Puente Nacional, Santander Explained

Puente Nacional, Santander
Settlement Type:	Municipality and town
Mapsize:	250px
Pushpin Mapsize:	300
Pushpin Map Caption:	Location in Colombia
Subdivision Type:	Country
Subdivision Name:	Colombia
Subdivision Type1:	Department
Subdivision Name1:	Santander Department
Unit Pref:	Metric
Established Title:	Founded
Established Date:	1556^[1]
Founder:	Andrés Díaz Venero de Leiva
Area Total Km2:	315
Area Footnotes:	^[2]
Population As Of:	Census 2018^[3]
Population Total:	12586
Population Density Km2:	auto
Population Demonym:	Pontanalino -a
Timezone:	Colombia Standard Time
Utc Offset:	-5
Elevation M:	1625
Website:	www.puentenacional-santander.gov.co

Puente Nacional (pronounced as /es/) is an agricultural town and municipality in the Suárez River Valley, part of the Santander Department of northeastern Colombia. Colloquially referred to as "Puente" by its inhabitants.

The area was originally inhabited by four Muisca tribes, three of which were the Semisos, Irobaes, and Popobas.^{[4] [5]} Their heritage now only survives in the names of three surrounding veredas.

The area between Puente and neighbouring Santa Sofía (formerly called Guatoque) was inhabited by a major tribe called the Sorocotá^[6] who governed a major commercial centre (possibly home to the region's largest agricultural market)^{[7] [8] [9]} which is why Puente's local radio station is called La Voz de Sorocotá (The Voice of Sorocotá). The town still has a market every Monday which sees locally sourced produce brought to the town from its many surrounding farms.

Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada travelled south through the area in 1537^{[10] [11] [12]} in the search for El Dorado.^[13] Having followed the course of the Magdalena River,^[14] his expedition then travelled down the Saravita, which formed the main trajectory of the subsequent conquests. It was in this area that some sources report that Quesada's men made the first ever encounter with a "truffle" crop later identified as the potato.^{[15] [16] [17]}

Following the Spanish conquests a new town was baptised Puente Real de Vélez, existing as a subsidiary to the town founded by Martin Galeano in 1539,^[18] before eventually acquiring its current name during the period following the Comunero Rebellions of 1781.^[19] These local uprisings set in motion the first wave of Spanish American victories against the Spanish Empire, although liberation only arrived after 1819. Every year on 8 May week, the town transforms with homage to the Comuneros. Townsfolk dress in traditional late-18th century attire and parades are held through the town.

In 1960 the town's Cantarrana Street was the setting of a now-regularly commemorated massacre. It happened two years after the end of La Violencia (The Violence); the name given to the ten year sectarian civil-political conflict which pitted conservatives against liberals.^[20] On September 29, tensions still present from the decennial conflict culminated with a shooting involving local brigand Efrain Gonzalez which left 11 civilians dead and injured 19.

See also

• Cueva del Indio (Vélez) : "A short distance from the town center along the royal road (old entrance to Caráre) is the cave that was a refuge for the indigenous people* to protect themselves from attacks by the Spanish. Inside are underground waterfalls, a hall of stalagmites, stalactites and a fossil of the mummy of Cacique Agatá" (Muisca - agatáos & chipataes)¨*
• Windows of Tisquizoque^[21] waterfalls in Florían
• El Peñon, a centre of speleological research^[22]
• El Infiernito (Villa de Lleyva)
• The remains of 27 mummies were discovered in 1842 in neighbouring Gachantivá (between Puente and Villa de Lleyva). In 1989 they were temporarily held at the British Museum.
• The Hoyo de La Romera on the side of Santa Sofía is an alleged historical vestige to the area's indigenous past, though the claim is yet to be supported by archeological evidence.^[23]

References

5.8833°N -114°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: Puente Nacional (Puente Real): Cuna de la guabina santandereana. Ministerio de Cultura. 28 December 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20120426080032/http://turismocultural.mincultura.gov.co/?idcategoria=37929. 26 April 2012. dead.
2. Web site: Municipalities of Colombia. Statoids. 28 December 2011.
3. Web site: Censo Nacional de Población y Vivienda 2018. DANE. es . 30 April 2020.
4. Web site: Pita Pico . Roger . 6 November 2012 . Vestigios de a Lengua Guane: Una Aproximación al Fenómeno del Mestizaje Idiomático en Santander . Academia Colombiana de Historia.
5. Web site: Carlos Andrés . Gamba Matesus . Puentenal.com Todo sobre Puente Nacional en internet . 2018-04-12 . www.puentenacional.com.
6. Book: Valle de Sorocota; estudio monográfico de Guatoque-Santa Sofía y remembranza histórica de la antigua provincia de Ricuarte, memorias, etc. in SearchWorks catalog. searchworks.stanford.edu. Bibliotecade autores boyacenses . 1965 . Imprenta del Departamento . en. 2018-04-12.
7. Book: Santander y sus municipios. Fulgencio Gutiérrez. José . 1990. Impr. Departamental de Santander. es.
8. Book: Libro de oro de Santander. 1996. es. Boada. Boada Ordóñez O..
9. Book: Puente Nacional ayer y hoy. 1994. IDESAN. es.
10. Book: T, Martínez Trujillo Martínez. Los inconquistables panches del Magdalena: epopeya de un exótico reino caribe y su infortunado tropiezo con el Imperio Español. 2005. Ángel Martínez T. es.
11. Book: Geografía e historia de Santander. 1947. Librería "Stella". es.
12. Book: Lodge, Henry Cabot. The history of nations. 1928. P.F.Collier. en.
13. Book: Padrón, Francisco Morales. Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, capitán de Eldorado. 1974. Publicaciones Españolas. 9788450064155 . es.
14. Book: Graham, Robert Bontine Cunninghame. The Conquest of New Granada: Being the Life of Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada. 1922. W. Heinemann. en.
15. Book: The History and Social Influence of the Potato. Salaman. Redcliffe N.. Burton. William Glynn. 1985-11-21. Cambridge University Press. 9780521316231. en.
16. Book: Gould, W. A.. Potato Production, Processing and Technology. 2013-11-28. Elsevier. 9781845696122. en.
17. Book: Contributions from Texas Research Foundation. 1962. Texas Research Foundation. en.
18. Book: Pueblos de Santander: procesos de desarrollo urbano. 1996-01-01. Terpel Bucaramanga S.A.. 9789589589816. es.
19. Book: The people and the King : the Comunero Revolution in Colombia, 1781. Phelan, John Leddy. June 2011 . 9780299072940. Madison. 680040669.
20. Fajardo. Sánchez. Jhon. Armando. 2017-07-27. La masacre de La Cantarrana: tensiones políticas y bandolerismo. en.
21. Bucaramanga . Universidad Santo Tomás . 2017-05-15 . Escenarios Naturales . Instname:universidad Santo Tomás . en.
22. A. . González, Mailyn . A. . Lasso, Carlos . C. . Barriga, Javier . Humberto . Mendoza . Reinaldo . Aguilar-Cano, José . Rymel . Acosta, Andrés . Sergio . Córdoba-Córdoba . Socorro . Sierra-Buitrago . Lina . Mesa . 2017-09-26 . Expedición Colombia BIO. Biodiversidad y conservación de los sistemas subterráneos y ambientes exocársticos asociados en El Peñón, Santander, Colombia . Reponame: Repositorio Institucional de Documentación Científica Humboldt . en . 10.21068/D.CBIO.0917.Penon . free.
23. Web site: En Lo Profundo Del Hoyo De Las Infieles . 2018-04-12 . El Tiempo . 25 September 2003 . es-CO.