Sutamarchán is a town and municipality in the

Ricaurte Province The Ricaurte Province is a province of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The province, named after independence hero Antonio Ricaurte, is formed by 13 municipalities. Municipalities * Arcabuco * Chitaraque * Gachantivá * Moniquirá * R ...

, part of the department of Boyacá 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 ...

. Sutamarchán is situated 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 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 Santa Sofía in the north,

Sáchica Sáchica is a municipality of Colombia situated approximately west of Tunja in the Ricaurte Province of the department of Boyacá. Sáchica borders Sutamarchán and Villa de Leyva in the north, in the east Chíquiza, Samacá and Ráquira in ...

and

Villa de Leyva Villa de Leyva, also called Villa de Leiva, is a touristic colonial town and municipality, in the Ricaurte Province, part of the Boyacá Department of Colombia. The town is a Colombian National Heritage Town and is on the tentative list for UNE ...

in the east, Saboyá in the west and

Ráquira Ráquira, is a municipality and town in Boyacá Department, Colombia, part of the subregion of the Ricaurte Province. Ráquira is situated on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense and the urban center at an altitude of . It borders Tinjacá and Sutamarc ...

and

Tinjacá Tinjacá is a town and municipality in Boyacá Department, Colombia, part of the subregion of the Ricaurte Province. Tinjacá is located on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense at a distance of from the department capital Tunja. It borders Sutamarchán ...

in the south.Official website Sutamarchán
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Etymology

The name Sutamarchán is derived from the

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 ...

sovereign ''Suta'' and Spanish ''marchán'': "Merchant of the sovereign Suta". Marchán refers to Pedro Merchan de Velasco, who was an 18th-century

encomendero The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. In theory, the conquerors provided the labourers with benefits, including military protection and education. In pr ...

of Suta.Etymology Sutamarchán
- Excelsio.net

History

Sutamarchán in the times 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 ...

was inhabited 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 their 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 ...

. Sutamarchán was ruled by the ''

zaque When the Spanish arrived in the central Colombian highlands, the region was organized into the Muisca Confederation, which had two rulers; the ''Zipa'' was the ruler of the southern part and based in Muyquytá. The ''Zaque'' was the ruler of the ...

'' of

Hunza Hunza may refer to: * Hunza, Iran * Hunza Valley, an area in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan ** Hunza (princely state), a former principality ** Hunza District, a recently established district ** Hunza River, a waterway ** Hunza Peak, a mo ...

. Modern Sutamarchán was founded on December 14, 1556, by Antonio de Santana.

Economy

The main economical activities of Sutamarchán 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 ...

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

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

. Among the agricultural products

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,

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

es,

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 ...

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 ...

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

s and the Colombian fruit

curuba Banana passionfruit (''Passiflora'' supersect. ''Tacsonia''), also known as taxo and curuba, is a group of around 64 ''Passiflora'' species found in South America. Most species in this section are found in high-elevation cloud forest habitats. ...

are cultivated. The town is famous for its

longaniza Longaniza (, or ) is a Spanish sausage ( embutido) similar to a chorizo and also closely associated with the Portuguese linguiça. Its defining characteristics are interpreted differently from region to region. It is popular in the cuisines ...

sausages. Tourism is mainly religious; tourists visit the Santo Ecce Homo Convent. Since June 15, 2004, a Tomatina festival, like the famous original in

Buñol Buñol is a town and municipality in the province of Valencia, Spain. The municipality has an area of some 112 km2, and is situated approximately 38 km west of the provincial and autonomous community capital city, Valencia. It lies alon ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, is celebrated in Sutamarchán.

Born in Sutamarchán

Pedro González (humorist) Pedro González Pedro Antonio González González (born 1965 in Sutamarchán Sutamarchán is a town and municipality in the Ricaurte Province, part of the Departments of Colombia, department of Boyacá Department, Boyacá of Colombia. Sutamarc ...

Gallery

File:Sutamarchan parque.jpg, Church and central square File:Tomatina sutamarchan.JPG, Tomatina festival Sutamarchán File:Tomatina Colombia.jpg, Tomatina festival File:UBICACION DE SUTAMARCHAN.jpg, Touristic map of Sutamarchán and surroundings File:Monasterio Santo ecce-homo - Exterior.JPG, Santo Ecce Homo Convent File:Vista interior No11 del Convento del Santo Ecce Homo. Boyacá.JPG, Santo Ecce Homo Convent File:Vista interior No5 del Convento del Santo Ecce Homo. Boyacá.JPG, Santo Ecce Homo Convent interior File:Piso de fósiles del Convento del Santo Ecce Homo. Bopyacá.JPG, Floor with fossils in the Convent

Panoramas

References

{{coord, 5, 36, N, 73, 38, W, display=title, region:CO_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Municipalities of Boyacá Department Populated places established in 1556 1556 establishments in the Spanish Empire