Chivor is a town and municipality in the

Eastern Boyacá Province The Eastern Boyacá Province is a province of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The province is formed by 8 municipalities. The Tenza Valley is located in the Eastern Boyacá Province. The province hosts the eastern belt containing rich emer ...

, part of the Colombian department of Boyacá. The mean temperature of the village in the

Tenza Valley The Tenza Valley (Spanish: ''Valle de Tenza'') is an intermontane valley in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The valley stretches over the southeastern part of the department of Boyacá and the northeastern part of Cundinamarca. It ...

is and Chivor is located at from the department capital

Tunja Tunja () is a city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 it had a population of 172,548 inhabitants. It is the capital of Boyacá departmen ...

.Official website Chivor
/ref> Economic activity includes emerald mining.

Borders

Bordered to the north with the municipality of

Macanal Macanal is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Neira Province. The urban centre is located in the Tenza Valley in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes at an elevation of but parts ...

; to the south with

Ubalá Ubalá is a municipality and town of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca. It is located in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. It is the only municipality of Cundinamarca that is split in two parts. Climate Etymology In the C ...

, Cundinamarca, on the east with the municipality of Santa María, and the west by the municipality of Almeida.

Etymology

Chivor comes from

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 ...

and means "Our farmfields - our mother" or "Green and rich land". The latter refers to the rich emerald deposits.Etymology Chivor
- Excelsio.net

History

Chivor was inhabited by 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 ...

in the times before the

Spanish conquest The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its predece ...

. The Muisca were organized in their loose Muisca Confederation with northern

ruler A ruler, sometimes called a rule, line gauge, or scale, is a device used in geometry and technical drawing, as well as the engineering and construction industries, to measure distances or draw straight lines. Variants Rulers have long ...

the ''

zaque 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

Hunza Hunza may refer to: * Hunza, Iran * Hunza Valley, an area in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan ** Hunza (princely state), a former principality ** Hunza District, a recently established district ** Hunza River, a waterway ** Hunza Peak, a mou ...

and the southern ''

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 ...

'' in Bacatá. Already in those times the rich emerald deposits were known and mined by the Muisca. The emeralds functioned as offer pieces in the

Muisca religion Muisca religion describes the religion of the Muisca who inhabited the central highlands of the Colombian Andes before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca. The Muisca formed a confederation of holy rulers and had a variety of deities, temples an ...

, as decoration and as

money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...

. The emerald deposits of Chivor were discovered by Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada in 1537 but the mines were abandoned until 1886. Modern Chivor was not founded until December 16, 1930, by Florencio Novoa.

Economy

Main economical activities of Chivor are

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

(

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. The ...

yuca ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated ...

, bananas, sugarcane, beans, guatilla,

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

and fruits such as papayas,

blackberries The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family (biology), family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus' ...

and the typical Colombian fruits lulo and

tree tomato The tamarillo (''Solanum betaceum'') is a small tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Solanaceae (the nightshade family). It is best known as the species that bears the tamarillo, an egg-shaped edible fruit. It is also known as the tre ...

es) and especially the emerald mining. In 2014 emeralds worth 30 million US dollars were extracted in Boyacá. The rich deposits have led to numerous conflicts in the region, including in Chivor. The ''Gran Esmeralda de Moctezuma'' ("Great Emerald of Moctezuma") is a mineral of high, long and thick and has been found in Chivor. Currently the emerald is in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Other grand emeralds from Chivor are ''Patricia'' weighing 632 carats (), and ''La Magnífica'' of 1225 carats ().Gran Esmeralda de Moctezuma and other large emeralds from Chivor
-

Semana ''Semana'' (Spanish: ''Week'') is a weekly magazine in Colombia. History ''Semana'' was founded in 1946 by Alberto Lleras Camargo (who would become president of Colombia in 1958) and that folded in 1961. It was relaunched by journalist Felipe ...

The ''Embalse la Esmeralda'' ("Emerald reservoir") producing hydroelectric energy is governed from Chivor, Macanal and Almeida.

Climate

Chivor has a

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

(Cfb) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round.

Gallery

File:Represa de Chivor 2014-09-11 (4).jpg, Emerald reservoir File:Embalse la Esmeralda, Macanal Colombia.jpg, Reservoir File:Represa de Chivor 2014-09-11 (3).jpg, Reservoir File:Represa de Chivor 2014-09-11.jpg, Reservoir File:Beryl-Calcite-71137.jpg, Emeralds from Chivor File:Beryl-gem7-72a.jpg, Emerald File:Beryl-gem7-72b.jpg, Emerald File:Beryl-tn33a.jpg, Emerald

References

External links

*
Hydroelectric energy Chivor
{{Colombian emeralds, state=expanded Municipalities of Boyacá Department Populated places established in 1930 1930 establishments in Colombia Muisca Confederation Muysccubun Colombian emeralds