Furatena Airport is an airport serving the emerald region of the western emerald belt and town of

Quípama Quípama is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Western Boyacá Province. Climate Quípama has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round. It is ho ...

in the

Boyacá Department Boyacá () is one of the thirty-two departments of Colombia, and the remnant of Boyacá State, one of the original nine states of the "United States of Colombia". Boyacá is centrally located within Colombia, almost entirely within the moun ...

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 ...

. The airport is four

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today ...

s west of Muzo Airport.Quípama Airport
/ref> The town and airport are on the side of a steep mountain slope, above the Quebrada Sonadora in the

Eastern Ranges The Eastern Ranges is an Australian rules football team in the NAB League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. The club is a founding member of the competition (1992) and has produced several players for the Australian Football Leagu ...

of the Colombian

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. The runway sits on a narrow shelf next to the town, with dropoffs on both ends and the west side. Mountainous terrain exists in all quadrants.

Etymology

The airport is named after Furatena, a ''

cacica Cacica ( pl, Kaczyka, german: Kaczika) is a commune located in Suceava County, in the historical region of Bukovina, northeastern Romania. The commune is located in the central part of the county, from the town of Gura Humorului, from the city ...

'' of the

Muzo Muzo () is a town and municipality in the Western Boyacá Province, part of the department of Boyacá, Colombia. It is widely known as the world capital of emeralds for the mines containing the world's highest quality gems of this type. Muzo is ...

and the double mountain peak close to the airport, Fura and Tena. The mountains, separated by the Minero River and located in the

San Pablo de Borbur San Pablo de Borbur is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Western Boyacá Province The Western Boyacá Province is a province of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The province is ...

and

Pauna Pauna is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Western Boyacá Province The Western Boyacá Province is a province of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The province is formed by 15 ...

respectively, were considered sacred by the Muzo.El génesis entre los muzos
/ref> According to the Muzo legends, the tears of ''Fura'' turned into emeralds and

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

.Ocampo López, 2013, p.95 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 ...

performed secret pilgrimages to ''Fura'' and ''Tena'', avoiding the Muzo warriors to discover them. In his work ''Compendio historial de la conquista del Nuevo Reino de Granada'',

Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita (1624, Bogotá – March 29, 1688) was a Spanish Neogranadine Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Panamá (1676–1688) ''(in Latin)'' and the Bishop of Santa Marta (1668–1676).Arzobispo de Pa ...

tells about the existence of a ''

'' named ''Furatena''. ''Furatena'' was the owner of the finest

emeralds Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991) ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p. ...

of the Muzo territories and in the early years of 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 ...

, ''zipa''

Sagipa Sagipa or Zaquesazipa (died 1539, Bosa, New Kingdom of Granada) was the fifth and last ruler ('' psihipqua'') of Muyquytá, currently known as Funza, as of 1537. He was the brother of his predecessor Bogotá but the traditional faction of the Mui ...

wanted to see ''Furatena''.Ocampo López, 2013, p.98

References

Bibliography

External links

OpenStreetMap - Quípama

Colombian emerald mining

{{authority control Airports in Colombia Buildings and structures in Boyacá Department Colombian emeralds

Etymology

See also

References

Bibliography

External links