Tocaima () refers to both a city and a municipality in Cundinamarca, Colombia.

City

The city of Tocaima was founded on March 20, 1544 as San Dionisio de los Caballeros de Tocaima by the Spanish explorer

Hernán Venegas Carrillo Hernán Venegas Carrillo Manosalvas (1513 – 2 February 1583) was a Spanish conquistador for who participated in the Spanish conquest of the Muisca and Panche people in the New Kingdom of Granada, present-day Colombia. Venegas Carrillo was ...

. This small city is most well known for being a warm

vacation A vacation (American English) or holiday (British English) is either a leave of absence from a regular job or an instance of leisure travel away from home. People often take a vacation during specific holiday observances or for specific festi ...

site during religious holidays, especially for college students from Bogotá and other surrounding areas. The town is crossed by the Pati River, which sometimes floods the town.

History

Before Spanish colonization, the area was home to the Guacana, an

Amerindian The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

tribe belonging to the Panche Amerindian Nation. Tocaima was named in honor of a legendary warrior from this tribe, during the ruling period of the

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 ...

Guacana. It is believed that Tocaima is the only city in the Cundinamarca Department that presently has a royal title and

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

issued by the

Spanish Monarchy , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infa ...

issued the royal title and coat of arms on February 7, 1549, in appreciation of the city's loyalty and fame for being a powerful and wealthy region. In 1581, the city was completely destroyed by an exceptionally devastating flood of the Pati River. President Juan de Borja sent Captain Martin de Ocampo to refound the city, which he did on March 18, 1621 by constructing the

Convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

of San Jacinto and its contiguous chapel. During the decolonization of Colombia from Spain in 1810, Tocaima was represented in the

electoral An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operat ...

and constitutional college by jurist Miguel de Tobar y Zerrato and Don Juan Salvador Rodriguez de Lago. The Cabildo, or colonial administrative council, was re-established that same year. The new Constitution of Cundinamarca, created in 1815, divided the nation into cantons, which provoked a confrontation between the Tocaima Canton and the neighboring Canton of La Mesa. In 1816, Spain re-conquered the colonies and subsequently repressed the newly created government. After finally defeating the Spanish in 1819, the colonists declared total independence from Spain and created the Republic of

Gran Colombia Gran Colombia (, "Great Colombia"), or Greater Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia (Spanish language, Spanish: ''República de Colombia''), was a state that encompassed much of northern South America and part of southern Central Ameri ...

, which—led by General

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

in 1822—re-established the Tocaima Canton. In 1906, Tocaima was notable for its gold and copper mines, but neither mineral was mined there by 1920.

Notable people

* Jerónima Nava y Saavedra (1669-1727), writer and Catholic religious

References

{{Municipalities cundinamarca department Municipalities of Cundinamarca Department