Ortega () is a town and municipality in the Tolima department of

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 ...

. Ortega is located at altitudes from above sea level, and has a surface area of . The average temperature ranges from .

History

In 1572, a group composed of captain Diego Bocanegra, Luis de Morales, Vicente Valenzuela, Ambrosio de Morales Bocanegra, and forty soldiers that Diego Bocanegra had taken to conquer the native

Pijao The Pijao (also Piajao, Pixao, Pinao) are an indigenous people from Colombia. Ethnography The Pijao or Pijaos formed a loose federation of anthropophagous Amerindians and were living in the present-day department of Tolima, Colombia. In p ...

, established a town named Santiago de la Frontera. That first foundation was abandoned, due to Diego Bocanegra leaving for the troops commanded by

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 ...

, following a high court's mandate. In 1586, Diego Bocanegra undertook a second foundation and named the settlement Medina de las Torres. Because of the attacks by the Pijao on Medina de las Torres, the town disappeared. A third foundation was also unsuccessful because of the attacks by the Pijao. Centuries later, on November 30, 1821, the Catholic Father Nicolás Ramírez rebuilt the town and named it Ortega, in an area of .

Panorama

Municipalities of Tolima Department 1821 establishments in Gran Colombia {{Tolima-geo-stub