Guachetá is a municipality and town of

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 Car ...

in the

Ubaté Province Ubaté Province is one of the 15 provinces in the Cundinamarca Department, Colombia. Etymology The name Ubaté comes from the native name "Ebate" meaning "Bloodied land" or "Sower of the mouth". Subdivision The Ubaté Province is subdivid ...

of the

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

of Cundinamarca. Guachetá is located at from the capital

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

. It borders the Boyacá municipalities of

Ráquira Ráquira, is a municipality and town in Boyacá Department, Colombia, part of the subregion of the Ricaurte Province. Ráquira is situated on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense and the urban center at an altitude of . It borders Tinjacá and Sutamarc ...

and

Samacá Samacá is a town and municipality in the Central Boyacá Province, part of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. It borders Cucaita, Tunja and Ventaquemada in the east, Ráquira in the west, Sáchica, Sora and Cucaita in the north and Venta ...

in the north,

Ubaté Ubaté (originally Villa San Diego de Ubaté) is a town and municipality in the Ubaté Province, part of Cundinamarca Department, Colombia. Ubaté is the capital of the province with the same name and situated in the Ubaté–Chiquinquirá Vall ...

and Lenguazaque in the south, Ventaquemada and Lenguazaque in the east and in the west

Fúquene Fúquene is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Departments of Colombia, department of Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca. The municipality borders Ubaté, Susa, Cundinamarca, Susa, Guachetá and the department of Boyacá Department, Boya ...

and Ubaté. Guachetá is located on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense at altitudes between and .Official website Guachetá
- accessed 05-05-2016

History

When the 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, O ...

es entered the central highlands of Colombia, they encountered the

Muisca Confederation The Muisca Confederation was a loose confederation of different Muisca rulers (''zaques'', ''zipas'', '' iraca'', and ''tundama'') in the central Andean highlands of present-day Colombia before the Spanish conquest of northern South America. The ...

; territories of the Muisca. Guachetá was an independent territory within the confederation, led by a ''

cacique A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...

''. The Spanish army leader

Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada y Rivera, also spelled as Ximénez and De Quezada, (;1496 16 February 1579) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador in northern South America, territories currently known as Colombia. He explored the territory named ...

founded Guachetá on March 12th, 1537 and initially called it ''San Gregorio'' because of the date. The Muisca spoke Chibcha and Guachetá in Chibcha means "farmlands of the hill".

Muisca myth

One of the many stories of the mythology of the Muisca is the myth of the virgin maid of Guachetá. The daughter of the ''cacique'' allegedly became pregnant through the forces of the Sun, represented in the Muisca religion by Sué. After nine months pregnancy she bore an

emerald Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991) ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p ...

that she put between her breasts. From this emerald grew the mythical ''cacique'' Goranchacha; son of the Sun.

Economy

The main economical activities of Guachetá are agriculture, particularly potatoes, maize, peas and

bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

s, along with

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

and

dairy production A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guacheta Municipalities of Cundinamarca Department Populated places established in 1537 1537 establishments in the Spanish Empire 1537 disestablishments in the Muisca Confederation Muysccubun