Oicatá is a town and municipality in the

Central Boyacá Province The Central Boyacá Province () is a province of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The province is formed by fifteen municipalities, including the departmental capital Tunja. Municipalities Cómbita • Cucaita • Chíquiza • Chivatá • ...

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 Boyacá,

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 urban centre is situated 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 Alti ...

at an altitude of and a distance of from the national 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 ...

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 department an ...

. It borders

Cómbita Cómbita is a town and municipality in the Colombian Departments of Colombia, Department of Boyacá Department, Boyacá, part of the sub region of the Central Boyacá Province. Cómbita is situated on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense and borders Arcab ...

and Tuta in the north,

Chivatá Chivatá is a town and municipality in the Central Boyacá Province, part of the Colombian department of Boyacá. The urban centre is situated at an altitude of on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense at from the department capital Tunja. It borders ...

and

in the south, Chivatá in the east and in the west Cómbita and Tunja.Official website Oicatá

Etymology

The name Oicatá 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 langu ...

and means "Domain of the priests" or "Hailstoned farmlands".Etymology Oicatá
- Excelsio.net

History

The municipality was founded on May 9, 1539 by Pedro Ruiz Corredor. 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 ...

it was the territory of 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 ...

, which was the most developed in the country socially, culturally, and in productivity. Post-conquest governmental power was exercised by the Governor General, who was directly appointed by the King of Spain. After several centuries of Spanish rule, and after fierce battles, the people won their freedom from Spain in the

Battle of Boyacá The Battle of Boyacá (1819), was the decisive battle that ensured the success of Bolívar's campaign to liberate New Granada. The battle of Boyaca is considered the beginning of the independence of the north of South America, and is considered i ...

, where on August 7, 1819, troops under the command of

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and B ...

defeated the Spanish forces. In 1821 the Constitution of

Cúcuta Cúcuta (), officially San José de Cúcuta, is a Colombian municipality, capital of the department of Norte de Santander and nucleus of the Metropolitan Area of Cúcuta. The city is located in the homonymous valley, at the foot of the Eastern ...

divided the country into departments, the departments into provinces, provinces into counties, and counties into parishes, establishing

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 ...

as an administrative entity comprising the provinces of

, Pamplona, Socorro and Casanare. The Act of June 15, 1857, established Boyacá as a sovereign state consisting of the provinces of Tunja, Tundama, Casanare, and the counties of

Chiquinquirá Chiquinquirá is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Western Boyacá Province. Located some 115 km north of Bogotá, Chiquinquirá is above sea level and has a yearly average temp ...

and Velez. The Act of October 31 of that year created four departments: Tunja with 42 districts, Tundama with 46, Casanare with 21, and Oriente (East) with 6. Under the

Constitution of Rionegro The constitutional history of Colombia is the process of formation and evolution of the different constitutions that Colombia has had since its formation. Pre-Columbian and Spanish times The indigenous nations that inhabited the present t ...

in 1863 the administrative divisions of Boyacá underwent various modifications, and Law 10 of that year established a new division into 6 departments: Casanare, Tundama, North, West, East and Centre. The centrist Constitution of 1886 divided the country into departments, the departments into provinces, and the provinces into municipalities. The provinces were abolished in 1911 by Executive Decree No. 306, and several municipalities were separated off to form the commissariat of Arauca. Afterward the municipalities in the Orinoco region formed the intendency of Casanare as a newly annexed territory of Boyacá Department until 1973, when it split off again.

Economy

Main economical activity of Oicatá is

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 to ...

with products

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es,

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. Th ...

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

pea The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

s and

bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

Climate

Oicata's climate is influenced by its location and altitude. At almost 3000 m it is one of the higher cities in Colombia. As a result, the city features 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 ( ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Cfb'') with little variation in temperature throughout the year but a distinct dry season from December to February.

Gallery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oicata Municipalities of Boyacá Department Populated places established in 1539 1539 establishments in the Spanish Empire 1539 disestablishments in the Muisca Confederation Muysccubun