Guadalajara de Buga, which is the city's formal name, is one of the oldest cities in Colombia; founded in 1555 by Giraldo Gil de Estupiñán under the order of the Spanish conquistador
Sebastián de Belalcázar and known as
Buga la Real ("the Royal Buga") or
La Ciudad Señora ("the Lady City"). It was the home of many wealthy families coming from Spain and settling in the
New World. King
Philip II of Spain gave Guadalajara de Buga its city status officially at the end of the 16th century and also granted its coat of arms for the many services rendered to the crown. During colonial era, Buga was in the
Royal Audience of Quito, initially part of the
Viceroyalty of Peru, and from 1739 until the creation of the
Republic of La Gran Colombia, part of the
Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada. After the dissolution of the Gran Colombia, it became part of the
Republic of Nueva Granada (modern-day
Colombia, since the newly created
Ecuador, successor of the Royal Audience of Quito, did not summon representatives from
Cauca to its first congress. During the years of Independence,
Simón Bolívar, called
el libertador ("the liberator"), visited the city on two occasions, for which commemoration plates were placed.
American Airlines Flight 965 crashed into a mountain near Buga on 20 December 1995. In 2013, Buga became the first municipality in the Valle del Cauca department to be named a
Pueblo Patrimonio (heritage town) of Colombia. As of March 2021, it remains both the southernmost and westernmost town in the
Pueblo Patrimonio network. == Demographics ==