Ráquira, is a municipality and town in

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 ...

, Colombia, part of the subregion of the Ricaurte Province. Ráquira is situated on the

Altiplano Cundiboyacense The Altiplano Cundiboyacense () is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes covering parts of the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. The altiplano corresponds to the ancient territory of the Muisca. The Alt ...

and the urban center at an altitude of . It borders Tinjacá and

Sutamarchán Sutamarchán is a town and municipality in the Ricaurte Province, part of the department of Boyacá of Colombia. Sutamarchán is situated on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense at from the department capital Tunja. It borders Santa Sofía in the no ...

in the north,

Guachetá Guachetá is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Ubaté Province of the department of Cundinamarca. Guachetá is located at from the capital Bogotá. It borders the Boyacá municipalities of Ráquira and Samacá in the north, Ubaté and ...

, Cundinamarca in the south, in the east

Sáchica Sáchica is a municipality of Colombia situated approximately west of Tunja in the Ricaurte Province of the department of Boyacá. Sáchica borders Sutamarchán and Villa de Leyva in the north, in the east Chíquiza, Samacá and Ráquira in ...

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 Vent ...

and in the west

San Miguel de Sema San Miguel de Sema is a town and municipality in Boyacá Department, Colombia, part of the subregion of the Western Boyacá Province. It is one of the 123 municipalities of the department of Boyacá, Colombia, located to the west of the depar ...

and Lake Fúquene.Official website Ráquira
/ref>

Etymology

Chibcha 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 lang ...

, Ráquira means "Village of the pans".Etymology Ráquira
- Excelsio.net

History

The area of Ráquira was inhabited by 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 l ...

in the centuries before the

Spanish conquest The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its predec ...

of the central highlands of the Colombian

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. Already in those times Ráquira was famous for its

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain, ...

due to the clay of the area. In March 1537 conquistador

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 nam ...

crossed the valley around Ráquira. Modern Ráquira was founded on October 18, 1580 by

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the o ...

Francisco de Orejuela.

Economy

About three quarters of the economy of Ráquira is centered on the handcrafts. Other economical activities are

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to anima ...

farming and

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

Tourism

Ráquira is famous in Colombia for its colony of artisans, who produce traditional northern Andean pottery & hand-woven goods. The Sunday market is especially a popular time to visit. Ráquira is also known for its colorful houses that contrast with the famous nearby town of

Villa de Leyva Villa de Leyva, also called Villa de Leiva, is a touristic colonial town and municipality, in the Ricaurte Province, part of the Boyacá Department of Colombia. The town is a Colombian National Heritage Town and is on the tentative list for UNES ...

.Crafts in Ráquira
/ref>

Gallery

File:Ráquira Boyacá parque.JPG, Central square and church Ráquira File:Iglesia Raquira.JPG, Church File:Church in Raquira, Colombia.jpg, Church File:27 Interior iglesia de Ráquira Boyacá.JPG, Church interior File:Venta de artesnias en raquira, 2006.JPG,

Arts and crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

in Ráquira File:Raquira artesanias.JPG, Crafts File:Ráquira figura barro.JPG, Clay sculpture File:26 trabajo en cerámica artesanal en Ráquira Boyacá.JPG, Ceramic sculpture File:Raquira rural.JPG, Rural area of Ráquira File:Granja Ráquira.JPG, Farm in rural area File:Carretera rural Raquira.JPG, Road in rural area File:Río ráquira.JPG, Ráquira River

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raquira Municipalities of Boyacá Department Populated places established in 1580 1580 establishments in the Spanish Empire Muisca Confederation Muysccubun