Tausa () is a municipality and town of
Colombia in the
Ubaté Province, part of the
department of
Cundinamarca. Tausa is and was an important town 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 Alt ...
due to its
salt mine. It was the third most prolific salt deposit for the original inhabitants of the area; 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 ...
. Tausa's urban centre is located at an elevation of (other parts of the municipality reach elevations of ) and a distance of from the capital
Bogotá. The municipality borders
San Cayetano,
Carmen de Carupa and
Sutatausa in the north,
Pacho
Pacho is a municipality and town of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca. Pacho is part of the Rionegro Province and the urban centre is situated at a distance of from the capital Bogotá at an altitude of , while the altitude ranges from ...
in the west, Sutatausa,
Cucunubá and
Suesca in the east and in the south with
Nemocón and
Cogua.
[Official website Tausa]
/ref>
Etymology
The name Tausa comes from 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 lan ...
and means "tribute".[Espejo Olaya, 1999, p.1124]
History
Tausa was inhabited since the Herrera Period. The town was an important mining location of halite for 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 ...
. The '' zipa'' of Bacatá ruled over Tausa. The mining activities can be seen in the seal of the village; the pick and spade.
Modern Tausa was founded on August 2, 1600.[
]
Economy
Main sources of income of Tausa are 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 ...
, livestock
Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...
farming and salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...
mining.[
]
See also
* Muisca economy#Mining
* Nemocón
* 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 ...
References
Bibliography
*
{{Muisca navbox, Topics
Municipalities of Cundinamarca Department
Populated places established in 1600
1600 establishments in the Spanish Empire
Muisca Confederation
Muysccubun