Usme is the 5th locality of the

Capital District A capital district, capital region, or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any politic ...

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 ...

, capital city 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 ...

. Usme is located in the south of Bogotá, bordering to the north the localities of San Cristóbal,

Rafael Uribe Uribe Rafael Victor Zenón Uribe Uribe (April 12, 1859 – October 15, 1914, in Bogotá) was a Colombian lawyer, journalist, and general in the liberal party rebel army. Uribe Uribe is best known for his political ideas in favor of the establishme ...

and

Tunjuelito Tunjuelito is the 6th locality of the Capital District of the Colombian capital, Bogotá. Tunjuelito is located in the south of Bogotá, bordering to the north with the localities of Bosa, Kennedy and Puente Aranda, to the east with the localit ...

, to the west the locality of

Ciudad Bolívar Ciudad Bolívar (; Spanish for "Bolivar City"), formerly known as Angostura and St. Thomas de Guyana, is the capital of Venezuela's southeastern Bolívar, Venezuela, Bolívar State. It lies at the spot where the Orinoco River narrows to about ...

, to the south the locality of

Sumapaz Sumapaz is the 20th locality of Bogotá, capital of Colombia. It is the largest of Bogotá's 20 localities, starting in the north at the edge of the urban frontier with Usme and stretching to the south at the border of Cundinamarca with the depa ...

, and to the east, behind the Eastern Hills, the

municipalities 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' ...

Ubaque Ubaque is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Eastern Province of the department of Cundinamarca. Ubaque borders the municipalities Choachí in the north, Fómeque in the east, Cáqueza and Chipaque in the south and in the west is the ...

Chipaque Chipaque is a municipality and town in the Eastern Province of the department of Cundinamarca, Colombia. The municipality of is located at an altitude of in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes with its westernmost part situated in the E ...

and Une in the Department of Cundinamarca.

History

Usme 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 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 ...

. The modern locality of Usme was founded in 1650 as "''San Pedro de Usme''" which became a center for the rural areas nearby dedicated to agricultural activities. These supplied food to

. It was named after San Pedro (Saint Peter) and Usme from Muysccubun, meaning ''Nest of love''.Etymology Usme
– El Tiempo The daughter of ''

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 ...

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 ...

was called Usminia. In 1911, it became a municipality of Cundinamarca with the name Usme and became known for its constant problems between landlords, tenants and peasant workers for the land. During the mid 20th century, an agrarian reform finally arranged the land. The area then shifted from an agricultural production to industrial materials production mainly for construction, giving way to numerous

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to manage their safet ...

. In 1972, Usme was assigned to Bogotá's district as one of its localities.

Geography

Usme has one of Bogotá's natural parks, called ''Entrenubes'' ("between the clouds") in the Eastern Hills, destined for ecotourism and to preserve the local wildlife.

Neighborhoods and villages

Usme has 126 neighborhoods and 17 ''veredas''. Of the neighborhoods, the most important are: Downtown Usme, Yomasa, El Uval, Monte Blanco, Santa Librada, Chiguaza, El Virrey, Chuniza, Puerta al Llano, Usminia, La Aurora, Marichuela, Sauces Miravalle, Santa Marta, Barranquillita, San Andres de los Altos, Costa Rica, Villa Isabel, Las Quintas, La Cabaña, Betania, Danubio Azul, La Fiscala, Chuniza, Lorenzo Alcantuz, Comuneros, La Requilina, Serranias, among others.

Transportation

Usme's main point of access is the

Avenida Caracas Avenida Caracas is an arterial road in Bogotá, Colombia that runs through the city from north to south. The road was inaugurated on 9 December 1932. Names The road has four names along its stretch: ''Avenida Caracas'', ''Troncal Caracas'', ...

which is covered by the

TransMilenio TransMilenio is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system that serves Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, and Soacha, a neighbouring city. The system opened to the public in December 2000. As of 2024, 12 lines totalling run throughout the city. It is pa ...

bus service terminating in the Portal de Usme Station (Line H). The Avenida Caracas then becomes a highway which connects Bogotá and

Cundinamarca Department Department of Cundinamarca (, ) is one of the departments of Colombia. Its area covers (not including the Capital District) and it has a population of 2,919,060 as of 2018. It was created on August 5, 1886, under the constitutional terms pre ...

with the plains of the

Llanos Orientales The Llanos (Spanish ''Los Llanos'', "The Plains"; ) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical grasslands, sa ...

in the

Meta Department Meta () is a department of Colombia. It is close to the geographic center of the country, to the east of the Andean mountains. A large portion of the department, which is also crossed by the Meta River, is covered by a grassland plain known ...

towards its capital

Villavicencio Villavicencio () is a city and municipality in Colombia. The capital of Meta Department, it was founded on April 6, 1840. The municipality had a population of 531,275 in 2018. The city is located at 4°08'N, 73°40'W, 75 km (about 45 ...

References

External links

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Usme, locality with a history
{{Bogota DC Localities of Bogotá Altiplano Cundiboyacense