Editing Meta Department (section)

{{Short description|Department of Colombia}}
{{for|similarly named areas|Meta (disambiguation)#Places{{!}}Meta (disambiguation) § Places}}
{{Expand Spanish|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox settlement
<!-- See Template:Infobox settlement for additional fields and descriptions -->| name               = Department of Meta
| native_name        = {{lang|es|Departamento del Meta}}
| native_name_lang   = es<!-- ISO 639-2 code -->
| type               = [[Departments of Colombia|Department]]
| image_skyline      = CAÑO_CRISTALES_RÍO_EN_LA_MACARENA_META.jpg
| image_alt          = 
| image_caption      = View of the [[Caño Cristales]]
| image_map1         = Meta Topographic 2.png
| map_caption1       = Topography of the department
| image_flag         = Flag of Meta.svg
| flag_alt           = 
| image_shield       = Escudo del Meta.svg
| shield_alt         = 
| nickname           = 
| motto              = Llano Grande de Colombia y Meta
| anthem             = Himno de Meta (Colombia)
| image_map          = Meta in Colombia (mainland).svg
| map_alt            = 
| map_caption        = Meta shown in red
| coordinates        = {{coord|4|9|N|73|38|W|region:CO_type:adm2nd|display=inline,title}}
| coor_pinpoint      = 
| coordinates_footnotes = 
| subdivision_type   = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_name   = {{flag|Colombia}}
| subdivision_type1  = [[Regions of Colombia|Region]]
| subdivision_name1  = [[Orinoquía Region]]
| parts_type         = Largest city
| parts_style        = para
| p1                 = 
| established_title  = [[Republic of Colombia|Established]]
| established_date   = July 1, 1960
| blank_name_sec1    = [[Provinces of Colombia|Provinces]]
| blank_info_sec1    = 4
| blank1_name_sec1   = [[Municipalities of Colombia|Municipalities]]
| blank1_info_sec1   = 29
| founder            = 
| named_for          = 
| seat_type          = [[Capital (political)|Capital]]
| seat               = [[Villavicencio]]
| government_footnotes = 
| leader_party       = 
| leader_title       = Governor
| leader_name        = [[Marcela Amaya]] (2016-2019)
| unit_pref          = Metric<!-- or US or UK -->
| area_footnotes     = 
| area_total_km2     = 85635
| area_rank          = [[List of Colombian Departments by area|4th]]
| area_land_km2      = 
| area_water_km2     = 
| area_water_percent = 
| area_note          = 
| elevation_footnotes = 
| elevation_m        = 
| population_footnotes = <ref>{{cite web|title=DANE |url=http://www.dane.gov.co/daneweb_V09/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75&Itemid=72 |access-date=February 13, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091113143414/http://www.dane.gov.co/daneweb_V09/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75&Itemid=72 |archive-date=November 13, 2009 }}</ref>
| population_total   = 1,039,722
| population_as_of   = 2018
| population_rank    = [[List of Colombian Departments by population|19th]]
| population_density_km2 = auto
| population_note    = 
| demographics_type1 = GDP
| demographics1_footnotes = <ref>{{citation|title=Producto Interno Bruto por departamento |url=https://www.dane.gov.co/files/operaciones/PIB/departamental/anex-PIBDep-TotalDepartamento-2022pr.xlsx|website=www.dane.gov.co}}</ref>
| demographics1_title1 = Total
| demographics1_info1 = [[Colombian peso|COP]] 58,440 billion<br />([[US$]] 13.7 billion)
| blank_name_sec2    = [[Human Development Index|HDI]]
| blank_info_sec2    = 0.769<ref name="GlobalDataLab">{{Cite web|url=https://hdi.globaldatalab.org/areadata/shdi/|title=Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab|website=hdi.globaldatalab.org|language=en|access-date=2018-09-13}}</ref><br/>{{color|#0c0|high}} · [[List of Colombian departments by Human Development Index|7th of 33]]
| timezone1          = [[UTC-05]]
| postal_code_type   = 
| postal_code        = 
| area_code_type     = 
| area_code          = 
| iso_code           = [[ISO 3166-2:CO|CO-MET]]
| website            = [http://www.meta.gov.co/ www.meta.gov.co]
| footnotes          = 
}}

{{Historical populations
|type =
|footnote = Source:<ref>{{cite web|title=Reloj de Población|url=http://www.dane.gov.co/reloj/|website=DANE|publisher=Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadísitica|access-date=6 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028083854/http://www.dane.gov.co/reloj/|archive-date=28 October 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|1973 | 242664
|1985 | 474046
|1993 | 618427
|2005 | 783168
|2018 | 1039722
}}

'''Meta''' ({{IPA|es|ˈmeta}}) is a [[departments of Colombia|department]] of [[Colombia]]. It is close to the geographic center of the country, to the east of the [[Andean]] mountains. A large portion of the department, which is also crossed by the [[Meta River]], is covered by a grassland plain known as the [[Llanos]]. Its capital is [[Villavicencio]]. The department has a monument placed in the very geographic centre of Colombia, at a place known as Alto de Menegua, a few kilometers from Puerto López.

[[Achagua language|Achagua]], which is similar to Piapoco, is an [[indigenous languages of the Americas|Indigenous language]] spoken by a minority in the department.