Boyacá () is one of the thirty-two
departments of Colombia
Colombia is a unitary republic made up of thirty-two departments ( Spanish: ''departamentos'', sing. ''departamento'') and a Capital District ('' Distrito Capital''). Each department has a governor (''gobernador'') and an Assembly (''Asamblea ...
, and the remnant of
Boyacá State
Boyacá State was one of the states of Colombia.
Naming
* 1857-06-15 created under the name Estado Federal de Boyacá (Federal State of Boyacá).
* 1858 recognized as ''Estado de la Federación'' in the 1858 constitution of the Granadine Confe ...
, one of the original nine states of the "
United States of Colombia
United States of Colombia () was the name adopted in 1863 by the for the Granadine Confederation, after years of civil war. Colombia became a federal state itself composed of nine "sovereign states.” It comprised the present-day nations ...
".
Boyacá is centrally located within Colombia, almost entirely within the
mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...
s of the
Eastern Cordillera to the border with
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
, although the western end of the department extends to the
Magdalena River at the town of
Puerto Boyacá. Boyacá borders to the north with the Department of
Santander, to the northeast with the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
and
Norte de Santander, to the east with the departments of
Arauca and
Casanare. To the south, Boyacá borders the department of
Cundinamarca and to the west with the Department of
Antioquia covering a total area of .
The capital of Boyacá is the city of
Tunja
Tunja () is a city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 it had a population of 172,548 inhabitants. It is the capital of Boyacá departmen ...
.
Boyacá is known as "The Land of Freedom" because this region was the scene of a series of battles which led to Colombia's independence from
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
. The first one took place on 25 July 1819 in the Pantano de Vargas and the final and decisive battle known as the
Battle of Boyacá was fought on 7 August 1819 at Puente de Boyacá.
Boyacá is home to three
universities
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...
: the
Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia (UPTC), the
Universidad de Boyacá (UNIBOYACA), and the
Saint Thomas Aquinas University.
Origin of the name
The word ''Boyacá'' derived from the
Chibcha word "''Bojacá''" which means "Near the ''cacique''", or "Region of the royal mantle".
History
The territory of present-day Boyaca was during the
Pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...
time the domain of the
Muisca indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
. The Muisca under the chiefdom of the ''
zaque'' of
Hunza lived mainly by agriculture and mining
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...
and
emeralds.
The first
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an to discover the area was the Spaniard
Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada who conquered the northern Muisca living in the area led by last ''zaque''
Aquiminzaque
Aquiminzaque (Chibcha: ''Aquim ó Quiminza'', died Tunja, 1540) was the last '' hoa'' of Hunza, on which the Spanish city of Tunja (in present-day Colombia) was built, reigning from 1537 until his death. His '' psihipqua'' counterpart in the sout ...
and distributed the land in
encomienda
The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. The labourers, in theory, were provided with benefits by the conquerors for whom they laboured, including military ...
s and forced the indigenous people to work for him.
In 1539,
Gonzalo Suárez Rendón, a Spanish
conquistador
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, ...
, founded the city of
Tunja
Tunja () is a city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 it had a population of 172,548 inhabitants. It is the capital of Boyacá departmen ...
and other sites where the indigenous people previously had their villages. Tunja became one of the main political and economic centers for the Spanish during the
Viceroyalty of New Granada.
During the 19th century, Boyacá was battleground for numerous confrontations between the
royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gov ...
and patriot armies led by
Simón Bolívar during the
Spanish colonies' war of independence from Spain. Two of the most decisive battles were the
Battle of Boyacá and the
Battle of Vargas Swamp
Battle of Vargas Swamp ( es, Batalla del Pantano de Vargas) was a battle that occurred near Paipa, on July 25, 1819. A joint Venezuelan and Neogranadine army commanded by Simón Bolívar was trying to prevent Spanish forces from arriving at Sa ...
(1819) won by the patriot forces against the royalists. In 1824
Gran Colombia
Gran Colombia (, "Great Colombia"), or Greater Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia ( Spanish: ''República de Colombia''), was a state that encompassed much of northern South America and part of southern Central America from 1819 to ...
created the
Boyacá Department (Gran Colombia)
Boyacá Department was one of the departments of Gran Colombia.
Borders
It had borders to
* Magdalena Department, Zulia Department, Apure Department in the North,
* Orinoco Department in the East,
* Azuay Department in the South,
* Cauca D ...
.
After the creation of the
Granadine Confederation
The Granadine Confederation ( es, Confederación Granadina) was a short-lived federal republic established in 1858 as a result of a constitutional change replacing the Republic of New Granada. It consisted of the present-day nations of Colombia a ...
by 1858 the territory of now Boyaca became the
Sovereign State of Boyacá. It was later rearranged in territory and administration and renamed as "Department of Boyaca" after a series of
civil wars
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
like the
Colombian Civil War (1860-1862) There have been several Colombian Civil Wars in Colombian history:
*War of the Supremes (1839–1841)
* Colombian Civil War of 1851
* Colombian Civil War of 1854
*Colombian Civil War (1860–1862)
*Colombian Civil War of 1876
* Colombian Civil War ( ...
and the
Thousand Days War that struggled over a centralist or federalist system and political instability that changed to many constitutions (such as the Constitution of 1886), Boyaca finally acquired its current definition as territory.
Geography
Boyacá is located in the
Andean Region in central Colombia, over the
Cordillera Oriental mountain range and covers a total area of 23,189 km
2.
It borders other
Colombian departments as follows: to the north
Santander and
Norte de Santander, to the east
Arauca and
Casanare, to the south
Cundinamarca and a small part of
Meta, and to the west
Antioquia and
Caldas.
It has a territorial dispute with Norte de Santander and Cundinamarca.
The department of Boyacá covers a small portion of the
Middle Magdalena valley
The Middle Magdalena Valley, Middle Magdalena Basin or Middle Magdalena Valley Basin ( es, Valle Medio del Magdalena, commonly abbreviated to VMM) is an intermontane basin, located in north-central Colombia between the Central and Eastern Ranges ...
of the
Magdalena River to the west, the Cordillera Oriental mountain range with altitudes of 5,380 m above sea level (
Sierra Nevada del Cocuy with 25 snow peaks), flat highland plateaux, and another small portion of territory by the eastern
Llanos plains. Among its most prominent geographical features are the
Range of the Zorro,
Serrania de las Quinchas and the Andean plateaus of
Rusia,
Guantivá,
Pisba,
Chontales and
Rechiniga.
The
Altiplano Cundiboyacense, shared with the department of
Cundinamarca, is densely populated with numerous valleys. The southern part is the
Bogotá savanna. Boyacá is subdivided into 123 municipalities.
Many rivers originate in Boyacá, the most important are the
Chicamocha River
Chicamocha River is a river of Boyacá and Santander in central-eastern Colombia. It is part of the Magdalena river system that flows into the Caribbean Sea.
Chicamocha River originates in the municipality of Tuta in the department of Boyac ...
and
Arauca River and tributaries to other important rivers such as the
Magdalena and
Meta.
Boyacá also has numerous lakes which include
Lake Tota,
Lake Sochagota and
Lake Fúquene, shared with the department of Cundinamarca, the artificial
Chivor Reservoir and others.
National parks
El Cocuy
El Cocuy () is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative di ...
and
Pisba National Parks are located in the northeast of Boyacá. Pisba National Park is shared with the department of Arauca. The flora and fauna sanctuary of
Lake Iguaque
Lake Iguaque is a lake located in the Boyacá Department of Colombia. The lake and the surrounding area was declared a Flora and Fauna Sanctuary in 1977.
Geography and climate
Lake Iguaque is located northeast of Villa de Leyva and is part of ...
is situated in the centre of the department. The most beautiful
páramo in the world,
Ocetá Páramo, is in northeast Boyacá.
Climate
The central area of the highlands has two rainy seasons; the first between April and June, and a second between October and November with an average of of rainfall per year. The rest of the year is considered to be the dry seasons with intermittent rainfall.
Provinces and municipalities
There are 13 provinces and two special districts in the Boyacá Department, listed below with their 123 municipalities. The department also has 123
corregimientos, 185
police inspectorates and numerous towns and small villages spread throughout the territory.
Municipalities are also grouped into 45 notary circuits with 53 notaries public. One circuit main registry based in the capital of the department;
Tunja
Tunja () is a city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 it had a population of 172,548 inhabitants. It is the capital of Boyacá departmen ...
and 13 other minor registries spread across the territory.
See also
*
Postage stamps of Boyacá
References
External links
*
Excelsio – journal from Boyacá
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyaca Department
Departments of Colombia
States and territories established in 1858
1858 establishments in the Granadine Confederation
Muysccubun