Busbanzá () is a town and municipality in the

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 ...

n Department of Boyacá. Busbanzá is part of the

Tundama Province The Tundama Province is a province of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The province is formed by 9 municipalities. Etymology The province is named after ''cacique'' Tundama Tundama or Saymoso (15th century – late December 1539 in ...

, a subregion of Boyacá. Busbanzá is located at from

Sogamoso Sogamoso () is a city in the department of Boyacá of Colombia. It is the capital of the Sugamuxi Province, named after the original Sugamuxi. Sogamoso is nicknamed "City of the Sun", based on the original Muisca tradition of pilgrimage and ado ...

. It borders

Betéitiva Betéitiva () a town and municipality in the Valderrama Province, part of the Colombian department of Boyacá. The urban centre of Betétiva is situated at from the capital Bogotá, from the department capital Tunja and from Sogamoso. The m ...

in the north, in the east and south Corrales and in the west Floresta.Official website Busbanzá
- accessed 07-05-2016

History

The first inhabitants of Busbanzá settled there from the Eastern Llanos near a former lake. They were the ancestors of the

Muisca The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) are indigenous peoples in Colombia and were a Pre-Columbian culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The Muisca spe ...

of Busbanzá and organized themselves in the '' cacicazgos'' of the

Iraka Valley The ''iraca'', sometimes spelled ''iraka'',Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.12, p.77Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.14, p.85 was the Muisca rulers, ruler and high priest of Sogamoso, Sugamuxi in the Muisca Confederation, confederation of the Muisca people, Muisc ...

, together with

Gámeza Gámeza () is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the Sugamuxi Province, a subregion of Boyacá. The town center is located at from Sogamoso and the municipality borders Tasco and Corrales in the north, T ...

, Tobasía,

Firavitoba Firavitoba is a town and municipality in Sugamuxi Province, a subregion of the Departments of Colombia, department of Boyacá Department, Boyacá in Colombia. Before Spanish colonization, Firavitoba was part of the Muisca Confederation of the Chi ...

, Iza, Pesca,

Toca TOCA, formally trading as BARC (TOCA) Ltd, is an organiser of motorsport events in the United Kingdom. The company organises and administers the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) and the support series to the BTCC, sometimes known as the ...

, Tota, Yaconí, Guaquira, Monquirá. According to the

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

of the Muisca, it was bearded messenger god Bochica who educated the people to organize themselves in a

theocracy Theocracy is a form of autocracy or oligarchy in which one or more deity, deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries, with executive and legislative power, who manage the government's ...

. He allegedly ordered the leaders of Busbanzá, Gámeza, Pesca and Toca to choose a new ruler and priest for the

Sun Temple A sun temple (or solar temple) is a building used for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, dedicated to the sun or a solar deity. Such temples were built by a number different cultures and are distributed around th ...

in Sogamoso alternating between ''caciques'' of Firavitoba and Tobasía. On September 4, 1537 the Spanish

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

es entered the Iraka Valley and submitted the area to their new reign. Modern Busbanzá was founded on January 5, 1602. Busbanzá is named after the ''cacique'' Boazá.Etymology Busbanzá
- accessed 07-05-2016

Economy

Main economical activities of Busbanzá are

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

(

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es,

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

es and

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

) and

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

farming.

Born in Busbanzá

* Rodolfo Torres, professional cyclist

Gallery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Busbanza Municipalities of Boyacá Department Populated places established in 1602 1602 establishments in the Spanish Empire Populated places of the Muisca Confederation