Valledupar - City of Colombia

Valledupar is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia, capital of the Department of Cesar founded in 1550 by Spanish Conqueror Hernando de Santana. Its name Valle de Upar was established in honor of an amerindian cacique that ruled the valley Cacique Upar. Lies between the mountains of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serrania del Perija to the margin of the Guatapurí River and Cesar River.

Valledupar is an important agricultural, cattle raising and agroindustrial center for the region between the Departments of Cesar and southern municipalities of La Guajira, formerly known as the Province of Padilla. Valledupar is notoriously known for being the cradle of vallenato music, representative of the Colombian culture. The city hosts the Vallenato Legend Festival.

From the place name Valle de Upar named after a legendary local Amerindian cacique named Upar leader of the native American Chimila Nation. The Catholic Church usually named the city Ciudad de los Santos Reyes de Valledupar because it was on the same day the three kings visited Jesus, the 6th day of January, the name later got modified due to grammar abbreviation to Valle Dupar and then to Valledupar.

Despite all these violence, Valledupar has quickly developed into an important agricultural and cattle raising center for the region between the departments of Cesar and southern parts of La Guajira since it became capital of the Department of Cesar however, it owes its high profile for being the cradle of vallenato music, played with accordion, a small drum and a scraping instrument guacharaca and for having every year since 1968, at the end of April, a four-day festival; the Vallenato Legend Festival.

Largest Middle/High school Colegio Nacional Loperena
Largest university Universidad Popular del Cesar state owned.
The Educational institution with the highest academic level in the city is the Fundación Colegio Bilingüe de Valledupar, which has ranked first and within the best hundred schools in Colombia though out the years, since its creation.

Valledupar's cultural background comes from three different major cultures; the European settlers, the Amerindians and Africans brought by the Europeans as slaves during the colonial time. Their mixture developed a unique identity that is mostly accentuated in the music; such as in the vallenato and cumbia. From the beginning Valledupar was a feudal town, where the Spanish Culture left a mark on almost everything: the customs, modes, food, popular religion, music, dances and Castilian language.

Vallenatos" or "Valduparenses" , are considered very warm, generous and embrassing people, representing the innocence and goodwill of the Colombian peasant. Most of them would take care of foreigners as if they were part of the family and serve your needs, but be careful not to offend their traditions, especially their music, a genre that they basically live for.