Colombian Coffee History
<p>The II National Congress of Coffee Growers convened in June of 1927, in the city of Medellin, Antioquia, and 29 delegates represented the different coffee growing areas of the country. This Congress established the FEDERACON NACIONAL DE CAFETEROS DE COLOMBIA or NATIONAL FEDERATION OF COFFEE GROWERS OF COLOMBIA also know as the COLOMBIAN COFFEE FEDERATION.</p> <img src="images/coffee_growers_delegates.jpg"> <p>These are the 29 delegates that presided the II National Congress of Coffee Growers of Colombia. The Founder of the Colombian Coffee Federation, Don Mariano Ospina-Perez is seated in the front row, number five from left to right.</p> <p align="center">...</p> <p>There are several versions about the arrival of coffee to Colombia. For some, the first seeds or plants entered through the Province of Santander coming from Venezuela.</p> <p>The most authorative version about the first cultivation of coffee in Colombia is that of a Spanish Jesuit priest named Jose Gumilla. He wrote in his book "The Ilustrated Orinoca" about the cultivation of coffee around 1730 in the mission of Santa Teresa de Tabage, on the banks of the Meta river in Orinoco.</p> <p>By 1787 the Jesuits had taken the coffee seeds to other regions such as Girón in Santander and Muzo in Boyacá.</p> <p>The characteristics of the Colombian soil were ideal for coffee growing, which advanced its' cultivation. The commercial cultivation of coffee began in earnest in the 1800s. It's cultivation received a particular push with the inauguration of the Antioquia Railways (Ferrocariles de Antioquia) in 1893, which offered to the new growers the facility to transport their harvests.</p>
