The Monster of Lake Tota is a legendary aquatic animal known in many works es, diablo ballena, lit=devil whale, label=as. The monster is an inhabitant of

Lake Tota Lake Tota ( es, Lago de Tota) is the largest lake in Colombia, located in the east of Boyacá department, inside the Sugamuxi Province, it is the source of the Upia River which flows into the Orinoco River basin. The major town on the lake is A ...

in present-day Colombia, according to 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 ...

, who inhabited 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 ...

. The earliest reference in modern history was made by the conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. He described the monster as "A

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

with a black head like an ox and larger than a

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

" (

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 Pan ...

, 1676) and Antonio de Alcedo, 1788Antonio Alcedo, 1789, ''Diccionario geográfico-histórico de las Indias Occidentales ó América'' Tomo V, S. 187, citation= ''pez grande''
- accessed 02-05-2016)). The monster was also defined as "a monstrous fish", "a black monster",Triana, José Jerónimo; 1880 (''Mitos, Leyendas y Folclor del Lago de Tota'', Lilia Montaña, UPTC; 1970 - in the book ''Mitos y Leyendas de Colombia'', Eugenia Villa Posse; Ed. IADAP, 1993; S. 204)
and even as "the Dragon" and as a "divine animal archetype" (2012).Email by Mariana Escribano (doctorate in Literatur and Semiotics — Paris-Sorbonne University —, Paris, scientific linguist, that has studied the Muisca language since 1970); sent to Fundación Montecito, Okt 27. 2012

Description

The description of the monster of Lake Tota is limited to historical references and what is known within the study of

Muisca mythology Knowledge of Muisca mythology has come from Muisca scholars Javier Ocampo López, Pedro Simón, Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita, Juan de Castellanos and conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada who was the European making first contact with t ...

.Escribano, Mariana; Boyacá; June 2009
''Mitos y Leyendas de Colombia'' by Eugenia Villa Posse, vol. II, 1993, Ed. IADAP; Part II, ''Leyendas y Cuentos del Folclor'', num. 23 ''El origen mítico del Lago de Tota'' by Lilia Montaña, p. 192–206, in ''Mitos, leyendas y tradiciones del folclor del Lago de Tota'', UPTC in Tunja, Ed. La Rana y El Águila, Tunja; 1970, (p. 29-90)
/ref> A report of an alleged sighting took place in 1652. The legend of the monster of Lake Tota also analyzed using

cryptozoology Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness ...

, a

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable clai ...

with ties to cases such as the

Loch Ness monster The Loch Ness Monster ( gd, Uilebheist Loch Nis), affectionately known as Nessie, is a creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or mor ...

(Nessie) in Scotland, the monster of

Lake Nahuel Huapi Nahuel Huapi Lake ( es, Lago Nahuel Huapí) is a lake in the lake region of northern Patagonia between the provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén, in Argentina. The tourist center of Bariloche is on the southern shore of the lake. The June 20 ...

(

Nahuelito Nahuelito is a cryptid lake monster purported to live in Nahuel Huapi Lake, Patagonia, Argentina. Like Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster, the Argentine creature is named after the lake it supposedly resides in and has been described as a giant serpe ...

) in Argentina, or "The Hide" of the

Mapuche mythology The mythology and religion of the indigenous Mapuche people of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina is an extensive and ancient belief system. A series of unique legends and myths are common to the various groups that make up the Mapuc ...

in Argentina and Chile (a serpent monster made of various animal hides).

Historical references

17th century

Terra Firma et Novum Regnum Granatense et Popayan - CBT 6621102

Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita

In 1676 (August 12), the Colombian priest and historian Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita (Bogotá, 1624 - Panama, 1688), as requested by the Bishop of Santa Marta, presented his ''General History of the Conquest of the New Kingdom of Granada: the SCRM d. King Charles II of Spain and the Indies'', in which Chapter I, paragraph 13, contains the following statements of a monstrous being on Lake Tota: When referring to a sighting, an additional citation brings certainty to the matter:

19th century

Gaspard Théodore Mollien

The French explorer and diplomat Gaspard Théodore Mollien (Paris, August 29, 1796 - Nice, June 28, 1872), recorded in his book ''The Journey of Gaspard Théodore Mollien by the Republic of Colombia in 1823'', in Chapter V, the following:

Manuel Ancízar

In 1852, Colombian writer, politician, teacher and journalist Manuel Ancízar (Fontibon, December 25, 1812 - Bogota, May 21, 1882); within the works led by Agustin Codazzi, carried out the Corográfica Commission and recorded in his book ''The Pilgrimage Alpha for the northern provinces of New Granada in 1850-1851'' (Alpha was the pseudonym of Ancízar), a reference to the ''diabloballena monster of Lake Tota'' that cited Piedrahita's ''General History of the Conquest of the New Kingdom of Granada: the SCRM d.King Charles II of Spain and the Indians'', in Chapter XXIV, paragraph 5: In the end, Ancízar declared, without discrediting the monster referred to by Piedrahita or exposing any evidence, his doubts about the accuracy of the monster and began to raise his initiative to practice draining Lake Tota to increase the agricultural frontier. He ends the paragraph in reference by stating:

José Jerónimo Triana

Meanwhile, Colombian botanist, explorer and physician

José Jerónimo Triana José Jerónimo Triana Silva (May 22, 1828 in Bogotá – October 31, 1890 in Paris) was a Colombian botanist, explorer, and physician who cataloged over 60,000 specimens representing 8,000 species. In 1851, he joined the Chorographic Commissio ...

(Bogota, May 22, 1828 - Paris, October 31, 1890), a member of the Corográfica Commission of Ancízar, also references the issue. A summary of the book ''Myths, legends, traditions and folklore of Lake Tota'' (Lilia Montaña de Silva, Edition La Rana y El Águila, UPTC Tunja, 1970, p. 46-47) states: Additional notes on this part: A concrete reference to the "black monster" of Lake Tota:

Muisca ancestral conception

When discussing the issue of the monster of Lake Tota in regards to

ancestry, it must be placed in the context of their respective culture. This culture was independent, as advanced as the better known

Inca The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...

and

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

civilizations and very different from the colonial thought that arrived with the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th century.

The mythical origin of Lake Tota

Stories of the mythical origin of Lake Tota mention that “Monetá", the wise old

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

priest, was preparing the "already extensive and powerful Muisca Confederation" to "exorcise the cruel and evil spirit, Busiraco" in the ancient cavity that now forms Lake Tota. Here's mention of the monstrous animal that lived there: The ceremony spell against Busiraco aimed at resolving the suffering of summer and water shortages, led to the creation of Lake Tota; the monster is also mentioned as a snake, when he was fatally attacked: Monument of Bochica in the municipality Cuitiva (Boyacá) The "black snake" and the creation of the lake:

References

External links

*
Monstruo del Lago de Tota
- the ONG ''Fundación Montecito'' as a representative of the area (Lake Tota and its basin) - accessed 02-05-2016 * Related interviews on ''W Radio'', Colombia,
W Fin de Semana
' programme, date 28 October 2012: # To:
Adrian Shine, Scotland, about ''Nessie'' or the Loch Ness Monster
# To:
Felipe Andrés Velasco, Colombia, about ''diablo ballena'' or the Monster of Lake Tota
{{Muisca navbox, Folklore and religion, state=expanded Colombian folklore Indigenous South American legendary creatures Legendary fish Muisca mythology and religion Spanish-language South American legendary creatures Water monsters