text: Risaralda department with an area of 3,653 km2 (1,410 sq mi), is located in the central sector of the central Andean region west of the country between two major poles of economic development (department of Antioquia in northern and southern Cauca Valley, extending between the central and western Cordillera), which slopes down toward the Río Cauca, also borders the departments of Caldas in the north-east, east Tolima, Quindio Chocó south and west.