They received the name because of the men had a custom of carrying a calabazo or totumo (gourd) hanging from the waist, with chicha or maize wine as the Spaniards called it.

When the area was occupied by Pedro de Ursúa and Ortún Velasco in 1549, they reduced the primitive settlers to the regime of encomiendas.

The town's location allowed it to become an important commercial route between the Viceroyalty of New Granada and the Captaincy of Venezuela; with highly fertile regions and auriferous deposits in the mountains, it became one of the richest territories of the colony, rivaled only by the province of Socorro, which contributed to it being considered a political and administrative axis of the Spanish crown from the time of the conquest.

Pamplona earned the nickname of "Patriotic City" as described by Simón Bolivar for having pioneered the New Granadan revolution by proclaiming its independence on 4 July 1810, led by Doña Agueda Gallardo de Villamizar [es] (freedom that was finally declared 31 July of the same year with a provisional assembly), and later, between 1819 and 1821, for having contributed notably with human and economic resources for the liberation of Colombia and Venezuela.

Culturally there are a number of national and international activities making the city a tourist epicenter, including Holy Week, along with the celebrations held in Mompox and Popayán, which are the most important in the country.

The solemnity of religious celebrations is also notable – events that attract a large number of people from other parts of the country and Táchira, Venezuela.

[9] The cathedral contains one of the most important musical instruments of Eastern Colombia, a pipe organ created by Celestino Balbiani from Milan, Italy,[10] in addition to a Baroque-style altarpiece.