Yopal

Before the Spanish conquest, the land where Yopal stands belonged to the Achagua people, who grew cassava and pineapple, traded with the peoples of the mountains and used a hallucinogenic snuff made from the yopo tree, which grew in abundance along the Cravo Sur. The city takes its name from a yopal, a grove of these trees, that stood on the site of today's city. From about 1650 Jesuit missionaries set up cattle haciendas in Casanare, among them Caribabare, Cravo Sur and Tocaría, worked by Indigenous labour.

The modern town was founded in 1915 by settlers from Boyacá, when Elías Granados built his house where the centre now stands. 'La Estancia de Don Elías' became a compulsory stopping place for drovers taking cattle up to Tunja and Santander for sale. By 1930 there were only a handful of houses; the first school opened in 1932 and the first fiestas were held in 1934. The municipal seat was then at El Morro in the hills, and in 1937 a group of Yopal's residents took the municipal archives from El Morro by night on muleback to press their case. After a long dispute, an ordinance of the Boyacá assembly made Yopal the municipal seat in 1942.

Growth came with political change and oil. In 1973 Casanare was separated from Boyacá as an intendencia with Yopal as its capital, and in 1991 the new constitution made it a full department. From only 213 inhabitants in 1951, the municipality grew to about 87,000 by 2003, swelled by the department's oil industry, and it remains one of the fastest-growing cities in the country.

Yopal is a city of llanero culture, the cowboy tradition of the Colombian and Venezuelan plains. Joropo, played on harp, cuatro and maracas with fast, stamping dance steps, is heard in bars and at every celebration, and traditional instruments such as cuatros and maracas are sold in the city. The calendar includes the Cimarroncito de Oro festival, a Joropera Internacional, the Torneo de Contrapunteo y de La Voz Recia — a contest of improvised sung duels and powerful plains singing — and the Garcero del Llano student festival.

Coleo, in which riders chase a bull at full gallop and try to bring it down by twisting its tail, is the region's sport; the city has its own coleo arena and hosts the Copa América de Coleo. The patronal festival of the Virgen del Carmen and the end-of-year fair are among its popular celebrations. Religion is visible too: the statue of the Virgin of Manare on the hill above the city, the patroness of Casanare, draws pilgrims who walk the Stations of the Cross in Holy Week.

Casanare's Indigenous peoples are represented in the city at the Casa Indígena of the regional Indigenous organisation, ORIC, which brings together groups including the Sáliba, Tsiripu, Maibén, Cuiba, Amorúa and Sikuani. Hospitality is a point of pride across the plains, and llaneros are known for their independence and their attachment to cattle, horses and land.

The municipality had an estimated 192,758 people in a 2025 projection — about 193,000 — making Yopal the second city of Colombia's eastern plains after Villavicencio. The urban area is divided into seven comunas with more than 120 barrios, from the old Centro and Brisas del Cravo to newer districts spreading across the plain.

Cattle remain the backbone of the local economy, alongside rice, oil palm, plantain, maize, coffee and cassava. Oil is the department's largest source of income, from fields such as Cusiana and Cupiagua in the neighbouring municipalities of Tauramena and Aguazul, and much of the city's growth comes from people drawn by the industry and by Yopal's role as the capital. Many of its hotels were built in the 1990s to serve the oil companies, and large shopping centres have since opened, such as Gran Plaza Alcaraván, Unicentro and Morichal Plaza. Rapid growth has also brought pressure on housing and services, and the city has absorbed many newcomers with incomes below the national average.

Days start early and slow down in the midday heat. In the evenings people gather in the central park, the shopping centres and the riverside park, and weekends mean football, joropo, roast meat and cold beer. Cycle lanes run along the main avenues, and a university campus opened in 2010 adds students to the city.

Yopal eats like the rest of the plains. The great dish is mamona, also called ternera a la llanera: a young calf cut into large pieces, skewered on wooden stakes and roasted slowly beside an open fire for hours, then served with cassava, potatoes and plantain. Carne asada, pisillo — dried, shredded beef or fish — and gallina criolla, free-range chicken, are everyday dishes, and sancocho de gallina, a hearty hen soup, is a local favourite.

Travel guides also point to rellena, hayacas, tungo and picadas, platters of mixed chopped specialities. Breakfast and snacks often mean arepas with cheese and fresh orange juice, and river fish such as cachama are fried or grilled.

The day is punctuated by small cups of sweet tinto coffee, fruit juices made with water or milk are everywhere, and masato, a fermented rice drink, is another traditional choice. Cold beer is the drink of choice in the heat, especially at weekend gatherings with joropo music and meat from the grill.