Yopo

Yopo refers to a tree of the eastern Colombian foothills and Llanos, from which Yopal takes its name. Achagua communities inhabited the region before Spanish colonization. Rivers descend from the Eastern Cordillera across savannas toward the Meta, and the yopo grew along watercourses such as the Cravo Sur. Jesuit missions later established settlements among Indigenous peoples of Casanare, bringing the foothill country into the colonial frontier.