Cajicá is a municipality and town of

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 ...

in 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 Cundinamarca, north of 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 ...

. It is located in the

Central Savanna Province Central Savanna Province ( es, Sabana Centro) is one of the fifteen provinces of Cundinamarca, in the country of Colombia. It is located in the central area of the department, and has 11 municipalities. The province capital is the city of Zipaqu ...

, being the third most populous municipality in the province after

Zipaquirá Zipaquirá () is a municipality and city of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca. Its neighboring municipalities are Cogua and Nemocón to the north; Tocancipá to the east; Tabio, Cajicá and Sopó to the south; and Subachoque and Pacho ...

and Chía. It is bordered by the municipalities of Zipaquirá to the north,

Sopó Sopó is a municipality and town of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca. The town is located 39 km north of the Colombian capital Bogotá. History The area of Sopó was inhabited first by indigenous groups during the Herrera Period ...

to the east, Chía to the south, and

Tabio Tabio is a municipality and town of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca. It is located at from Bogotá. The town was officially founded April 8, 1603, by Diego Gómez de Mena, on grounds that were the property of the native Muisca who in ...

to the west. The town is located at an altitude of and has an average temperature of .

Etymology

The name of Cajicá derives from a corruption of the two words ''ca'' ("enclosure") and ''jica'' ("stone").History and etymology of Cajicá
Primary sources have two meanings for Cajicá; either derived from the ''

cacique A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...

'' Cajic, or the "stone enclosure" or "stone fortress".Román, 2008, p.288

History

According to ''imagined'' history as described by Ángel Luís Román, the area of Cajicá, in the valley of ''Kaj'' was inhabited since approximately 12,460 BC. The stone wall has been described to have been constructed in two phases; an early phase made of wooden poles and a second phase, built between around 1220 and 1400, out of stone, rare for the Muisca. The wall has been described to have been four meters high and 80 centimeters thick. 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 ...

fortress was said to be located strategically on the

Bogotá savanna The Bogotá savanna is a montane savanna, located in the southwestern part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the center of Colombia. The Bogotá savanna has an extent of and an average altitude of . The savanna is situated in the Eastern Range ...

between

Funza Funza () is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Western Savanna Province, of the department of Cundinamarca. Funza is situated on the Bogotá savanna, the southwestern part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense with the urban centre at an altit ...

and

Fusagasugá Fusagasugá (; ) or Fusa is a town and municipality in the Departments of Colombia, department of Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca, in central Colombia. It is located in the warm valley between the rivers Cuja River, Cuja and Panches, a centr ...

in the south and the road to the regions in the north ( Boyacá and

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 ...

) roughly on the site known today as Las Manas. Rituals were allegedly performed by the merchants and soldiers travelling through the valley on the road between Zipaquirá and Tabio.Román, 2008, p.289 It however remains unclear if this stone fortress was built in pre-Columbian time or after the Spanish conquest.Román, 2008, p.298 Supposedly at this site the vanguard of the

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

army of

Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada y Rivera, also spelled as Ximénez and De Quezada, (;1496 16 February 1579) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador in northern South America, territories currently known as Colombia. He explored the territory named ...

first encountered the Muisca on March 23, 1537. A description of Cajicá from 1593 lists a population of 776 indigenous people. The date of the Spanish foundation of the town is considered to be March 5, 1598Foundation year of Cajicá
/ref> when Juan de Hoyo began the construction of the first church of brick, under the orders of Miguel de Ibarra. Both the original and successive churches were destroyed by earthquakes: the town's present church started construction towards the end of the 19th century and completed in 1930.

Economy

Some 75% of the land of the present day municipality is used for agriculture, but the town also derives a sizeable proportion of its income as a nearby country retreat for wealthy Bogotanos, including country villas and high-end restaurants.

Gallery

File:Plaza central Cajicá.JPG, Central square Cajicá File:IGLESIA CAJICA AÑOS 50.jpg, Church of Cajicá in the 1950s File:Estación del ferrocarril de Cajica.JPG, Train station Cajicá File:Iglesia Inmaculada Concepción de Cajicá (3).JPG, Church Cajicá File:Iglesia Inmaculada Concepción de Cajicá (1).JPG, Church tower File:Iglesia Inmaculada Concepción de Cajicá (2).JPG, Church front detail

References

Bibliography

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cajica Municipalities of Cundinamarca Department Populated places established in 1598 1598 establishments in the Spanish Empire Muisca Confederation Muisca and pre-Muisca sites Muysccubun