Guaviare
,
departamento,
southeastern
Colombia
. Guaviare lies in an area of tropical, semideciduous rainforest merging into the Llanos (grassland plains) on the north. It is bounded on the north by the Guaviare River; on the east by the highlands of the mesas (tablelands) Cubiyu and Caruru; on the south by the
departamentos
of
Vaupes
and Caqueta; and on the west and north by
Meta
departamento
. Guaviare’s area incorporated the majority of Vaupes’ inhabitants when it was formed as a
comisaria
(“commissariat”) in 1977; it became a
departamento
in 1991.
Guaviare has one principal settlement, the frontier capital
San Jose del Guaviare
, located on the right bank of the
Guaviare River
in the north. Land transportation is provided by an unimproved road from
Bogota
, to the northwest, through Villavicencio, capital of Meta
departamento,
to San Jose del Guaviare. Difficult river transport on the Guayabero and Guaviare rivers exists for light-cargo transport. Air service, however, is the primary form of access to San Jose del Guaviare from northern and western Colombia. Many of the area’s inhabitants are
indigenous
Indians. Area 16,342 square miles (42,327 square km). Pop. (2007 est.) 98,189.