History of Pijao

The settlement was first named San Antonio de Colón. It was recognized as a corregimiento of Calarcá in 1905. It separated from Calarcá and became a municipality in 1927. The name was changed to Pijao by the Caldas Assembly in 1930.

For the first 36 years of its existence, Pijao had no road access. There was a mountain path to Calarcá that took two days to transit by mule. Travellers who were carried in seats on the backs of porters took three days to make the journey. The road from the Verde River took ten years to construct, and was inaugurated on July 20, 1938.

Pijao originally incorporated the land that would become Buenavista. This settlement was founded in 1933 and became a corregimiento of Pijao in 1936. In 1966, shortly after the formation of the department of Quindío, the separate municipality of Buenavista was created