Tocancipá () is a municipality and town 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 ...

in the Central Savanna Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. Tocancipá is situated in the northern part of the

Bogotá savanna The Bogotá savanna is a savanna#Savanna ecoregions, montane savanna, located in the southwestern part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the center of Colombia. The Bogotá savanna has an extent of and an average altitude of . The savanna is si ...

, part of 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 ...

in the Eastern Ranges 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 ...

with the urban centre at an altitude of . The capital

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

, which

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

includes Tocancipá, is to the south. Tocancipá borders Gachancipá in the north, Guasca and Sopó in the south, Guatavita in the east and Zipaquirá in the west.Official website Tocancipá
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Etymology

The name Tocancipá comes from Muysccubun and means "Valley of the joys of the ''zipa''".

History

The area of Tocancipá was inhabited early in the history of inhabitation of the Altiplano. The

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

Tibitó is located within the boundaries of Tocancipá and evidence of inhabitation has been dated to 11,740 ± 110 years BP.Aceituno & Rojas, 2012, p.127 At the time of arrival of the Spanish

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 ...

es in 1537, Tocancipá was part of 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 ...

, a loose confederation of different rulers of 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 ...

. The ''

zipa When the Spain, 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 Funza, Muyquytá. The ''Zaque'' was the ...

'' of Bacatá ruled over Tocancipá. Modern Tocancipá was founded on September 21, 1593 by Miguel de Ibarra.

Tourism

Jaime Duque Park, a family-oriented amusement park, is located in Tocancipá. The town also hosts the Autódromo de Tocancipá, a race track where vintage and GT races are held.

Gallery

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tocancipa Municipalities of Cundinamarca Department Populated places established in 1593 1593 establishments in the Spanish Empire Populated places of the Muisca Confederation