The Arboleda family is Colombian political and aristrocratic family originally from the city of Popayán, which had its period of greatest influence between the 17th and 20th centuries in the South American country and whose origins date back to the Arboleya region in Asturias, Spain.[1]
Among its numerous and influential members are poets, businessmen, writers, musicians and politicians, including three presidents of Colombia and a fourth president associated with the family by marriage ties.
In 1647, King Philip IV of Spain granted the coat of arms to Captain Jacinto de Arboleda y Ortiz, a native of Granada, the first member of this family to start lineage in the Americas, after initially settling in Anserma, Caldas and later in Popayán, a city to which the family has been historically linked ever since.[2]
Important locations
Church of Santo Domingo, Popayán
Some of the places most closely linked to the history of the family are the Church of Santo Domingo in Popayán, whose construction and endowment was carried out at the initiative of the Arboleda family, specifically from the brothers Pedro and Francisco Arboleda y Salazar in 1694.[3] Their descendants helped with upkeep.
Another property linked to the history of the family is the manor house that belonged to Julián Arboleda Arrachea and Gabriela Pérez de Arroyo y Valencia. It was acquired in the 20th century by the Curia of Popayán. The stately residence was designed by Marcelino Pérez de Arroyo [es] in the second half of the 18th century and was adapted as the headquarters of the Popayán Archdiocesan Museum of Religious Art in 1977. It was declared a National Monuments of Colombia in 1996.[4]
Letter from the Independence fighter Antonio Arboleda y Arrachea addressed from his exile in Madrid to the priest Fernando Caicedo y Flórez, in 1820. (Cipriano Rodríguez Santamaría Historical Archive, University of La Sabana, Chía).
Several members of the Arboleda family have stood out in the national life of Colombia, including presidents historically associated with the Colombian Conservative Party and the city of Popayán.
Other members cover a wide spectrum of professions, with a considerable number of public figures, lawyers, intellectuals, priests and statesmen. Its most notable members include (in chronological order from the 17th century to the present):
Jacinto de Arboleda y Ortiz (1605–1671), Spanish politician and soldier, ordinary mayor of Anserma, private judge and captain
Gustavo Arboleda Restrepo (1881–1938), Colombian writer, diplomat, historian and genealogist
José María Arboleda Llorente (1886–1969), Colombian historian, paleographer and archivist, creator of the Historical Research Center of the University of Cauca
Rosa Cadavid Medina (1899–1996), Colombian florist, patron, and socialite
Miguel Antonio Arroyo Arboleda (1900–1966), Colombian writer, historian and politician, Mayor of Popayán
Manuel Antonio Arboleda Arboleda (1905–1936), Colombian politician and intellectual
José Rafael Arboleda Cabrera (1916–1992), Colombian Jesuit priest and anthropologist, member of the Colombian Academy of History, pioneer of library science in Colombia
Diego Castrillón Arboleda (1920–2009), Colombian historian, writer and professor, member of the Colombian Academy of History and the Colombian Academy of Language
Fernando Arboleda López, Colombian politician and firefighter, Commander of the Popayán Volunteer Fire Department, Mayor of Popayán
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