Caicedo Mora, Germán2016-07-012022-06-132016-07-012022-06-132016-07-010121-3709https://repositorio.unillanos.edu.co/handle/001/2541Existe consenso que la Orinoquia colombiana adquiere protagonismo como región, desde las épocas históricas colonial, la república y en la actualidad; es posible ilustrar el nivel del protagonismo utilizando  un ejercicio académico. En una escala de 1 a 10, a los momentos históricos colonial y la República se asigna el nivel 7 o alto y al momento actual -a partir de los años 30-, el nivel 10 o preponderante. Dicho protagonismo en el contexto nacional recae más en el factor económico, en donde son  apreciables las variables: mercado, actividades de producción y los recursos; le sigue el factor político, que lo integran las instituciones, participación y el gobierno, y el social,  conformado por las variables población, organizaciones sociales y la educación. En consecuencia, ¿Cuál es el tesoro escondido que entraña la Orinoquia, para adquirir un protagonismo significativo?There has been consensus that the Orinoquia area of Colombian should assume leadership as a region from colonial and republican times, up to today; an academic exercise may illustrate its level of prominence. On a scale of 1 to 10, a 7 or higher could be assigned to colonial and republican times in history and a 10 for today (from the 1930s onwards). Such protagonist role within a national context depends more on economic factors involving significant variables, such as the market, production activities and resources. This is followed by political (institutions, government participation) and social factors (population, social organisations and education). Consequently, what could be the hidden treasure involved in the Orinoco region assuming a significant leadership role?The Colombian Orinoquia region extends over a 347,165 Km² area (if the Venezuelan Orinoquia region were to be included then the total area would be 991,587 Km²), representing 30.4% of Colombia’s mainland (Instituto Alexander  Von Humboldt; IAvH-Unidad SIG 2003), hosting a wide variety of natural aquatic, wildlife, flora, mining, energy and mining resources and land for agricultural and livestock production. Such riches provide a most promising economic base which the Spaniards perceived as being important but difficult to access. Jane Rausch’s book (2011) entitled, De pueblo de frontera a Ciudad Capital, La historia de Villavicencio, Colombia, desde 1842 (Border town to capital city, the history of Villavicencio, Colombia, since 1842), recognises that Orinoquia (known colloquially as Colombia’s eastern plains) has great economic potential, even before the arrival of the Spaniards. It also stresses that governments (particularly radical liberals) made repetitive efforts to seize the eastern plains’ "fertile land," and mentions that "Congress enacted many laws aimed at promoting the development of the eastern plains by constructing roads, encouraging foreign immigration and internal colonisation, educating the natives, treating the salt to make it available for consumption by people and animals and improving public administration" (p. 24).text/htmlapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfspaOrinoquia - 2016ecosistemasflorafaunaOrinocoregulación hídricaecosystemsflorafaunaOrinocohydrologic dynamic.Artículo de revistainfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess10.22579/20112629.3202011-2629https://doi.org/10.22579/20112629.320http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2