Soacha is an autonomous municipality of the department of Cundinamarca in

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 ...

, and part of the

Metropolitan Area of Bogotá Metropolitan Area of Bogotá is the metropolitan area of the Colombian capital city of Bogotá, usually used for statistical analysis or technical use. It is not a formal administrative division and its limits are therefore not defined. The study ...

. It has an important industrial zone and is home to mostly working-class families. Soacha borders Bojacá and Mosquera to the north, Sibaté and

Pasca Pasca is a town and municipality in the Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca department of Colombia located in the Andes. It belongs to the Sumapaz Province. Pasca is situated on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense at a distance of from the capital B ...

to the south, to the east the capital Bogotá and to the west

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

and San Antonio del Tequendama.

Demographics

With a population of 778,400 (2023 projection), it is the biggest city in Cundinamarca and one of the biggest in Colombia.

Etymology

The name Soacha is derived from the

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

words ''Súa'', name of Sun god

Sué Sué, Xué, Sua, Zuhe or Suhé was the deity, god of the Sun in the Muisca religion and mythology, religion of the Muisca. He was married to Moon goddess Chía (goddess), Chía.Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.4, p.33 The Muisca people, Muisca and their Mu ...

, and ''chá'' which means "man"; "Man of the Sun". The original name ''Suecha'' has been changed to Soacha over time.Official website Soacha
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History

Soacha was inhabited first by indigenous groups during the

Herrera Period The Herrera Period is a phase in the history of Colombia. It is part of the Andean preceramic and ceramic, time equivalent of the North American pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Formative stage, formative and classic stages and age dated by var ...

and later became an important village in the

Muisca Confederation The Muisca Confederation was a loose confederation of different Muisca rulers (''zaques'', ''zipas'', ''iraca'', and ''tundama'') in the central Andes, Andean highlands of what is today Colombia before the Spanish conquest of the Americas, Spanis ...

, the former country 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 ...

before the arrival of 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. The ''

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 ...

'' of Bacatá (now known as Bogotá) ruled over Soacha. Modern Soacha was founded on 15 August 1600. It gained national notoriety after the presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán was assassinated on August 18, 1989, while visiting the city during his presidential campaign. Also during 1989, the bombing of

Avianca Flight 203 Avianca Flight 203 was a Colombian domestic passenger flight from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá to Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in Cali, Colombia. It was destroyed by a bomb over the municipality of Soacha on Novem ...

happened in Soacha, killing everyone on-board plus three Soacha residents. The bombing was planned by Cartel de Medellin leader

Pablo Escobar Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord, narcoterrorist, and politician who was the founder and leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed the "King of Cocaine", Escobar was one of the wealthie ...

, who intended to murder presidential candidate

César Gaviria César Augusto Gaviria Trujillo ( ; born 31 March 1947) is a Colombian economist and politician who served as the President of Colombia from 1990 to 1994, Secretary General of the Organization of American States from 1994 to 2004 and National D ...

, who was supposed to be on board. Gaviria had decided not to fly and instead went on to become President of Colombia. In 2008, the 'false positives' scandal broke when 22 men from Soacha who had been recruited for work were found dead several hundreds of miles away. They had been killed by the military and presented to authorities as guerrilla fighters (insurgents) killed in battle, in order to increase action head counts. Similar cases have since appeared all over the country.

Modern development

Ciudad Verde is a development project for the lower middle class (''estrato 3'') residents of Soacha with housing, parks and playgrounds. The project started in 2010 and is scheduled to be finished at the end of 2016.

Food

Soacha has a specific neighborhood name Soacha Parque and it is the most important place that most of the people that go to Bogota have to go. In Soacha Parque their specialty are different kind of traditional desserts, some of them are almojabanas and

buñuelo A ''buñuelo'' (, alternatively called ''boñuelo'', ''bimuelo'', ''birmuelo'', ''bermuelo'', ''bumuelo'', ''burmuelo'', or ''bonuelo'', is a fried dough fritter found in Spain, Latin America, and other regions with a historical connection to Spa ...

s, they are some kind of bread. Also, Soacha is famous because of the arequipe that is dulce de leche but arequipe is home version. There is the largest logistics center in the coffee world.

Born in Soacha

* Luz Marina Bernal (born 1960), peace and human rights activist, founder of the * Walter Pedraza, professional cyclist

Arts and Culture

Films

Netflix Triple Frontie

Climate

Gallery

References

External links

*
Website of the city council
{{Authority control Soacha, Populated places of the Muisca Confederation