Iza is a town and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Boyacá Department Boyacá () is one of the thirty-two departments of Colombia, and the remnant of Boyacá State, one of the original nine states of the "United States of Colombia". Boyacá is centrally located within Colombia, almost entirely within the mount ...

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 ...

. Iza is located near the Tota Lake and part of the

Sugamuxi Province The Sugamuxi Province () is a subregion of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The subregion is formed by 13 municipalities. Etymology The name of the province comes from Sugamuxi, the last ''iraca'' of the Muisca and means in Chibcha ...

, a subregion of Boyacá. Iza is located in the

Eastern Ranges The Eastern Ranges is an Australian rules football team that currently competes in the Talent League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. History Inaugural playing squad (1992) Honours *Premiers (2): 2002, 2013 *Runners-up (6): 199 ...

of the Colombian

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 ...

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. (Do not confuse with The Altiplano or the Altiplano Nariñense, both fur ...

at a distance of 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 ...

and from the department capital

Tunja Tunja () is a municipality and city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 the municipality had a population of 172,548. It is the capital of B ...

. The municipality borders

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 ...

and Sogamoso in the north, Sogamoso and Cuítiva in the east, in the west

Pesca Pesca is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the Sugamuxi Province, a subregion of Boyacá. The town is located in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes at altitudes between and . Pesca is west from th ...

and Firavitoba, and in the south Cuítiva.

History

Before the

Spanish conquest The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It ...

, the area of Iza was inhabited first by indigenous groups during the

Herrera Period The Herrera Period is a phase in the history of Colombia. It is part of the Andean preceramic and ceramic, time equivalent of the North American pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Formative stage, formative and classic stages and age dated by var ...

and later by 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 ...

, organized in the

Muisca Confederation The Muisca Confederation was a loose confederation of different Muisca rulers (''zaques'', ''zipas'', ''iraca'', and ''tundama'') in the central Andes, Andean highlands of what is today Colombia before the Spanish conquest of the Americas, Spanis ...

. Iza was ruled by the ''

iraca The ''iraca'', sometimes spelled ''iraka'',Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.12, p.77Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.14, p.85 was the ruler and high priest of Sugamuxi in the confederation of the Muisca who inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense; the central high ...

'' of

Sugamuxi Sugamuxi (died 1539) was the last '' iraca''; ''cacique'' of the sacred City of the Sun Suamox. Sugamuxi, presently called Sogamoso, was an important city in the religion of the Muisca who inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the times be ...

, modern neighbouring Sogamoso. According to Muisca mythology, the messenger god

Bochica Bochica (also alluded to as Nemquetaha, Nemqueteba and Sadigua) is a mythical figure in the religion of the Muisca, who inhabited the ''Altiplano Cundiboyacense'' before the Spanish invasion by conquistadors in the central Andean highlands of pre ...

is said to have lived outside Iza in a cave. In the

Chibcha language Chibcha, Mosca, Muisca, Muysca (*/ˈmɨska/ * �mʷɨska, or Muysca de Bogotá is a language spoken by the Muisca people, one of the many indigenous cultures of the Americas. The Muisca inhabit the Altiplano Cundiboyacense of what today is th ...

of the Muisca ''za'' means "night", and ''Iza'' means "place of healing".Etymology Iza
- accessed 06-05-2016 Modern Iza was founded on January 2, 1554. The town is nicknamed ''Nido Verde de Boyacá''; "Green Nest of Boyacá".

Economy

Main economical activities of Iza are

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

(

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

and

pozzolan Pozzolans are a broad class of siliceous and aluminous materials which, in themselves, possess little or no cementitious value but which will, in finely divided form and in the presence of water, react chemically with calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2 ...

) and

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 ...

Born in Iza

* Jairo Pérez, former professional cyclist

Gallery

File:Calles Poblado-4.jpg, Street view File:Calles Poblado.jpg, Street view File:Poblado de Iza 011.jpg, Street view File:Iza rodeada de montañas.JPG, Mountain view File:Parroquía de Iza-Boyacá. A Pulido-Villamarín.JPG, Church of Iza File:Vista lateral de la iglesia de Iza (bOYACÁ).JPG, Church File:Poblado de Iza.jpg, Church tower File:Parque Central Poblado Iza.jpg, Central park

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iza, Boyaca Municipalities of Boyacá Department Populated places established in 1556 1556 establishments in the Spanish Empire Populated places of the Muisca Confederation