Caldas is a department of Colombia named after Colombian patriotic figure Francisco José de Caldas. It is part of the Paisa Region and its capital is Manizales. The population of Caldas is 998,255, and its area is 7,291 km2. Caldas is also part of the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis region along with the Risaralda and Quindio departments, which were politically separated from Caldas in 1966.

Francisco José de Caldas was a Colombian lawyer, military engineer, self-taught naturalist, mathematician, geographer and inventor, who was executed by orders of Pablo Morillo during the Spanish American Reconquista for being a forerunner of the fight for the independence of New Granada. Arguably the first Colombian scientist, he is often nicknamed "El Sabio".