| Bogotá savanna | |
| Other Name: | Sabana de Bogotá |
| Country: | Colombia |
| State: | Cundinamarca |
| Region: | Andean region |
| City: | Bogotá |
| Coordinates: | 4.75°N -74.175°W |
| Area Km2: | 4251.6 |
| Type: | Montane savanna |
| Border: | East: Eastern Hills South: Sumapaz mountains North: Hills of Tausa and Suesca West: Western hills |
The Bogotá savanna is a montane savanna, located in the southwestern part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the center of Colombia. The Bogotá savanna has an extent of 4251.6km2 and an average altitude of 2650m (8,690feet). The savanna is situated in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes.
The Bogotá savanna is crossed from northeast to southwest by the 375km (233miles) long Bogotá River, which at the southwestern edge of the plateau forms the Tequendama Falls (Salto del Tequendama). Other rivers, such as the Subachoque, Bojacá, Fucha, Soacha and Tunjuelo Rivers, tributaries of the Bogotá River, form smaller valleys with very fertile soils dedicated to agriculture and cattle-breeding.
Before the Spanish conquest of the Bogotá savanna, the area was inhabited by the indigenous Muisca, who formed a loose confederation of various caciques, named the Muisca Confederation. The Bogotá savanna, known as Muyquytá, was ruled by the zipa. The people specialised in agriculture, the mining of emeralds, trade and especially the extraction of rock salt from rocks in Zipaquirá, Nemocón, Tausa and other areas on the Bogotá savanna. The salt extraction, a task exclusively of the Muisca women, gave the Muisca the name "The Salt People".
In April 1536, a group of around 800 conquistadors left the relative safety of the Caribbean coastal city of Santa Marta to start a strenuous expedition up the Magdalena River, the main fluvial artery of Colombia. Word got around among the Spanish colonisers that deep in the unknown Andes, a rich area with an advanced civilisation must exist. These tales bore the -not so much- legend of El Dorado; the city or man of gold. The Muisca, skilled goldworkers, held a ritual in Lake Guatavita where the new zipa would cover himself in gold dust and jump from a raft into the cold waters of the 3000m (10,000feet) high lake to the northeast of the Bogotá savanna.
After a journey of almost a year, where the Spanish lost over 80% of their soldiers, the conquistadors following the Suárez River, reached the Bogotá savanna in March 1537. The zipa who ruled the Bogotá savanna at the arrival of the Spanish was Tisquesusa. The Muisca posed little resistance to the Spanish strangers and Tisquesusa was defeated in April 1537 in Funza, in the centre of the savanna. He fled towards the western hills and died of his wounds in Facatativá, on the southwestern edge of the Bogotá savanna. The Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada established the New Kingdom of Granada with capital Santa Fe de Bogotá on August 6, 1538. This started a process of colonisation, evangelisation and submittance of the Muisca to the new rule. Between 65 and 80% of the indigenous people perished due to European diseases as smallpox and typhus. The Spanish introduced new crops, replacing many of the New World crops that the Muisca cultivated.
Over the course of the 16th to early 20th century, the Bogotá savanna was sparsely populated and industrialised. The rise in population during the twentieth century and the expansion of agriculture and urbanisation reduced the biodiversity and natural habitat of the Bogotá savanna severely. Today, the Metropolitan Area of Bogotá on the Bogotá savanna hosts more than ten million people. Bogotá is the biggest city worldwide at altitudes above 2500m (8,200feet). The many rivers on the savanna are highly contaminated and efforts to solve the environmental problems are conducted in the 21st century.
Bogotá savanna is named after Bogotá, which is derived from Muysccubun Bacatá, which means "(Enclosure) outside of the farm fields".[1]
See main article: Altiplano Cundiboyacense. The Bogotá savanna is the southwestern part of the larger Andean plateau, the Altiplano Cundiboyacense. The savanna is a montane savanna, bordered to the east by the Eastern Hills, the Sumapaz mountains in the south, the hills of Tausa and Suesca in the north and western hills of Cundinamarca in the west. The total surface area is 4251.6km2.[2]
The average temperature of the plateau is 14C, but this can fluctuate between 0C24C. The dry and rainy seasons alternate frequently during the year. The driest months are December, January, February and March. During the rainy months, the temperature tends to be more stable with variations between 9C20C. June, July and August are the months that present the largest variations of temperature, and during the morning frost in the higher terrains surrounding the savanna is possible. Sometimes also ground frost is present, which has a negative impact on agriculture. Hail is a relatively common phenomenon on the savanna.[3] [4]
See main article: Wetlands of Bogotá. There is a system of wetlands (humedales) that regulate the soil moisture acting like sponges for the rain waters. Fifteen wetlands have a protected status, with various wetlands as unprotected. In 1950, the total surface area of the wetlands amounted to 150000ha, but due to the urbanisation of the Colombian capital the total area has been reduced to 1500ha.[6]
| Wetland | Location | Altitude (m) | Area (ha) | Notes | Image | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guaymaral y Torca | Usaquén Suba | align=center | 2547 | align=center | 73 | align=center | ||
| La Conejera | Suba | align=center | 2544 | align=center | 58.9 | align=center | ||
| Córdoba | Suba | align=center | 2548 | align=center | 40.51 | align=center | ||
| Tibabuyes Juan Amarillo | Suba Engativá | align=center | 2539 | align=center | 222.58 | align=center | ||
| Jaboque | Engativá | align=center | 2539 | align=center | 148 | align=center | ||
| Santa María del Lago | Engativá | align=center | 2549 | align=center | 12 | align=center | ||
| El Burro | Kennedy | align=center | 2541 | align=center | 18.84 | align=center | ||
| La Vaca | Kennedy | align=center | 2548 | align=center | 7.96 | align=center | ||
| Techo | Techo, Kennedy | align=center | 2545 | align=center | 11.46 | align=center | ||
| Capellanía | Fontibón | align=center | 2542 | align=center | 27.05 | align=center | ||
| Meandro del Say | Fontibón Mosquera | align=center | 2548 | align=center | 13.6 | align=center | ||
| Tibanica | Bosa Soacha | align=center | 2542 | align=center | 28.8 | align=center | ||
| El Salitre | Barrios Unidos | align=center | 2558 | align=center | 6.4 | align=center | ||
| La Isla | Bosa | align=center | 2550 | align=center | 7.7 | align=center | ||
| La Florida | Funza | align=center | 2542 | align=center | 26 | align=center | ||
See also: Biodiversity of Colombia. Despite the continuous urbanisation and industrial activities, the Bogotá savanna is a rich biodiverse area with many bird species registered.[7] The diversity of mammals, amphibians and reptiles is much lower.[8] Before the arrival of the European colonisers, the savanna was populated predominantly by white-tailed deer, the main ingredient of the Muisca cuisine. Today, this species of deer, as well as the once common spectacled bear, is restricted to protected areas surrounding the Bogotá savanna. The Thomas van der Hammen Natural Reserve is a protected area in the north of Bogotá.
See also: Herrera Period and Timeline of Bogotá. The earliest confirmed inhabitation of present-day Colombia was on the Bogotá savanna with sites El Abra, Tequendama and Tibitó, where semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers lived in caves and rock shelters. One of the first evidences of settlement in open area space was Aguazuque, whose oldest dated remains are analysed to be 5000 years old. This prehistorical preceramic period was followed by the Herrera Period, commonly defined from 800 BCE to 800 AD.
See main article: Muisca Confederation. At the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, the region was inhabited by the Muisca who lived in hundreds of small villages scattered across the plateau. These villages were individually ruled by caciques who at the same time paid tribute to the zipa, ruler of Bacatá. The Muisca were known as "The Salt People", thanks to their extraction of rock salt from brines in large pots heated over fires. This process was the exclusive task of the Muisca women.
The economy of the Muisca, meaning "person" or "people" in their indigenous version of Chibcha; Muysccubun, was self-sufficient due to the advanced agriculture on the fertile soils of the frequently flooding Bogotá savanna. More tropical and subtropical agricultural products as avocadoes and cotton were traded with their neighbours, in particular the Guane and Lache in the north and northeast and the Guayupe, Achagua and Tegua in the east.
The Muisca were known as skilled goldworkers, represented in the famous Muisca raft, that symbolises the initiation ritual of the new zipa in Lake Guatavita. This ritual, where the zipa covered himself in gold dust and jumped in the 3000m (10,000feet) altitude lake, gave rise to the -not so much- legend of El Dorado.
See main article: Spanish conquest of the Muisca. In April 1536, a group of around 800 conquistadors left the relative safety of the Caribbean coastal city of Santa Marta to start a strenuous expedition up the Magdalena River, the main fluvial artery of Colombia. Word got around among the Spanish colonisers that deep in the unknown Andes, a rich area with an advanced civilisation must exist. These tales bore the -not so much- legend of El Dorado; the city or man of gold. The Muisca, skilled goldworkers, held a ritual in Lake Guatavita where the new zipa would cover himself in gold dust and jump from a raft into the cold waters of the 3000m (10,000feet) high lake to the northeast of the Bogotá savanna.
After a journey of almost a year, where the Spanish lost over 80% of their soldiers, the conquistadors following the Suárez River, reached the Bogotá savanna in March 1537. The zipa who ruled the Bogotá savanna at the arrival of the Spanish was Tisquesusa. The Muisca posed little resistance to the Spanish strangers and Tisquesusa was defeated in April 1537 in Funza, in the centre of the savanna. He fled towards the western hills and died of his wounds in Facatativá, on the southwestern edge of the Bogotá savanna. The Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada established the New Kingdom of Granada with capital Santa Fe de Bogotá on August 6, 1538. This started a process of colonisation, evangelisation and submittance of the Muisca to the new rule. Between 65 and 80% of the indigenous people perished due to European diseases as smallpox and typhus. The Spanish introduced new crops, replacing many of the New World crops that the Muisca cultivated.
The Spanish colonizers engaged in the construction of Spanish-style towns to replace all the indigenous villages and in the process of assimilation and religious convert of the Muisca. The majority of those villages kept their indigenous names, but some were slightly modified in time, like Suacha which became Soacha, Hyntiba becoming Fontibón and Bacatá becoming Bogotá.
See also: New Kingdom of Granada, Gran Colombia and History of Bogotá. Over the course of the 16th to early 20th century, the Bogotá savanna was sparsely populated and industrialised. The rise in population during the twentieth century and the expansion of agriculture and urbanisation reduced the biodiversity and natural habitat of the Bogotá savanna severely. Today, the Metropolitan Area of Bogotá on the Bogotá savanna hosts more than ten million people. Bogotá is the biggest city worldwide at altitudes above 2500m (8,200feet). The many rivers on the savanna are highly contaminated and efforts to solve the environmental problems are conducted in the 21st century.
| align=center colspan=2 | Timeline of inhabitation of the Bogotá savanna, Colombia | |
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The main cities of the Bogotá savanna, in addition to the capital city of Bogotá, are: Mosquera, Soacha, Madrid, Funza, Facatativá, Subachoque, El Rosal, Tabio, Tenjo, Cota, Chía, Cajicá, Zipaquirá, Nemocón, Sopó, Tocancipá, Gachancipá, Sesquilé, Suesca, Chocontá and Guatavita.[9]
| Municipality Locality | Altitude urban centre (m) | Surface area (km2) | Inhabitants | Remarks | Map | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=center | Bogotá | align=center | 2640 | align=center | 1587 | align=center | 7,980,001 | align=center | Named after Bacatá Capital of Colombia Biggest city at altitudes above 2500m (8,200feet) | align=center | |
| align=center | Usaquén | align=center | 2650 | align=center | 65.31 | align=center | 449,621 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Chapinero | align=center | 2640 | align=center | 38.15 | align=center | 122,507 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Santa Fe | align=center | 2640 | align=center | 45.17 | align=center | 96,241 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | San Cristóbal | align=center | 2640 | align=center | 49.09 | align=center | 404,350 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Usme | align=center | 2700 | align=center | 119.04 | align=center | 314,431 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Tunjuelito | align=center | 2600 | align=center | 9.91 | align=center | 182,532 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Bosa | align=center | 2600 | align=center | 23.93 | align=center | 637,283 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Kennedy | align=center | 2700 | align=center | 38.59 | align=center | 979,914 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Fontibón | align=center | 2600 | align=center | 33.28 | align=center | 317,179 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Engativá | align=center | 2600 | align=center | 35.88 | align=center | 824,337 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Suba | align=center | 2700 | align=center | 100.56 | align=center | 1,161,500 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Barrios Unidos | align=center | 2600 | align=center | 11.9 | align=center | 230,066 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Teusaquillo | align=center | 2600 | align=center | 14.19 | align=center | 139,298 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Los Mártires | align=center | 2600 | align=center | 6.51 | align=center | 94,944 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Antonio Nariño | align=center | 2600 | align=center | 4.88 | align=center | 119,565 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Puente Aranda | align=center | 2600 | align=center | 17.31 | align=center | 250,715 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | La Candelaria | align=center | 2640 | align=center | 2.06 | align=center | 22,115 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Rafael Uribe Uribe | align=center | 2600 | align=center | 13.83 | align=center | 378.780 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Ciudad Bolívar | align=center | 2700 | align=center | 130 | align=center | 593,937 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Soacha | align=center | 2565 | align=center | 184.45 | align=center | 522,442 | align=center | Preceramic site Tequendama Herrera site Muisca ceramics production Petrographs found | align=center | |
| align=center | Sibaté | align=center | 2700 | align=center | 125.6 | align=center | 38,412 | align=center | Petrographs found El Muña Reservoir | align=center | |
| align=center | Mosquera | align=center | 2516 | align=center | 107 | align=center | 82,750 | align=center | Lake Herrera Petrographs found | align=center | |
| align=center | Bojacá | align=center | 2598 | align=center | 109 | align=center | 11,254 | align=center | Lake Herrera Petrographs found | align=center | |
| align=center | Chía | align=center | 2564 | align=center | 80 | align=center | 129,652 | align=center | Moon Temple Herrera site Petrographs found | align=center | |
| align=center | Cota | align=center | 2566 | align=center | 55 | align=center | 24,916 | align=center | Petrographs found Muisca community | align=center | |
| align=center | Cajicá | align=center | 2558 | align=center | 50.4 | align=center | 56,875 | align=center | Located in the funnel of the northern savanna | align=center | |
| align=center | Facatativá | align=center | 2586 | align=center | 158 | align=center | 134,522 | align=center | Piedras del Tunjo | align=center | |
| align=center | Funza | align=center | 2548 | align=center | 70 | align=center | 75,350 | align=center | Muisca market town | align=center | |
| align=center | Madrid | align=center | 2554 | align=center | 120.5 | align=center | 77,627 | align=center | Lake Herrera Petrographs found | align=center | |
| align=center | El Rosal | align=center | 2685 | align=center | 86.48 | align=center | 17,254 | align=center | align=center | ||
| align=center | Zipacón | align=center | 2550 | align=center | 70 | align=center | 5570 | align=center | Agriculture Place of meditation for the zipa Petrographs found | align=center | |
| align=center | Subachoque | align=center | 2663 | align=center | 211.53 | align=center | 16,117 | align=center | Petrographs found | align=center | |
| align=center | Tabio | align=center | 2569 | align=center | 74.5 | align=center | 27,033 | align=center | Hot springs used by the Muisca | align=center | |
| align=center | Tenjo | align=center | 2587 | align=center | 108 | align=center | 18,387 | align=center | Petrographs found | align=center | |
| align=center | Zipaquirá | align=center | 2650 | align=center | 197 | align=center | 124,376 | align=center | El Abra Muisca salt mines Important market town Petrographs and petroglyphs found | align=center | |
| align=center | Nemocón | align=center | 2585 | align=center | 98.1 | align=center | 13,488 | align=center | Muisca salt mines Preceramic site Checua Petrographs found | align=center | |
| align=center | Cogua | align=center | 2600 | align=center | 113 | align=center | 22,361 | align=center | Muisca ceramics production Petrographs found Neusa Reservoir | align=center | |
| align=center | Tocancipá | align=center | 2605 | align=center | 73.51 | align=center | 31,975 | align=center | Preceramic site Tibitó Muisca ceramics production Important market town Petrographs found | align=center | |
| align=center | Gachancipá | align=center | 2568 | align=center | 44 | align=center | 14,442 | align=center | Muisca mummy found Muisca ceramics production | align=center | |
| align=center | Guasca | align=center | 2710 | align=center | 346 | align=center | 14,759 | align=center | Siecha Lakes Muisca ceramics production Petrographs found | align=center | |
| align=center | Guatavita | align=center | 2680 | align=center | 247.3 | align=center | 6898 | align=center | Muisca ceramics production Main goldworking town Petrographs found Tominé Reservoir | align=center | |
| align=center | Sopó | align=center | 2650 | align=center | 111.5 | align=center | 26,769 | align=center | Herrera site | align=center | |
| align=center | Sesquilé | align=center | 2595 | align=center | 141 | align=center | 13,936 | align=center | Lake Guatavita Minor Muisca salt mines | align=center | |
| align=center | Suesca | align=center | 2584 | align=center | 177 | align=center | 17,318 | align=center | 150 Muisca mummies found Lake Suesca Muisca ceramics production Important market town Petrographs found | align=center | |