San Miguel de Sema is a town and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

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 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 ...

, part of the subregion of the

Western Boyacá Province The Western Boyacá Province is a province of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The province is formed by 15 municipalities. The province hosts the western belt of the rich emerald deposits of Boyacá. Municipalities Briceño • Buenavi ...

. It is one of the 123 municipalities of the department of Boyacá,

, located to the west of the department with the urban centre at an altitude of . It is bordered by the municipalities

Chiquinquirá Chiquinquirá is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Western Boyacá Province. Located some 115 km north of Bogotá, Chiquinquirá is situated above sea level and has a yearly aver ...

Simijaca Simijaca () is a town and municipality in the Ubaté Province, part of the Cundinamarca Department, Colombia. The town centre is located at an altitude of on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense at from the capital Bogotá. Simijaca borders the Boyacá ...

, Fúquene ( Cundinamarca), and the Boyacá municipalities

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

Tinjacá Tinjacá is a town and municipality in Boyacá Department, Colombia, part of the subregion of the Ricaurte Province. Tinjacá is located on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense at a distance of from the department capital Tunja. It borders Sutamarchán ...

.Official website San Miguel de Sema
/ref>

Etymology

The name San Miguel de Sema is a combination of the Spanish name for the

archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the Catholic hierarchy of angels, based on and put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book ''De Coelesti Hierarchia'' (''On the Celestial Hierarchy'') ...

Saint Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

and the name of a tribe who lived in the area before the

Spanish conquest The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It ...

; ''Sema'' or ''Semita''.Etymology Municipalities Boyacá
- Excelsio.net

History

The area of San Miguel de Sema, located in the valley of Chiquinquirá-

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 ...

, was inhabited by 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 ...

, organised in a loose

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

. The rule over San Miguel de Sema was by a ''

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 Chiquinquirá, loyal to the ''

zaque When the 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 Muyquytá. The ''Zaque'' was the ruler of the ...

'', based in Hunza. The town was founded on November 8, 1915 and recognized as a municipality on the year of 1960. In 1925 was group of judges conformed by the paths old cattle ranch, Sirigay, Quintone and Peñablanca. Luis Alberto Ospina was the leader who managed the creation from the Municipality to his death his children continued the foundation process that occurred in 1960.

Economy

The main source of income of the municipality is the milk cattle ranch, especially

Holstein cattle The Holstein Friesian is an international breed or group of breeds of dairy cattle. It originated in Frisia, stretching from the Dutch province of North Holland to the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is the dominant breed in industrial ...

. Its production is so important that nowadays some of the producing companies of milk derivatives have installed storing centers. Zones of the municipality still exist where the main line continues to be agriculture, primarily of potatoes and corn.

Tourism

The church is tributed to Saint Michael the Archangel (''San Miguel Arcángel'') is only one of the most beautiful in the department. San Miguel de Sema gives access to Lake Fúquene.

Celebrations

Fairs and celebrations made in the second week of November, 10, 11 and 12, summon to the inhabitants and neighbors of the region by means of run of bulls and horse and bovine shows. The patronal saint of the village is ''San Miguel Arcángel''.

Gallery

File:Iglesia San Miguel de Sema.JPG, Central square and church File:Sanmigue1.JPG, Church File:San Miguel de Sema Ganaderia Laguna.JPG, Cattle farming in rural San Miguel de Sema
Lake Fúquene in the background File:Tuneles,San miguel de sema-boyaca.jpg, Tunnel in San Miguel de Sema

References

{{Municipalities boyaca department Municipalities of Boyacá Department Populated places established in 1915 1915 establishments in Colombia Populated places of the Muisca Confederation