Their society was an aristocratic hierarchy headed by a chief.

By the mid-nineteenth century, settlers from Antioquia explored south in search of vacant land, and mines, to be acquired by degrees of effort and incorporated into the national economy. A caravan of Antioqueños led by Isidro Parra, found a valley planted with cedars and oaks, and constructed a few huts. The hamlet was named Líbano, the Spanish word for Lebanon.

The layout of the built-up area of Líbano was organized as a village in 1886. Since 1900, Líbano developed as an important village, pushing dirt roads in all directions. Socio-economic development of the region was guided by its founders from the development of mining and power to the cultivation of coffee, which has become the main characteristic element of the economy, society and culture of the area.