Ventaquemada is a town and municipality in the Central Boyacá Province, 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. Ventaquemada is located at a distance of from the 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 departmental 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 ...

. The urban centre is situated at an altitude of 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 ...

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 ...

. Ventaquemada borders Tunja and

Samacá Samacá is a town and municipality in the Central Boyacá Province, part of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. It borders Cucaita, Tunja and Ventaquemada in the east, Ráquira in the west, Sáchica, Sora and Cucaita in the north and Venta ...

in the north,

Boyacá, Boyacá Boyacá is a town and municipality in the Márquez Province, part of the department of Boyacá, Colombia. It is located approximately from the city of Tunja, the capital of the department. Boyacá limits Tunja and Soracá in the north, Jenesa ...

Jenesano Jenesano is a town and municipality in the Márquez Province, part of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The urban centre is located at an altitude of on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense. Jenesano borders Nuevo Colón in the west, Ramiriquí in ...

and Nuevo Colón in the east,

Turmequé Turmequé is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Márquez Province. Turmequé is located at northeast from the capital Bogotá. The municipality borders Ventaquemada in the west, in the ...

and

Villapinzón Villapinzón is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Almeidas Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. The urban centre is situated at an elevation of on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, at a distance of from the capital Bogotá. ...

in the south and

Guachetá Guachetá is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Ubaté Province of the department of Cundinamarca. Guachetá is located at from the capital Bogotá. It borders the Boyacá municipalities of Ráquira and Samacá in the north, Ubat ...

Lenguazaque Lenguazaque is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Departments of Colombia, department of Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca. Lenguazaque is situated on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, part of the Cordillera Oriental (Colombia), Eastern Ran ...

and Villapinzón in the west.Official website Ventaquemada
/ref>

Etymology

Former names of Ventaquemada are Padua and La Venta, indicating the commercial centre at a strategical location along the road between Bogotá and Tunja, historically the most important cities of the Altiplano. After the burning of the properties of Albarracín, the name Ventaquemada ("burnt sale") was given to the town.

History

The area of Ventaquemada 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 ...

was populated 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 ...

, who were organised 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 ...

. Ventaquemada was part of the rule of 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 ...

'' of

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 ...

. Modern Ventaquemada was founded on December 17, 1777, by

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

Manuel Antonio Flórez Manuel Antonio Flórez Maldonado Martínez Ángulo y BodquínReal Academia de la historiaDiccionario Bibliográfico español - Manuel Antonio Flórez/ref> (in full, ''Manuel Antonio Flórez Maldonado'') (May 27, 1723 in Seville, Spain – M ...

. Ventaquemada is close to the

Puente de Boyacá The Puente de Boyacá (in English: Bridge of Boyacá) is a small bridge located at the Pan-American Highway, 110 km east of Bogotá and 14 km west from Tunja in a valley, crossing Teatinos River. Numerous monuments have been erected ...

, the bridge where the decisive

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 ...

in the struggle for independence of Colombia was fought. Ventaquemada has a classical colonial house and a statue honouring independence hero

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 ...

. The train station of Ventaquemada has long been abandoned.

Economy

Main economical activity of Ventaquemada 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 ...

;

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 and

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 ...

are the major products cultivated.

Born in Ventaquemada

* Héctor Moreno, former Colombian racewalker

Gallery

File:Casa Historica de Ventaquemada-3.jpg, Historical house File:Iglesia del Rosario en Ventaquemada.JPG, Church of Ventaquemada File:Estación del Ferrocarril Ventaquemada I (abandonada).jpg, Abandoned train station File:Ventaquemada Bolivar.jpg, Statue of Simón Bolívar File:Detalle en la casa histórica de Ventaquemada.jpg, Dates when Bolívar passed through Ventaquemada File:El puente de la independencia - panoramio.jpg, Puente de Boyacá

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of Boyacá Department Populated places established in 1777 1777 establishments in the Spanish Empire Muisca Confederation