Pasto, officially San Juan de Pasto,was founded in 1537 by the Spanish conquistador Sebastián de Belalcázar.It is the capital of the department of Nariño, in southern Colombia. The city has approximately 500,000 inhabitants and is located in the Atriz Valley on the Andes cordillera, at the foot of the Galeras volcano, at an altitude of 2,897 m above sea level.
