Cajicá is a municipality and town of

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

in the department of Cundinamarca, north of the capital

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

. It is located in the

Central Savanna Province Central Savanna Province () is one of the fifteen provinces of Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca, in Colombia. It is located in the central area of the department, and has 11 Municipalities of Colombia, municipalities. The province capital is ...

, being the third most populous municipality in the province after Zipaquirá and Chía. It is bordered by the municipalities of Zipaquirá to the north, Sopó to the east, Chía to the south, and

Tabio Tabio is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Departments of Colombia, department of Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca. It is located from Bogotá. The town was officially founded April 8, 1603, by Diego Gómez de Mena, on grounds that w ...

to the west. The town is located at an altitude of and has an average temperature of .

Etymology

The name of Cajicá derives from a corruption of the two words ''ca'' ("enclosure") and ''jica'' ("stone").History and etymology of Cajicá
Primary sources have two meanings for Cajicá; either derived from the ''

cacique A cacique, sometimes spelled as cazique (; ; feminine form: ), was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, who were the Indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles at the time of European cont ...

'' Cajic, or the "stone enclosure" or "stone fortress".Román, 2008, p.288

History

According to ''imagined'' history as described by Ángel Luís Román, the area of Cajicá, in the valley of ''Kaj'' was inhabited since approximately 12,460 BC. The stone wall has been described to have been constructed in two phases; an early phase made of wooden poles and a second phase, built between around 1220 and 1400, out of stone, rare for the

Muisca The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) are indigenous peoples in Colombia and were a Pre-Columbian culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The Muisca spe ...

. The wall has been described to have been four meters high and 80 centimeters thick. The

fortress was said to be located strategically on the

Bogotá savanna The Bogotá savanna is a savanna#Savanna ecoregions, montane savanna, located in the southwestern part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the center of Colombia. The Bogotá savanna has an extent of and an average altitude of . The savanna is si ...

between

Funza Funza () is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Western Savanna Province, of the Departments of Colombia, department of Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca. Funza is situated on the Bogotá savanna, the southwestern part of the Altiplano C ...

and

Fusagasugá Fusagasugá (; ) or Fusa is a city and municipality in the department of Cundinamarca, in central Colombia. It is located in the warm valley between the rivers Cuja and Panches, a central region of the Andes Mountains in South America. The mun ...

in the south and the road to the regions in the north ( Boyacá and Santander) roughly on the site known today as Las Manas. Rituals were allegedly performed by the merchants and soldiers travelling through the valley on the road between Zipaquirá and Tabio.Román, 2008, p.289 It however remains unclear if this stone fortress was built in pre-Columbian time or after the Spanish conquest.Román, 2008, p.298 Supposedly at this site the vanguard of the

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

army of

Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada y Rivera, also spelled as Ximénez and De Quezada, (; 1509 – 16 February 1579) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador in northern South America, territories currently known as Colombia. He explored the territory n ...

first encountered the Muisca on March 23, 1537. A description of Cajicá from 1593 lists a population of 776 indigenous people. The date of the Spanish foundation of the town is considered to be March 5, 1598Foundation year of Cajicá
/ref> when Juan de Hoyo began the construction of the first church of brick, under the orders of Miguel de Ibarra. Both the original and successive churches were destroyed by earthquakes: the town's present church started construction towards the end of the 19th century and completed in 1930.

Economy

Some 75% of the land of the present day municipality is used for agriculture, but the town also derives a sizeable proportion of its income as a nearby country retreat for wealthy Bogotanos, including country villas and high-end restaurants.

Gallery

File:Plaza central Cajicá.JPG, Central square Cajicá File:IGLESIA CAJICA AÑOS 50.jpg, Church of Cajicá in the 1950s File:Estación del ferrocarril de Cajica.JPG, Train station Cajicá File:Iglesia Inmaculada Concepción de Cajicá (3).JPG, Church Cajicá File:Iglesia Inmaculada Concepción de Cajicá (1).JPG, Church tower File:Iglesia Inmaculada Concepción de Cajicá (2).JPG, Church front detail

References

Bibliography

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cajica Municipalities of Cundinamarca Department Populated places established in 1598 1598 establishments in the Spanish Empire Populated places of the Muisca Confederation Archaeological sites of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense