Choachí is a municipality and town of
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 ...
in the
Eastern Province 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, ...
of
Cundinamarca. The municipality borders
La Calera in the north,
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 ...
in the south, in the east
Fómeque
Fómeque is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Departments of Colombia, department of Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca.
Municipalities of Cundinamarca Department
{{Cundinamarca-geo-stub ...
and westward of Choachí 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 period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...
. The town centre is located at from the centre of the capital.
[Official website - information Choachí]
- accessed 29-04-2016 Within the boundaries of Choachí the
Páramo de Cruz Verde is situated.
Etymology
The name Choachí is derived from the original name in
Chibcha
The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan lan ...
: ''Chi-gua-chí'', which means "Our Mountain of the Moon". The
Muisca
The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan langu ...
had a strong lunar cult and worshipped the goddess of the Moon,
Chía in various places across their territories. It is believed that in Choachí a place of worship to the Moon was located.
[
]
History
The area of Choachí was inhabited by the southern Muisca
The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan langu ...
, part of 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 ...
ruled by the ''zipa
When the 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 Muyquytá. The ''hoa'' was the ruler of the ...
'' of Bacatá
Bacatá is the name given to the main settlement of the Muisca Confederation on the Bogotá savanna. It mostly refers to an area, rather than an individual village, although the name is also found in texts referring to the modern settlement of Fu ...
. The modern foundation of the town was early 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 ...
, in 1560, by Antonio Bermúdez, a conquistador
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...
who arrived as part of the army of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada
Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada y Rivera, also spelled as Ximénez and De Quezada, (;1496 16 February 1579) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador in northern South America, territories currently known as Colombia. He explored the territory named ...
. In 1601 a parish was constructed in Choachí.[
Between the 17th and 19th century the original ]indigenous population
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
almost completely perished.[
]
Economy
Main economical activities in Choachí are agriculture, livestock
Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...
farming. Also tourism, mainly from the capital, is a source of income for the local people.[
]
Geology
In the area of Choachí Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
s and the organic-rich shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...
s of the Fómeque Formation are outcrop
An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth.
Features
Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficial ...
ping.[
]
Archeology
In the first half of the 20th century within Choachí the Choachí Stone has been found, possibly in a grave. The stone, carved in lydite
Radiolarite is a siliceous, comparatively hard, fine-grained, chert-like, and homogeneous sedimentary rock that is composed predominantly of the microscopic remains of radiolarians. This term is also used for indurated radiolarian oozes and ...
may represent the Muisca calendar
The Muisca calendar was a lunisolar calendar used by the Muisca. The calendar was composed of a complex combination of months and three types of years were used; rural years (according to Pedro Simón, Chibcha: ''chocan''), holy years (Duquesne, S ...
, a complex lunisolar calendar
A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures, combining lunar calendars and solar calendars. The date of Lunisolar calendars therefore indicates both the Moon phase and the time of the solar year, that is the position of the Sun in the Ea ...
used by the Muisca.[Izquierdo, 2009, p. 86] Also petroglyph
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
s have been discovered in Choachí.
Gallery
File:Cara del indio.png, ''Cara del indio'', rock shaped as the face of an indian
File:Choachí waterfall - Highest of Colombia (590m) (4925103331).jpg, Highest waterfall of Colombia
File:Choachí-Cundinamarca.JPG, Rural part of Choachí
File:Cows in the Fog (7722843860).jpg, Cows in the fog
File:The Store (7627837960).jpg, Store in Choachí
Trivia
* A number of episodes of the popular series ''Escobar, el patrón del mal
''Escobar: El Patrón del Mal'' (international title: ''Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord''; also known as ''Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal'') is a 2012 Colombian telenovela produced and broadcast on Caracol TV, based on a true story about the lif ...
'' were filmed in Choachí
* The highest waterfall
A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...
of Colombia with is located in Choachí
References
Bibliography
*
External links
*
Petroglyhs discovered in Choachí
- accessed 29-04-2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Choachi
Municipalities of Cundinamarca Department
Populated places established in 1560
1560 establishments in the Spanish Empire
Muisca Confederation
Muysccubun