Vaupés is one of the thirty-two departments that, together with Bogotá, Distrito Capital, form the Republic of Colombia. Its capital is Mitú. It is located in the southeast of the country, in the Amazon region, bounded on the north by Guaviare and Guainía, on the east by Brazil, on the south by the Amazon and on the west by Caquetá. With some 43,000 inhabitants in 2015 it is the second least populated department -before Guainía-, with 54,000 km², the seventh largest -behind Amazonas, Vichada, Caquetá, Meta, Guainía and Antioquia- and with 0.79 hab / km², the fourth least densely populated, ahead of Amazonas, Vichada and Guainía, the least densely populated. Together with Guaviare and Guainía, it formed the old territory of the Great Vaupés.
The majority of its inhabitants are indigenous. The Apaporis River forms its border with the departments of Amazonas and Caquetá.