Paisa (region)

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A Paisa is someone from a region in the northwest of Colombia, including part of the West and Central cordilleras of the Andes in Colombia.^[1] The Paisa region is formed by the departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío. Some regions of Valle del Cauca Department (north) and Tolima Department (west) culturally identify as paisas. The main cities of the Paisa region are Medellín, Pereira, Manizales and Armenia.

The name Paisa derives from the Spanish apocope of Paisano (fellow countryman), but they are also known as "Antioqueños" (those from the old Antioquia, which included the other Paisa provinces, which was a single administrative body until the creation of the Caldas State in 1905). Although many refer to Paisas as an ethnic group (raza antioqueña or raza paisa), they are a part of the Colombians and Latin American peoples.

Paisas can be found in other regions of Colombia and the Americas where they have migrated. They have such a particular way of speaking Spanish that some writers refer to as español antioqueño.^[2]