The province of Santafé de Bogotá, also known as the government of Santafé during the Spanish imperial era, was originally an administrative and territorial entity of the

New Kingdom of Granada New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

. It was created on July 17th, 1550, at which point New Granada was a province within the

Viceroyalty of Peru The Viceroyalty of Peru (), officially known as the Kingdom of Peru (), was a Monarchy of Spain, Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in ...

. In 1717, province became part of

Viceroyalty of New Granada The Viceroyalty of the New Kingdom of Granada ( ), also called Viceroyalty of New Granada or Viceroyalty of Santa Fe, was the name given on 27 May 1717 to the jurisdiction of the Spanish Empire in northern South America, corresponding to modern ...

after King Philip V of Spain issued a

real cédula The ''real cédula'' (;Vda. de Don Joaquin Ibarra ), also called a ''real despacho'' (), was, in Spanish law during the ''ancien régime'', a dispatch from the king of Spain, issued by some council or superior court at the request of the king or ...

creating the new

viceroyalty A viceroyalty was an entity headed by a viceroy. It dates back to the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the sixteenth century. British Empire India * British Raj, India was governed by the Governor-General of India, Governor-General and Vi ...

. During the

Spanish American wars of independence The Spanish American wars of independence () took place across the Spanish Empire during the early 19th century. The struggles in both hemispheres began shortly after the outbreak of the Peninsular War, forming part of the broader context of the ...

(1810–1816), parts of New Granada (including Santafé de Bogotá) declared independence as the

Free and Independent State of Cundinamarca The Free and Independent State of Cundinamarca () was a rebel state in colonial Colombia. It included parts of the former New Kingdom of Granada (part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada). The state originated as a result of the Foolish Fatherland ...

. Ideological and political differences between the various Granadian provinces gave rise to the first Colombian civil war. This period is known in Colombia as '' La Patria Boba'' (). At the end of the war, Bogotá was incorporated into the

United Provinces of New Granada The United Provinces of New Granada was a country in South America from 1810 to 1816, a period known in Colombian history as '' la Patria Boba'' ("the Foolish Fatherland"). It was formed from areas of the New Kingdom of Granada, roughly corres ...

. After the close of the

Colombian War of Independence The Colombian War of Independence began on July 20, 1810 when the Junta (Spanish American Independence), Junta de Santa Fe was formed in Bogotá, Santa Fe de Bogota, the capital of the Spanish Empire, Spanish colonial Viceroyalty of New Granad ...

, the province of Bogotá became a territory of the first

Republic of Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuela to the east and northeast ...

within the

Cundinamarca Department Department of Cundinamarca (, ) is one of the departments of Colombia. Its area covers (not including the Capital District) and it has a population of 2,919,060 as of 2018. It was created on August 5, 1886, under the constitutional terms pre ...

. After the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1830, Bogotá came under the control of the

Republic of New Granada The Republic of New Granada was a Centralism, centralist unitary republic consisting primarily of present-day Colombia and Panama with smaller portions of today's Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and Brazil that existed from 1831 to 1858. ...

. When the (originally

unitary Unitary may refer to: Mathematics * Unitary divisor * Unitary element * Unitary group * Unitary matrix * Unitary morphism * Unitary operator * Unitary transformation * Unitary representation * Unitarity (physics) * ''E''-unitary inverse semigr ...

) republic adopted a

federal system Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government (a central or federal government) with a regional level of sub-unit governments (e.g., provinces, states, cantons, territories, etc.), while dividing the powers o ...

, the province (along with Mariquita, Neiva, and San Martín) was designated the Sovereign State of Cundinamarca in 1857. In modern times, the region is the location of the city of

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

located high in the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

at .

History

Pre-Columbian history

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. Multiple indigenous societies lived in the area of the province before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, including the Muiscas, Panches, and Pijaos. These groups had established complex trade networks with the inhabitants of the

Cordillera Central Central Cordillera refers to the New Guinea Highlands. Cordillera Central, meaning ''central range'' in Spanish, may refer to the following mountain ranges: * Cordillera Central, Andes (disambiguation), several mountain ranges in South America ** ...

and Cordillera Oriental (the central and eastern ranges of the

Colombian Andes The Andean region, located in central Colombia, is the most populated natural region of Colombia. With many mountains, the Andes contain most of the country's urban centers. In 1536, the conquistador

Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada y Rivera, also spelled as Ximénez and De Quezada, (; 1509 – 16 February 1579) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador in northern South America, territories currently known as Colombia. He explored the territory n ...

led an expedition out of

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially the Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta (), is a port List of cities in Colombia, city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena Department and the fou ...

to explore the interior of New Granada. The expedition defeated the Muisca Confederation and colonized a vast area along the course of the

Magdalena River The Magdalena River (, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, ...

in the interior of the Colombian Andes. By 1538, the expedition had founded the city of Santa Fe de Bogotá (present-day Bogotá). De Quesada named the entire colonized region the New Kingdom of Granada, in homage to the

Kingdom of Granada The Emirate of Granada, also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, was an Islamic polity in the southern Iberian Peninsula during the Late Middle Ages, ruled by the Nasrid dynasty. It was the last independent Muslim state in Western Europe. ...

that had existed until 1492 in what is now southern

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Spanish rule

Emperor Charles I issued a ''real cédula'' in July 27, 1540 elevating the settlement of Santafé to the category of city, thereby granting it the authority to establish its own jurisdiction. The same decree also bestowed upon the city the coat of arms it bears to this day.

Independence

Republican era

On December 17, 1819, the

Congress of Angostura The Congress of Angostura was convened by Simón Bolívar and took place in Angostura (today Ciudad Bolívar) during the wars of independence of Colombia and Venezuela, culminating in the proclamation of the Republic of Colombia (historiograph ...

issued the Fundamental Law that created the Republic of Colombia. The law united New Granada and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, dividing the new republic into three departments: Cundinamarca,

, and

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

. Santafé remained a province within the department of Cundinamarca. A few years later on July 12, 1821, the

Congress of Cúcuta The Congress of Cúcuta was a constituent assembly where the Republic of Colombia (historiographically called Gran Colombia because it covered the territories of the previous viceroyalty of Nueva Granada and Venezuela, which are several nations ...

enacted the

Constitution of Cúcuta The Constitution of Cúcuta, also known as Constitution of the Gran Colombia and Constitution of 1821, was the founding document and constitution of the Republic of Colombia (historiographically called Gran Colombia), unifying the territorie ...

. Based on the Fundamental Law from Angostura, this new document refined the territorial organization of the Republic. While it maintained the division of the Republic into departments and provinces, Santafé was officially renamed Bogotá. Following the

dissolution of Gran Colombia The dissolution of Gran Colombia and the disintegration of its political structures and central government created three independent countries: the State of Venezuela, Republic of Venezuela, the Republic of Ecuador, and the Republic of New Gran ...

in 1830, the Constitution of 1832 was enacted. Under this constitution, the Republic of New Granada was subdivided into provinces (the same as in 1810), with the province of Bogotá corresponding approximately to the territories of the departments of Cundinamarca,

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, and Vichada in modern day

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. The Constitution of 1843 implemented a new division of the Republic of New Granada into provinces, which were further divided into cantons, and these into parochial districts. This division included twenty provinces, including Bogotá. However, Bogotá's territory was significantly reduced, as the eastern part became the Territory of San Martín, while the northern and southern areas were separated to create the provinces of Cundinamarca,

Tequendama Tequendama is a preceramic and ceramic archaeological site located southeast of Soacha, Cundinamarca, Colombia, a couple of kilometers east of Tequendama Falls. It consists of multiple evidences of late Pleistocene to middle Holocene popula ...

, and

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

. When the conservatives returned to power in 1855, Congress approved the reunification of the provinces, but this time as federal states. The constitution of 1858 that created the Granadine Confederation defined eight federal states, including the Sovereign State of Cundinamarca. In 1861, the Sovereign State of Tolima was created from the provinces of Mariquita and Neiva, which until then had been part of Cundinamarca.

References

Provinces of Gran Colombia Provinces of the Republic of New Granada {{Colombia-hist-stub