Summary
THE PLACENAME "ARMENIA" IN COLOMBIA
THE PLACENAME "ARMENIA" IN COLOMBIA
The article gathers all the information available from non-Armenian and Armenian sources about the placename "Armenia" in the South American republic of Colombia and tries to give a seasoned explanation of it, dispelling widely held and wrong notions about its origins, which have been frequently connected to Armenian presence or influence. There are 43 placenames called Armenia in Colombia. The most famous is the city of Armenia (Quindio), one of the most important producers of coffee in the country. It has been assumed that a monument devoted to the victims of the Armenian massacres of 1895-1896 exists in that city. The author shows that the so-called "monument" is actually devoted to the founders of Armenia, who were not Armenian. The article also notes the existence of the same toponym in other surrounding republics: Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. The use of the name must be ascribed to the frequent use of Biblical placenames in these countries.
La curiosa presencia del nombre "Armenia" en Colombia ha dado lugar a una serie de especulaciones sobre la presencia armenia en ese país (1). Aunque no será tema de nuestro estudio, cabe destacar que el mismo aparece en otras repúblicas vecinas: Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala y Honduras.