Summa Iuris | Vol. 5 | No. 1 | pp. 26-36 | enero - junio | 2017 | ISSN (En línea): 2339-4536 | Medellín-Colombia EDITORIAL COFFEE REGION: SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTION OF TERRITORY Gonzalo Duque Escobar* APA citation of this article: Duque Escobar, G. (enero-junio, 2017). Eje Cafetero: construcción social e histórica del territorio. Summa Iuiris, 5(1), 26-36. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21501/23394536.2459 Following, you will fnd a vision about the processes of territory con- struction and economic, environmental and social regional development variables in the denominated “Coffee Axis” in Colombia. Exploring the territory These Mediterranean lands of the central-western of Colombia, that join snowy volcanoes and intertropical valleys and that mark the furthest septentrional foldings of the Andes in América, were explored from the west since mid-16th century by Jorge Robledo when he founded Anserma (1539) –in the lands of the traditional settlement of the Ansermas– and Cartago (1540) in the ancestral lands of the Quimbayas. From the East, it was explored by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quezada, who founded Mariquita (1551) and Victoria (1553) in the lands of the Panches, Gualíes and Mar- quetones. Beaten and diminished the indigenous community, and plundered their wealth during the Conquest; during the colony, the anthropic activities are focused on two fronts: one for the exploitation of the huge mining potential of some rivers and mountains, which introduced slavery in the areas of Marmato, Supía, Arma and Victoria. There, it is worth highlighting the founding of the Real de Minas de Quiebralomo in 1540, converted in a slavery center. The second front, for the study of the biota of the Nueva * Professor of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Manizales seat. Co-researcher in the project Gestión Socioambiental Participativo de un Territorio Emblemático para la Paz en el Magdalena Centro Colombia- no with professor Doralice Ortiz from Universidad Católica Luis Amigó, Corporation Aldea Global and the Magdalena Center Peace program. gonzaduque@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.21501/23394536.2459 https://doi.org/10.21501/23394536.2459