Sebastián de Belalcázar in the context of "Quito"

Santiago de Cali (Spanish pronunciation: [sanˈtjaɣo ðe ˈkali]), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with an estimated 2,280,522 residents in 2023. The city spans 560.3 km (216.3 sq mi) with 120.9 km (46.7 sq mi) of urban area, making Cali the second-largest city in the country by area and the third most populous. As the only major Colombian city with access to the Pacific Coast, Cali is the main urban and economic center in the south of the country, and has one of Colombia's fastest-growing economies. The city was founded on 25 July 1536 by the Spanish explorer Sebastián de Belalcázar.

As a sporting center for Colombia, it was the host city for the 1971 Pan American Games. Cali also hosted the 1992 World Wrestling Championships, the 2013 edition of the World Games, the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in 2014, the World Youth Championships in Athletics in 2015 as well as the inaugural Junior Pan American Games in 2021 and the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships.

The Spanish conquest of New Granada refers to the conquest between 1525 and 1540 by the Spanish monarchy of the Chibchan-speaking nations of modern-day Colombia and Panama, mainly the Muisca and Tairona that inhabited present-day Colombia, beginning the Spanish colonization of the Americas. It is estimated that around 5.25 million people died as a result of Spanish Conquest, either by disease or direct conflict. This represents 87.5% of the Pre-Columbian population of Colombia.