# Districts of Colombia

The districts (Spanish: Distrito) of Colombia are cities that have a feature that highlights them, such as its location and trade, history or tourism. Arguably, the districts are special municipalities.
In 1861, Bogotá was constitutionally designated as the Federal District, which was later redesignated in 1954 as the Capital District. In addition,Barranquilla, Cartagena and Santa Marta were designated as districts by the original version of the Constitution of 1991.
In July 2007, Congress passed Legislative Act 02, which increased the number of district to 10 with 3 cities and 3 seaports: Cúcuta, Popayán, Tunja, the port were Turbo Antioquia, Uraba in the Pacific port: Buenaventura, Tumaco and Medellín. However, in 2009, a large part of this act was declared unconstitutional, stripping district status from Cúcuta, Popayán, Tunja and Uraba.

## Legal definition

According to Law 1617 of 2013, for the creation of new districts, the following conditions must be met:
* They must have more than 600 thousand inhabitants, according to DANE certification , or be located in coastal areas, as long as they have potential for the development of ports or for tourism and culture; that is, they are the capital municipality of a border department.
* There must be a prior concept of the special commissions to monitor the process of decentralization and territorial planning
* and that there is prior opinion from the municipal councils.
Districts that have been recognized as such by the Constitution and the law or municipalities that have been declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO are exempt from compliance with these requirements.

## List of special districts

* Bogota, Capital District (Spanish: Distrito Capital), designated 1861, re-designated 1954 by constitution
* Special Port, Industrial, Tourist and Biodiverse District of Barrancabermeja (Spanish: Distrito Especial, Portuario, Industrial, Turístico y Biodiverso de Barrancabermeja), designated June 13, 2019
* Special Industrial and Port District of Barranquilla (Spanish: Distrito Especial, Industrial y Portuario de Barranquilla), designated 1991 and August 18, 1993 by constitution
* Special Industrial, Port, Biodiverse and Ecotouristic District of Buenaventura (Spanish: Distrito Especial, Industrial, Portuario, Biodiverso y Ecoturístico de Buenaventura), designated 2013
* Touristic and Cultural District of Cartagena de Indias (Spanish: Distrito Turístico y Cultural de Cartagena de Indias), designated 1991 by constitution
* Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (Spanish: Distrito Especial de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación de Medellín), designated July 14, 2021
* Special Tourist and Cultural District of Riohacha (Spanish: Distrito Especial, Turístico y Cultural de Riohacha), designated 2015
* Special Industrial, Port, Biodiverse and Ecotourist District of San Andrés de Tumaco (Spanish: Distrito Especial, Industrial, Portuario, Biodiverso y Ecoturístico de San Andrés de Tumaco), designated July 17, 2018
* Special Tourist, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Cruz de Mompox (Spanish: Distrito Especial Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Cruz de Mompox), designated December 27, 2017
* Tourist, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta (Spanish: Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta), designated 1991
* Special Sports, Cultural, Tourist, Business and Service District of Santiago de Cali (Spanish: Distrito Especial, Deportivo, Cultural, Turístico, Empresarial y de Servicios de Santiago de Cali), August 2, 2018
* Port, Logistics, Tourist, Industrial and Commercial District of Turbo (Spanish: Distrito Portuario, Logístico, Turístico, Industrial y Comercial de Turbo), designated January 24, 2018