Chocontá 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

Almeidas Province Almeidas Province (, ) is one of the 15 provinces in the Cundinamarca department, Cundinamarca Department, Colombia. Almeidas borders to the east with the Boyacá Department to the north with the Ubaté Province, to the west with the Central Savann ...

, part of the department of Cundinamarca. It is located on the

Pan-American Highway The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches about 30,000 kilometers (about 19,000 miles) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. I ...

. In 1938 Chocontá had a population of 2,041.

Etymology

In the

Chibcha language Chibcha, Mosca, Muisca, Muysca (*/ˈmɨska/ * �mʷɨska, or Muysca de Bogotá is a language spoken by the Muisca people, one of the many indigenous cultures of the Americas. The Muisca inhabit the Altiplano Cundiboyacense of what today is th ...

of the Muisca, Chocontá means: "Farmlands of the good ally" or "Garden of the neighbour".Official website Chocontá

History

Chocontá is located in the territories of 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 ...

on the border between the area led by 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 ...

'' of Vélez and the southern Muisca ''

zipa When the Spain, Spanish arrived in the central Colombian highlands, the region was organized into the Muisca Confederation, which had two rulers; the ''Zipa'' was the ruler of the southern part and based in Funza, Muyquytá. The ''Zaque'' was the ...

zgo'' reign. Around 1490 the armies of the northern Muisca led by

Michuá Michuá or Michica (died Chocontá, 1490) was the second ''zaque'' of Hunza, currently known as Tunja, as of 1470. His contemporary enemy ''zipa'' of the southern Muisca was Saguamanchica. Biography Little is known about the history of Michuá ...

and the warriors of the southern Muisca ruled by

Saguamanchica Saguamanchica (died Chocontá, 1490) was the second ruler (''zipa'') of Muyquytá, as of 1470. His '' zaque'' enemy ruling over the northern area of the Muisca territory was Michuá. Alternative spellings of his name are Sacuan Machica, Sagua ...

confronted each other in the bloody

Battle of Chocontá The Battle of Chocontá was one of a series of battles in the ongoing conflict between the northern and southern Muisca of pre-Columbian central Colombia. The battle was fought 1490 in the vicinity of Chocontá. An army of 50,000 southern Muisc ...

. The

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

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 ...

s led by

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 ...

reached the Colombian highlands in 1537. On 9 June 1537, Pentecostal day, the Spanish arrived in Chocontá and Father Fray Domingo de las Casas named it ''Pueblo del Espíritu Santo'' ("Town of the Holy Spirit") with a mass. The village was founded by Tómas López on 6 September 1563 and relocated in 1573. In 1854 the

presidential Presidential may refer to: * "Presidential" (song), a 2005 song by YoungBloodZ * Presidential Airways (charter), an American charter airline based in Florida * Presidential Airways (scheduled), an American passenger airline active in the 1980s * ...

headquarters was located in Chocontá and on 21 April 1854

Tomás de Herrera Tomás José Ramón del Carmen de Herrera y Pérez Dávila (21 December 1804 – 5 December 1854) was a Neogranadine statesman and general who in 1840 became Head of State of the Free State of the Isthmus, a short lived independent state ...

was proclaimed president in the rectory of the town. On 9 August 1819 at 2 pm liberator

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24July 178317December 1830) was a Venezuelan statesman and military officer who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bol ...

arrived to Chocontá and stayed to rest in what currently is the House of Culture after his triumph, defining the fate of the Colombian Republic.

Trivia

* Chocontá is the principal producer of

strawberries The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit is appreciated f ...

in Colombia * The town is nicknamed ''La ciudad satélite de Colombia'' ("The satellite town of Colombia") because of the satellite dishes of TelecomVersion of Spanish language Wikipedia
– accessed 20-04-2016 * The Sisga Reservoir is located within Chocontá * The

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

'' Choconta'' with species '' Choconta circulata'', found near Bogotá, have been named after Chocontá

Climate

Gallery

References

External links

Government of Cundinamarca – Chocontá
{{Authority control Municipalities of Cundinamarca Department Populated places established in 1563 1563 establishments in the Spanish Empire