Putumayo

Intendency of southern Colombia, bordering on Ecuador to the south and occupying the drainage basin of the Putumayo River; area 26,520 sq km/10,239 sq mi; population (1996) 204,309. The capital is Mocoa. Putumayo forms part of the eastern tropical lowlands, which are for the most part densely forested or covered in jungle. The region is thus very sparsely populated and partly unexplored. Economic activities revolve around cattle-raising and sugar production.

In the early 1900s, rubber companies in Putumayo exploited native labour, leading to an inquiry in 1912 into widespread atrocities committed against the Indians. The Irish nationalist and British consular official Roger Casement denounced the so-called ‘Putumayo atrocities’ in 1911 while working as consul-general in Rio de Janeiro.

Putumayo

River in South America, rising in the Andes in southern Colombia and, for most of its course, forming the boundary between Colombia and Ecuador, and Colombia and Peru; length 1,600 km/994 mi. From its source, the Putumayo generally flows in a southeasterly direction, and drains a vast area of tropical rainforest. At Santo Antônio de Içá, it joins the Amazon. Most of the river is navigable by small craft.