Charalá is a town and municipality in the south of the

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

in northeastern

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. Its antipode is located within the capital of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

. The municipality borders the municipalities Encino and Coromoro in the east,

Oiba Oiba () is a town and municipality in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia. Its antipode Oiba borders Guapotá and Confines in the north; Charalá in the east; Guadalupe and Guapotá in the west; and Suaita in the south. Th ...

Confines Confines is a town and municipality in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia. External links * Municipalities of Santander Department {{Santander-geo-stub ...

and Suaita in the west,

Páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

Ocamonte Ocamonte is a town and municipality in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia. Location The municipality is located just one hour away from San Gil by paved road. There are three access routes: San Gil-Ocamonte by the bridge "palen ...

and

Mogotes Mogotes () is a town and municipality in the Santander Department, in northeastern Colombia. References {{Santander-geo-stub Municipalities of Santander Department ...

in the north and in the south Gámbita and

Duitama Duitama () is a city and municipality in the department of Boyacá. It is the capital of the Tundama Province. Duitama is located northeast of Bogotá, the capital city of Colombia and northeast of Tunja, the capital Boyacá. Duitama has ex ...

, the latter in the department of Boyacá.Official website Charalá
/ref>

Climate

Etymology

The name Charalá is Chibcha, the language of the Muisca and was given to honour the Guane ''

cacique A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...

'' of the village; "Chalala".

History

Before the arrival of the Spanish in the area, the Santander department was inhabited by the Guane. Charalá was located at the border of Guane territory and the

Muisca Confederation The Muisca Confederation was a loose confederation of different Muisca rulers (''zaques'', ''zipas'', '' iraca'', and ''tundama'') in the central Andean highlands of present-day Colombia before the Spanish conquest of northern South America. The ...

of which it formed an independent unity. Modern Charalá was founded by one of the conquistadors who was part in the

Spanish conquest of the Muisca The Spanish conquest of the Muisca took place from 1537 to 1540. The Muisca were the inhabitants of the central Andean highlands of Colombia before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. They were organised in a loose confederation of differe ...

;

Martín Galeano Martín Galeano (?, Valencia del Mombuey, Badajoz, Spain - ?, Vélez, New Kingdom of Granada) was a Spanish conquistador of Genovese descent who is known as the founder of the towns of Vélez, Oiba and Charalá in Santander, Colombia. He too ...

, on July 23, 1540.

Economy

Main economical activities in the municipality are agriculture (

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

, sugar cane and

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

) and

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

mining.

Born in Charalá

* José Acevedo y Gómez, independence hero of Colombia *

Luis Carlos Galán Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento (29 September 1943 – 18 August 1989) was a Colombian liberal politician and journalist who ran for the Presidency of Colombia on two occasions, the first time for the political movement New Liberalism that he fou ...

, murdered prominent political figure of Colombia.

Trivia

* Charalá is the type locality for the Santander poison frog (''

Andinobates virolinensis ''Andinobates virolinensis'' (the Santander poison frog) is a species of frog in the family Dendrobatidae. It is endemic to Colombia where it is confined to the Santander and Cundinamarca departments on the Cordillera Oriental. Description ' ...

'')''Andinobates virolinensis''
/ref>

Gallery

File:Casa de la Cultura 08-03-2011.JPG, Casa de la Cultura File:Casacolonial.jpg, Colonial house File:Iglesia Nuestra Señora de Monguí, Charalá 08-03-2011.JPG, Iglesia Nuestra Señora de Monguí File:José António Galán, martir 08-03-2011.JPG, Statue José António Galán File:Simon Bolivar Charala.jpg, Statue

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and B ...

File:HILANDERA-CORPORACION.JPG, Weaving activity

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charala Municipalities of Santander Department Populated places established in 1540 1540 establishments in the Spanish Empire Muisca Confederation