SOAR - Bogota Chapter

Bogota joined the SOAR family in July 2015. “Armenia” is a medium-sized city located between Bogota, Medellin, and Cali, the three largest cities in Colombia. The city was founded on October 14, 1889, by Jesus Maria Ocampo, also knows as “Tigrero” (translates to “tiger killer”) due to his love of hunting tigers. The city was originally called Villa Holguin, in honor of Carlos Holguin Mallarino, the then President of the country. The name was changed to Armenia in memory of the Armenian people murdered in the Ottoman Turkish Hamidian Massacres of 1894-1897 and later the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23. Approximately 100 Armenians live in Armenia and Bogota today.