Norte de Santander

Department in northeast Colombia, bordering Venezuela to the east; area 20,264 sq km/7,824 sq mi; population (1996) 1,162,474. The capital is Cúcuta. Coffee and tobacco are the two main cash crops grown here, and cattle raising is important. In the north of the department, around Petrolea, are the important Barco oilfields; oil from here is taken west by pipeline across the mountains to Coveñas on the Caribbean coast.

The three departments of Boyacá, Santander, and Norte de Santander cover the territory that once belonged to the Muiscas and Guane Indians, and was one of the first to be explored and settled by the Spanish.