Viracachá is a town and municipality in the

Márquez Province The Márquez Province is a province of Boyacá Department, Colombia. The province is formed by 10 municipalities. Municipalities Boyacá • Ciénaga • Jenesano • Nuevo Colón • Ramiriquí Ramiriquí is a town and municipality in t ...

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 ...

, part of the

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. Viracachá 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 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 ...

and the small urban center at above sea level. Other parts of Viracachá reach . The municipality borders

Siachoque Siachoque is a town and municipality in the Central Boyacá Province, part of the Colombian department of Boyacá. Siachoque is situated on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense at a distance of from the department capital Tunja. It borders Toca in th ...

, Rondón and

Soracá Soracá is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Central Boyacá Province. Soracá borders the municipalities of Chivatá in the north, Siachoque, Viracacha and Ramiriquí in the east, B ...

in the north and east, in the south

Ciénega A ciénega (also spelled ciénaga) is a wetland system unique to the American Southwest. Ciénagas are alkaline, freshwater, spongy, wet meadows with shallow-gradient, permanently saturated soils in otherwise arid landscapes that often occupy ...

and Ciénega, Soracá and

Ramiriquí Ramiriquí is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Márquez Province. Ramiriquí borders the department capital Tunja in the north, in the south Chinavita and Zetaquirá, in the east Ron ...

in the west.Official website Viracachá
/ref>

Etymology

About the name Viracachá exist different interpretations. One interpretation says the name is derived from

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

and means "air of the lake". Another attributes it to

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 ...

meaning "lord of the enclosure of the wind".Etymology Viracachcá
- Excelsio.net

History

In the centuries 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 ...

Viracachá was inhabited 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 their 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 ...

. Due to its proximity to the northern capital

Hunza Hunza may refer to: * Hunza, Iran * Hunza Valley, an area in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan ** Hunza (princely state), a former principality ** Hunza District, a recently established district ** Hunza River, a waterway ** Hunza Peak, a mou ...

, Viracachá was ruled by the ''

zaque When the Spanish arrived in the central Colombian highlands, the region was organized into the Muisca Confederation, which had two rulers; the ''zipa'' was the ruler of the southern part and based in Muyquytá. The ''hoa'' was the ruler of the n ...

''. Modern Viracachá was founded by Dominican missionaries on February 15, 1556.

Economy

Viracachá is a rural village where most of the people work in the tertiary sector of services. Also

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 ...

and chicken farming is executed. The town does not have a bank.

References

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