Lake Fúquene is a heart-shaped lake located in the Ubaté-Chiquinquirá Valley, part of 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 Alt ...

, in the north of Cundinamarca, Colombia, at the border with Boyacá. The

Andean 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 l ...

lake, at an average altitude of , was considered sacred in the

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

of 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 inhabited the area before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca in the 1530s.Ocampo López, 2013, p.226 Due to drainage of the waters for

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 t ...

and dairy farming, the lake levels have dropped drastically in recent years and many flora and fauna species have disappeared.

Etymology

In the

Chibcha language Chibcha, Mosca, Muisca, Muysca (*/ˈmɨska/), or Muysca de Bogotá, was a language spoken by the Muisca people of the Muisca Confederation, one of the many indigenous cultures of the Americas. The Muisca inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyace ...

of the Muisca ''Fúquene'' means "Place of swamps covered with fog", "Bed of the fox" or "Holy People", referring to the religious rituals of the Muisca. Muisca means "people" in Chibcha.Hoeck, p.4Etymology Fúquene
/ref>Official website Fúquene
/ref>Cabrera Ortiz, 1957, p.5

History

Lake Fúquene, the lake in the Ubaté-Chiquinquirá Valley, one of the four major valleys of the

, was an important ritual lake in the culture of the Muisca. It formed the connection between the territories of the ''

zipa 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 ...

'' in the south and ''

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 ...

'' in the north and

merchants A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as industry ...

between the two parts of the Muisca Confederation would pass the lake. When conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and his troops arrived at the lake in 1537, the water level was to higher.Cabrera Ortiz, 1957, p.3 Since 1934 about 70% of the lake surface has been gone; from to .Hoeck, p.8 In this time, the lake level has dropped by .

Flora, fauna and environmental issues

Around 47 bird species visit Lake Fúquene, among them '' Agelaius icterocephalus bogotensis'' and '' Fulica americana''.Hoeck, p.7 in 1940, more than 80 fauna species were foraging around the lake, a number reduced to 58 in 2014.En 30 años, agua en laguna de Fúquene descendió un metro
-

El Espectador ''El Espectador'' (meaning "The Spectator") is a newspaper with national circulation within Colombia, founded by Fidel Cano Gutiérrez on 22 March 1887 in Medellín and published since 1915 in Bogotá. It changed from a daily to a weekly editio ...

In and around the lake 248 plant species have been identified. Some of the flora species are ''

Scirpus californicus ''Schoeneoplectus californicus'' is a species of sedge known by the common names California bulrush, southern bulrush and giant bulrush. It is also sometimes called "tule", but the closely related ''Schoenoplectus acutus'' is the species most oft ...

'', '' Typha'',Hoeck, p.27 '' Ixobrichus exilis bogotensis'',Hoeck, p.6 and ''

Alnus jorullensis ''Alnus jorullensis'', commonly known as Mexican alder, is an evergreen or semi-evergreen alder, native to eastern and southern Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. Although previously reported from the Andes, further collections showed these to be th ...

''.Hoeck, p.19 In recent years, 40% of the

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

has disappeared in the past 60 years. In 2014, around 207,000 inhabitants of the area lived around the lake. Fifty dairy farming industries exist around it, with the most important in Ubaté, Chiquinquirá and Simijaca.La agonía de la laguna de Fúquene
- El Tiempo

References

Bibliography

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External links