Cundinamarca Department
Department of Cundinamarca (Departamento de Cundinamarca, ) is one of the departments of Colombia. Its area covers (not including the Capital District) and it has a population of 2,919,060 as of 2018. It was created on August 5, 1886 under the constitutional terms presented on the same year. Cundinamarca is located in the center of Colombia. Cundinamarca's capital city is Bogotá, the capital of Colombia. This is a special case among Colombian departments, since Bogotá is not legally a part of Cundinamarca, yet it is the only department that has its capital designated by the Constitution (if the  capital were to be ever moved, it would take a constitutional reform to do so, instead of a simple ordinance passed by the Cundinamarca Assembly). In censuses, the populations for Bogotá and Cundinamarca are tabulated separately; otherwise, Cundinamarca's population would total over 10 million. Etymology. The name of Cundinamarca comes from "Kuntur marqa", an indigenous expression, probably derived from Quechuan and means "condor's nest". Geography. Most of Cundinamarca is on the Eastern Cordillera ("Cordillera Oriental"), just south of Boyacá, bordered by the Magdalena River on the west, reaching down into the Orinoco River basin on the east, and  bordering on Tolima to the south. The capital district of Bogotá is nearly completely surrounded by Cundinamarca territory and was formed by carving up Cundinamarca. Because of this and other border changes, the present department of Cundinamarca is much smaller than the original state. Demography and ethnography. Municipalities with over 50,000 inhabitants. Municipal population position. According to the latest census conducted in 2005, 2,280,037 people live in Cundinamarca, excluding 6,776,009 of the capital, Bogotá. The racial makeup is: The city of Bogotá and the municipalities of Soacha, La Calera, Cota, Chía, Madrid, Funza, Mosquera, Fusagasugá, Facatativá and Zipaquirá form a  single metropolitan area. Important cities. Cundinamarca is made up of 116 municipalities, six of which recorded a population of over 100,000 and could be considered as cities: Soacha, Fusagasugá, Girardot, Facatativá, Zipaquirá and Chia, while Bogotá District is in the category of capital. Other major towns are Ubaté due to high livestock and dairy production. Guaduas, is an important cultural center. Chocontá and Fred are agricultural centers. Provinces. Cundinamarca has 15 provinces and the Capital District (Bogotá), which simultaneously acts as capital of the Republic, capital of the Department and a separately administered District (or Department) in itself. Sports. The  department is home to the basketball team Cóndores de Cundinamarca, which plays its home games in the "Coliseo de la Luna" in Chía.