Other important towns are Santa Fe de Antioquia, the old capital located on the Cauca River, and Puerto Berrío on the Magdalena.

While 80% of the department's territory is mountainous, Antioquia also has lowlands in Bajo Cauca, Magdalena Medio, and eastern Sonsón, as well as coastline on the Caribbean Sea, in Urabá.

The dominant[citation needed] explanation is that it was named after the then-Greek/Syrian (now Turkish) city of Antioch on the Orontes (Greek: Ἀντιόχεια Antiocheia, Arabic: Antākiyyah, today Antakya).

Moreover, ancient Antiochia played a significant role in the development of early Christian communities, and thus was important to the Roman Catholic Spaniard conquerors.

The owner and master of the Santa María, second in command to Columbus, was Juan de la Cosa, nicknamed "el vizcaino".

[citation needed] However, American historian Everett Hagen sampled the Medellín telephone directory in 1957 and found that 15% of the surnames were of Basque origin, but 25% of the employers were.

[citation needed] The first Spaniard known to have visited the territory now known as Antioquia was Rodrigo de Bastidas, who explored the area around the future site of Darién in 1500.

An expedition commanded by Francisco César traveled through the lands of chief Dabeiba, arriving at the Cauca River.

Much of this trade was due to reforms passed after a 1785 visit from Juan Antonio Mon y Velarde, an inspector of the Spanish Crown.

[8] The Wall Street Journal and Citi announced in the year 2013 that Medellín, the capital of the Department of Antioquia, is the winner of the City of the Year competition, a global program developed in partnership with the Urban Land Institute to recognize the most innovative urban centers.

[16] During the 19th and 20th centuries, immigrants (including Jews)[17] arrived from Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Lebanon, Israel, Palestina and Syria.

[21] There is a small Afro-Colombian and Zambo-Colombian (people of Indigenous and African descent) population originating in the majority of the Urabá subregion and the neighboring departments of Chocó, Córdoba and Sucre.

Amazonas Antioquia Arauca Atlántico Bolívar Boyacá Caldas Caquetá Casanare Cauca Cesar Chocó Córdoba Cundinamarca Guainía Guaviare Huila La Guajira Magdalena Meta Nariño N. Santander Putumayo Quindío Risaralda San Andrés Santander Sucre Tolima Valle del Cauca Vaupés Vichada