Santana is a town and municipality in the Ricaurte Province, in the north of 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. The urban centre is situated at an altitude of 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 ...

. Santana borders Chitaraque and the

Santander Department Santander () is a department of Colombia. Santander inherited the name of one of the nine original states of the United States of Colombia. It is located in the central northern part of the country, borders the Magdalena River to the east, Bo ...

in the east,

Güepsa Guepsa is a town and municipality in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in Nort ...

, Santander in the west, Suaita, Santander in the north and Chitaraque and

San José de Pare San José de Pare is a town and municipality in the Ricaurte Province, part of the department of Boyacá, Colombia. The urban centre of San José de Pare is situated at an elevation of in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, and the eleva ...

in the south.Official website Santana
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Etymology

Santana was called Santa Ana de Vélez until the end of the nineteenth century. Later, it was shortened to Santana.

History

The region of Santana, before the

Spanish conquest of the Muisca The Spanish conquest of the Muisca took place from 1537 to 1540. The Muisca people, Muisca were the inhabitants of the central Andes, Andean highlands of Colombia before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. They were organised in a loose M ...

, was an important

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

-growing area. The

Guane Guane is a municipality and town in the Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. It was founded in 1602. Geography The wards of the municipality include Punta de La Sierra, Portales, Guane 1, Guane 2, Combate la Teneria, Isabel Rubio, Sabalo, and Moll ...

and through

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

also 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 ...

, made mantles and small cloths used as money from the plant. Santana was located between the terrains led by the major ''

cacique A cacique, sometimes spelled as cazique (; ; feminine form: ), was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, who were the Indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles at the time of European cont ...

'' of Vélez and Chitaraque.

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 ...

Martín Galeano founded the modern town of Vélez on June 3, 1539. Santa Ana was visited by evangelisers at the end of 1692 for the first time, 75 years after the installation of the

encomienda The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish Labour (human activity), labour system that rewarded Conquistador, conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. In theory, the conquerors provided the labourers with benefits, including mil ...

of Santa Ana de Vélez. Modern Santana, then still called Santa Ana, was founded by viceroy

Antonio José Amar y Borbón Antonio José Amar y Borbón Arguedas (1742 in Zaragoza, Spain – 1826? in Zaragoza) was a Spanish military officer and colonial official. From September 16, 1803 to July 20, 1810 he was viceroy of Viceroyalty of New Granada. During his mand ...

on June 14, 1806.

Economy

The basis for the economy of Santana is the cultivation of

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

, to produce

panela Panela () or rapadura (Portuguese pronunciation: ) is an unrefined whole cane sugar, typical of Latin America. It is a solid form of sucrose derived from the boiling and evaporation of sugarcane juice. Panela is known by other names in Lati ...

. ⁣⁣Coffee⁣⁣ is also grown in Santana.

Gallery

File:Santana, Bycá dic 2017.jpg, A building in Santana (2017) File:Cem Santana, Bycá dic 2017 2.jpg, Local cemetery in Santana (2017)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santana, Boyaca Municipalities of Boyacá Department Populated places established in 1806 1806 establishments in the Spanish Empire