Lake Tota ( es, Lago de Tota) is the largest

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

, located in the east of

Boyacá department Boyacá () is one of the thirty-two departments of Colombia, and the remnant of Boyacá State, one of the original nine states of the "United States of Colombia". Boyacá is centrally located within Colombia, almost entirely within the mount ...

, inside the

Sugamuxi Province The Sugamuxi Province () is a subregion of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The subregion is formed by 13 municipalities. Etymology The name of the province comes from Sugamuxi, the last ''iraca'' of the Muisca and means in Chibcha: "Dwel ...

, it is the source of the Upia River which flows into the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

basin. The major town on the lake is

Aquitania Gallia Aquitania ( , ), also known as Aquitaine or Aquitaine Gaul, was a province of the Roman Empire. It lies in present-day southwest France, where it gives its name to the modern region of Aquitaine. It was bordered by the provinces of Gal ...

, located on its eastern side. Other nearby villages include Tota, Iza and Cuítiva. Lake Tota was an important religious center for the

Muisca The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan langu ...

culture. The name ''Tota'' comes from the

Chibcha language Chibcha, Mosca, Muisca, Muysca (*/ˈmɨska/), or Muysca de Bogotá, was a language spoken by the Muisca people of the Muisca Confederation, one of the many indigenous cultures of the Americas. The Muisca inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyace ...

of the

and according to linguist Mariana Escribano its main name refers to "Astronomic Observatory", relating to its sacred uses for that culture. There are legends which relate to the way the lake was formed by the hands of ancient ancestors. The area around Lake Tota is one of the major

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...

producing regions of Colombia. The western shore of the lake is a popular tourist destination for Colombians. The average water temperature of 13 °C allowed for the introduction of

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coast ...

(''Onchorynchus mykiss'') which created a valuable wild fishery (a mounted specimen in Restaurante Lucho, Aquitania, reportedly early in the 1990s, weighed 7 kg) and cage culture aquaculture, but predation on native fish species as led to the probable extinction of the pez graso or grease fish (''

Rhizosomichthys totae ''Rhizosomichthys totae'' (sometimes known as Greasefish in English) is a species of catfish (order Siluriformes) of the family Trichomycteridae, and the only species of the genus ''Rhizosomichthys''. This fish grew to about 13.8 centimetres ...

'') believed native to only this lake. Lake Tota is a breeding ground for several threatened or endangered bird species, including the

least bittern The least bittern (''Ixobrychus exilis'') is a small heron, the smallest member of the family Ardeidae found in the Americas. Taxonomy The least bittern was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his r ...

(''Ixobrychus exilis bogotensis''), the Colombian ruddy duck (''Oxyura jamaicensis andina''), the Bogotá rail (''Rallus semiplumbeus'') and

Apolinar's wren Apolinar's wren (''Cistothorus apolinari'') is a passerine bird in the family Troglodytidae. It is endemic to Colombia. Taxonomy and systematics Apolinar's wren has two subspecies, the nominate ''Cistothorus apolinari apolinari'' and '' ...

(''Cistothorus apolinari''). The last confirmed sighting of the

Colombian grebe The Colombian grebe (''Podiceps andinus''), was a grebe found in the Bogotá wetlands on the Bogotá savanna in the Eastern Ranges of the Andes of Colombia. The species was still abundant in Lake Tota in 1945. The species has occasionally bee ...

(''Podiceps andinus''), now considered to be extinct, was at Lake Tota.Lake Tota
-

Bird Life International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

- accessed 02-05-2016

Etymology

In the

of the

Muisca people The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan ...

, Tota means "Farmfields of the river".Etymology Tota
- Excelsio.net

Geography

Lake Tota consists of an area of with a length of 11.8 kilometers, a width of 6.2 kilometers and a depth of 58 meters being the largest natural lake in Colombia.

Gallery

File:TotaLagoon.jpg, View of Lake Tota File:Lago de Tota 04.JPG, Lake Tota File:Tota Lake 8.JPG, Lake Tota File:Tota.jpg, Lake Tota File:Paisaje Tota.jpg, Lake Tota landscape File:Tota Lake Boyacá.jpg, ''Playa Blanca''

References

External links

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Lake Tota in the Province of Sugamuxi - videos and more information
- accessed 02-05-2016 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tota, Lake Lakes of Colombia Geography of Boyacá Department Tota Underwater diving sites in Colombia Tota

Lakes A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

Tota

Etymology

Geography

Gallery

See also

References

External links