Socotá is a town and municipality in the

Valderrama Province The Valderrama Province is a subregion of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The subregion is formed by 7 municipalities. The province is named after Antonio Valderrama. Municipalities Betéitiva • Chita • Jericó • Paz de Río � ...

, part 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 municipality is situated 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 ...

. The urban centre is at an altitude of at a distance of 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 ...

. It borders Jericó and Sativanorte in the north,

Pisba Pisba (sometimes spelled Pisva) is a town and municipality in Boyacá Department, Colombia, part of the subregion of La Libertad Province. Pisba is situated in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes at altitudes between and . Distance to Sogamo ...

and

Mongua Mongua is a town and municipality in Sugamuxi Province in the Colombian Department of Boyacá. Mongua is situated in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes at altitudes between and . The municipality borders Gámeza, Socotá, Pisba, Lab ...

in the south, Chita and Támara, Casanare in the east and Sativasur, Tasco,

Socha Socha is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the Valderrama Province, which is a subregion of Boyacá. It borders Socotá in the east, Sativasur in the north, Tasco in the south and in the west Paz de Rí ...

and

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 ...

in the west.Official website Socotá
/ref>

Etymology

The name Socotá comes from

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

and means either "Land of the Sun and farmfields" or "Good harvest".Etymology Socotá
/ref>

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 ...

, Socotá was the northeasternmost part of the loose

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 ...

. It was ruled either 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 ...

or by the ''

Tundama Tundama or Saymoso (15th century – late December 1539 in Duitama) was a ''cacique'' of the Muisca Confederation, a loose confederation of different rulers of the Muisca who inhabited the central highlands (Altiplano Cundiboyacense) of the Co ...

'' based in

. Modern Socotá was founded on January 19, 1602 by Gonzalo Sanchez de Flandes.

Economy

Main economic activity of Socotá is

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 and on a minor scale

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 ...

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 ...

Named after Socotá

Socotá Formation The Socotá Formation (, Kis) is a formation (geology), geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Cordillera Oriental (Colombia), Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation consisting of a lower unit of calcareous sandstones a ...

Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker * Lower (surname) * Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) * Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also * Nizhny {{Disambiguation ...

sandstone and shale formation

Climate

References

{{coord, 6, 03, N, 72, 38, W, display=title, region:CO_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Municipalities of Boyacá Department Populated places established in 1602 1602 establishments in the Spanish Empire