Iza is a town and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean 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 mount ...

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 ...

. Iza is located near the Tota Lake and part of the

Sugamuxi Province The Sugamuxi Province () is a subregion of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The subregion is formed by 13 municipalities. Etymology The name of the province comes from Sugamuxi, the last ''iraca'' of the Muisca and means in Chibcha: "Dwel ...

, a subregion of Boyacá. Iza is located 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 Leag ...

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 ...

on the

Altiplano Cundiboyacense The Altiplano Cundiboyacense () is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes covering parts of the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. The altiplano corresponds to the ancient territory of the Muisca. The Alt ...

at a distance of from Sogamoso and 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 ...

. The municipality borders

Firavitoba Firavitoba is a town and municipality in Sugamuxi Province, a subregion of the department of Boyacá in Colombia. Before Spanish colonization, Firavitoba was part of the Muisca Confederation of the Chibcha people in the highlands of the Easter ...

and Sogamoso in the north, Sogamoso and Cuítiva in the east, in the west Pesca and Firavitoba, and in the south Cuítiva.

History

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 area of Iza was inhabited first by indigenous groups during the

Herrera Period The Herrera Period is a phase in the history of Colombia. It is part of the Andean preceramic and ceramic, time equivalent of the North American pre-Columbian formative and classic stages and age dated by various archaeologists. The Herrera P ...

and later 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 ...

, organized in 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. T ...

. Iza was ruled by the '' iraca'' of

Sugamuxi Sugamuxi (died 1539) was the last '' iraca''; ''cacique'' of the sacred City of the Sun Suamox. Sugamuxi, presently called Sogamoso, was an important city in the religion of the Muisca who inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the times be ...

, modern neighbouring Sogamoso. According to Muisca mythology, the messenger god

Bochica Bochica (also alluded to as Nemquetaha, Nemqueteba and Sadigua) is a figure in the religion of the Muisca, who inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense during the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the central Andean highlands of present-day Co ...

is said to have lived outside Iza in a cave. In the

Chibcha language Chibcha, Mosca, Muisca, Muysca (*/ˈmɨska/), or Muysca de Bogotá, was a language spoken by the Muisca people of the Muisca Confederation, one of the many indigenous cultures of the Americas. The Muisca inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyace ...

of the Muisca ''za'' means "night", and ''Iza'' means "place of healing".Etymology Iza
- accessed 06-05-2016 Modern Iza was founded on January 2, 1554. The town is nicknamed ''Nido Verde de Boyacá''; "Green Nest of Boyacá".

Economy

Main economical activities of Iza are

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

(

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

and

pozzolan Pozzolans are a broad class of siliceous and aluminous materials which, in themselves, possess little or no cementitious value but which will, in finely divided form and in the presence of water, react chemically with calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) ...

) and

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 ...

Born in Iza

* Jairo Pérez, former professional cyclist

Gallery

File:Calles Poblado-4.jpg, Street view File:Calles Poblado.jpg, Street view File:Poblado de Iza 011.jpg, Street view File:Iza rodeada de montañas.JPG, Mountain view File:Parroquía de Iza-Boyacá. A Pulido-Villamarín.JPG, Church of Iza File:Vista lateral de la iglesia de Iza (bOYACÁ).JPG, Church File:Poblado de Iza.jpg, Church tower File:Parque Central Poblado Iza.jpg, Central park

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iza, Boyaca Municipalities of Boyacá Department Populated places established in 1556 1556 establishments in the Spanish Empire Muisca Confederation Muysccubun