Socotá is a town and municipality in the

Valderrama Province The Valderrama Province is a subregion of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The subregion is formed by 7 municipalities. The province is named after Antonio Valderrama. Municipalities Betéitiva • Chita • Jericó • Paz de Río • ...

, part of the

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 ...

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. The municipality is situated 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 urban centre is at an altitude of at a distance of 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 Jericó and

Sativanorte Sativanorte is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Northern Boyacá Province. Sativanorte borders Susacón in the north, in the south Sativasur and Tutazá, in the west Onzaga of the depar ...

in the north, Pisba and

Mongua Mongua is a town and municipality in Sugamuxi Province in the Colombian Department of Boyacá. Mongua is situated in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes at altitudes between and . The municipality borders Gámeza, Socotá, Pisba, La ...

in the south, Chita and Támara, Casanare in the east and

Sativasur Sativasur is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Northern Boyacá Province. It is approximately 132 km from Tunja, the capital of the department. Sativasur borders the municipalities Sativ ...

Tasco Tasco (also known as Tasco Worldwide) sells consumer telescopes. Tasco mainly imports telescopes for amateur astronomers but has expanded into other optical products, such as spotting scopes, microscopes, binoculars, telescopic sights, and other ...

Socha Socha is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the Valderrama Province, which is a subregion of Boyacá. It borders Socotá in the east, Sativasur in the north, Tasco in the south and in the west Paz de Río ...

and

Gámeza Gámeza () is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the Sugamuxi Province, a subregion of Boyacá. The town center is located at from Sogamoso and the municipality borders Tasco and Corrales in the north, T ...

in the west.Official website Socotá
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Etymology

The name Socotá 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 either "Land of the Sun and farmfields" or "Good harvest".Etymology Socotá
/ref>

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 ...

, Socotá was the northeasternmost part of the loose

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. The ...

. It was ruled either by the ''

iraca The ''iraca'', sometimes spelled ''iraka'',Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.12, p.77Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.14, p.85 was the ruler and high priest of Sugamuxi in the confederation of the Muisca who inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense; the central high ...

'' of

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

or by the ''

Tundama Tundama or Saymoso (15th century - Duitama, late December 1539) was a ''cacique'' of the Muisca Confederation, a loose confederation of different rulers of the Muisca who inhabited the central highlands (Altiplano Cundiboyacense) of the Colomb ...

'' based in

. Modern Socotá was founded on January 19, 1602 by Gonzalo Sanchez de Flandes.

Economy

Main economic activity of Socotá is

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

farming and on a minor scale

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 dea ...

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 economic via ...

Named after Socotá

* Socotá Formation,

Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eight ...

sandstone and shale formation

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Socota Municipalities of Boyacá Department Populated places established in 1602 1602 establishments in the Spanish Empire Muisca Confederation Muysccubun