Ubaque 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 Eastern Province of the department of Cundinamarca. Ubaque borders the municipalities

Choachí Choachí is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Eastern Province of the department of Cundinamarca. The municipality borders La Calera in the north, Ubaque in the south, in the east Fómeque and westward of Choachí is the Colombian ca ...

in the north, Fómeque in the east, Cáqueza and Chipaque in the south and in the west is the Colombian capital

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

at 56 km away.Official website Ubaque
- accessed 04-05-2016

History

The area around Ubaque was 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 ...

in the 1530s inhabited by the indigenous

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

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 capital of the southern Muisca territories was Muyquytá, present-day Funza, to the west of Ubaque with

ruler A ruler, sometimes called a rule, scale, line gauge, or metre/meter stick, is an instrument used to make length measurements, whereby a length is read from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device. Usually, the instr ...

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 ...

. Ubaque was ruled 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 ...

'' who was loyal to the northern Muisca with capital Hunza until Saguamanchica's successor, the brutal leader

Nemequene Nemequene or Nemeguene (died 1514) was the third ruler (''zipa'') of Bacatá as of 1490. His '' zaque'' counterpart ruling over the northern area of the Muisca territory was Quemuenchatocha. Etymology Nemequene in the Chibcha language of t ...

conquered Ubaque. The arrival of the Spanish conquerors was revealed to '' psihipqua''

, succeeding the throne after the death of Nemequene. Tisquesusa reigned the southern Muisca at the time of arrival of the Spanish, 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 ...

. Mohan Popón who lived in Ubaque told the Muisca ruler that foreigners were coming and Bogotá would die "bathing in his own blood". The troops of De Quesada conquered the Muisca Confederation and on October 15, 1651, Ubaque was properly founded. The etymology of Ubaque is not entirely clear. The name could be derived from ''Ybaque'' (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 ...

word for a blooding ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

'' tree, common in the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

) or from the word ''Ebaque''.

Economy

Main economical activity of Ubaque, where 98% of the people live in rural areas, is

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, particularly

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es and

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in colour, though heirloom variants including purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild ...

Lake Ubaque

Lake Ubaque or Lake El Cacique is a

sacred lake Sacred waters are sacred natural sites characterized by tangible topographical land formations such as rivers, lakes, springs, reservoirs, and oceans, as opposed to holy water which is water elevated with the sacramental blessing of a cleric. Th ...

in the

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

of the Muisca, located within the boundaries of Ubaque. It was in Ubaque where the last public religious ceremony of the Muisca was performed, on December 27, 1563.Londoño, 2001, p.4

Born in Ubaque

* Jaime Pardo Leal, former politician (assassinated)

Climate

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Images of Ubaque
- accessed 04-05-2016 {{Municipalities cundinamarca department Municipalities of Cundinamarca Department Populated places established in 1651 1651 establishments in the Spanish Empire Populated places of the Muisca Confederation