Paisa Region

Paisa (pl. " Paisas ") A person from the “Paisa region” in Colombia, South America. Located in the north west of the country. The region is formed by the Colombian departamentos or "states" of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío. The main cities are Medellín, Pereira, Manizales, Armenia, Envigado, Rionegro and Caucasia.

History

The first European to explore the region, the Spaniard Mariscal Jorge Robledo, founded Cartago in 1540, and Santa Fe de Antioquia in 1541. The capital city is Medellín, Colombia's second largest city with a metropolitan population of 4 million.

Paisas have their own cultural identities linked to one the most mountainous region of colonial South America. Its first colonial governor was Don Gaspar de Rodas. Many of the Native Americans, the Nutibara had either died before the arrival of the Spanish or were killed by European illness the 16th and 17th centuries, to be replaced by European immigrants searching initially for gold or joined unions with the Spanish settlers.

During the 17th and 18th century Basque families from Northern Spain settled in the Aburra valley where Medellín and Envigado are located, as well as small towns in eastern Antioquia, such as Marinilla, El Retiro and El Santuario. This part of Antioquia reminded these families of northern Spain.

The very mountainous region isolated itself from the rest of Colombia from the 17th until the mid 19th century when the Antioquia expansion began. This expansion was an internal migration from Antioquia to the southern "The Old Caldas" what today is Caldas, Risaralda and Quindio. It was during the 19th century that the Paisa region began to industrialize itself with the profits from coffee growing. After 1910, industrialization became a motor of economic development for the region and Colombia. The paisa Carriel is a piece of the traditional outfit, which is symbolic of the paisa culture.

Paisa ancestry

Their first ancestors are primarily Spanish immigrants from Extremadura, Spain (16th century), Andalucía, (17th century), and the Basque region in northern Spain (18th to 20th centuries). Many of them were marranos (Sephardic Jews forced to convert to Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition). These immigrants - many arriving as family units and not just single men - made a big impact and contribution to this region's culture, especially architecturally and industrially speaking. To this day, paisas speak Spanish with a distinct Castilian sounding "S", sometimes use vos instead of tú (rarely with voseo per se, simply using vos in place of tú), they speak Spanish very fast and soft,known for their thick paisa accents, are Catholic, tend to be more family oriented, and more conservative than other Colombians. Basque last names are especially common in the region.

Economy

The main economic activities are a strong industrial - textiles, appliances, automobiles, chemicals - and service oriented - healthcare, tourism, fashion, and retail economy in the Urban areas and coffee growing, which includes the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis, Ecotourism, cattle raising, flower growing and gold mining in the rural areas.

Gastronomy

A typical dish of the region, named "la bandeja paisa" (the paisa dish), is generally composed of "carne asada" (grilled steak) or "carne molida" (finely ground grilled steak), "chicharrón" (fried pork rind), rice, red beans, a slice of avocado, sweet fried plantains, a fried egg, a small white corn "arepa", and sometimes "chorizo" (sausage). It is a very popular dish in Colombian restaurants in Europe and the United States.

Famous Paisas

* Porfirio Barba-Jacob: Colombian poet and writer
* Rodrigo Arenas Betancur: Sculptor
* Álvaro Uribe: Current president of Colombia
* Belisario Betancur Cuartas: Former president of Colombia
* Pablo Escobar: Leader of the Medellín Cartel "in 1989 "Forbes" magazine had listed him as the seventh richest man in the world"
* César Gaviria: Former OEA Secretary and Former president of Colombia
* Juanes: International star, singer and song writer
* Fernando Botero: Painter & artist
* Débora Arango: Painter & artist
* Juan Pablo Ángel: Football player
* Rene Higuita: Football goal keeper.
* Andrés Escobar: murdered football player
* Fernando González: Writer/philosopher.
* Gonzalo Arango: Writer/philosopher.

External links

* [http://web.foodnetwork.com/food/web/searchResults?searchString=Bandeja+Paisa&site=food&searchType=Recipe&gosearch.x=18&gosearch.y=15/ Bandeja Paisa Recipe.]
* [http://www.estrellaestereo.com/ Portal de Música tradicional del gusto popular paisa.]

References

*Santa, Eduardo. La Colonización Antioqueña. [Tercer Mundo S.A. Bogotá] , 1993, ISBN 958-601-444-4