VICHADA

departamento, eastern Colombia. It lies in the Llanos (plains) of the Orinoco River basin and is bounded north and east by Venezuela and south by the Guaviare River. It is drained by several navigable tributaries of the Orinoco River, including the Meta (along the northern border), Vichada, and Guaviare. As elsewhere in the Llanos, cattle raising is a dominant economic activity. There is also some fishing and hunting and gathering. The only major road roughly parallels the Meta River from Villavicencio, in Meta departamento, to the departmental capital of Puerto Carreo (q.v.), on the Orinoco, the eastern border of the departamento. Most travel, however, is by river or by air. Area 38,703 square miles (100,242 square km). Pop. (1995 est.) 19,673.