
Usaquén is the 1st locality of
Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the largest ...
, capital of
Colombia. It is located in the north of the city. This district is mostly inhabited by upper middle and upper class residents. It is designated as Bogotá's #1 locality, while being a separate municipality of
Cundinamarca until 1954, when it was annexed into the city. Today, Usaquén is home to more than 480,000 inhabitants as projected by 2008.
The
Eastern Hills form the natural border to the east.
General information
Borders
* North: The municipality of
Chía
* East: The municipality of
La Calera
* South: The locality of
Chapinero
* West: The locality of
Suba
Sites of interest
* The colonial quarter of Usaquén includes most of the buildings which belonged to the old municipality of the same name. These buildings are characterized by its Spanish colonial style architecture, similar of those in the
La Candelaria neighborhood. Some important buildings in the area include: the Santa Barbara church (constructed in 1665 and modernized in the 20th century), the old country manor of the same name (now a mall) and the San José de Usaquén seminar and a variety of good restaurants.
* Country Club, the largest
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
club in Bogotá
* Hacienda Santa Barbara, a colonial style Hacienda that now serves as a shopping mall
* Unicentro, Bogotá shopping mall, dating back to the mid seventies
* Santa Ana Centro Comercial, shopping mall
* Weekly Mercado de Las Pulgas (translated, Flea Market) - Takes place every Sunday on and around Plaza Usaquén. It is popular with local Bogotans as well as visitors. It is a place to shop for handicrafts, and various knick knacks. The main focus is on enjoyment. People come to enjoy the ambience. There is often entertainment on the square including bands, dancers, jugglers and mime artists. There is also a variety of local snacks and deserts available. Visitors often combine the visit with lunch on one of the many up-market restaurants in the area.
* La Aguadora Trail: La Aguadora is a hiking trail located in Usaquén, access is managed by The Bogotá Aqueduct Company. Ecological walks of this trail are conducted regularly by the District Institute of Recreation and Sports "IDRD"
History
The name comes from the ''
cacique
A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a ...
'' ''Usaque'', who was ruling the area of the southern
Muisca
The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan l ...
as 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 present-day Colombia before the Spanish conquest of the Americas, Spanish ...
. ''Usaque'' in
Muysccubun means "under the pole".
[Etymology Usaquén]
/ref> In 1537 conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada
Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada y Rivera, also spelled as Ximénez and De Quezada, (;1496 16 February 1579) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador in northern South America, territories currently known as Colombia. He explored the territory nam ...
and his troops arrived on the Bogotá savanna
The Bogotá savanna is a 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 situated in the Eastern Ra ...
. Usaquén was abandoned by Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...
decree in 1777. It was gradually repopulated by people from Bogotá, and was host to some fighting during the war for Colombian independence. It was re-founded as a municipality in 1846, and in 1860 it was the scene of a battle between government troops and Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera. After winning that battle, Cipriano took power of the country.
Until 1954, the municipality covered , starting from Avenida España Avenida España, or España Avenue may refer to:
* Avenida España (Trujillo), Peru
* Avenida España (Valparaíso), coastal road from Valparaíso to neighboring Viña del Mar, Chile
*Avenida España ( es), in Asunción, Paraguay
* Avenida España ...
in the south and ending to the north along the road to Chía. It had traditionally been a spot for Bogotá's elites to maintain country homes. When it was integrated into the city, it maintained many of its municipal institutions, but with the supervision of Bogotá's mayor. Under the new constitution of 1991, Bogotá was reorganized into localities. Usaquén was numbered first of twenty.
On December 31, 1978, the guerrilla group M-19 M19, M.19, or M-19 most commonly refers to:
* May 19th Communist Organization (M19), an American far-left female-led terrorist group active during the 1970s–1980s
* 19th of April Movement (M-19), a former Colombian guerrilla movement and politica ...
took the military base called Cantón Norte, robbing the arsenal.
Neighbourhoods and parks
Neighborhoods
Among the important neighborhoods are: Lijacá, Verbenal, San Antonio, Servitá, San Cristóbal Norte, Toberín, Barrancas, Cedritos, Bella Suiza, La Carolina, Santa Ana, Santa Barbara, San Gabriel Norte, Cantón Norte, Francisco Miranda, Las Margaritas, San Patricio and the colonial heart of Usaquén.
Parks
Torca, located at the extreme north, is the locality's largest park. The Country Club's polo area was acquired by the District and transformed into a metropolitan park for northern Bogotá.
Education
Gimnasio Alessandro Volta, a private Italian international school, is in Usaquén.Home page
Gimnasio Alessandro Volta. Retrieved on November 21, 2015. "GIMNASIO ALESSANDRO VOLTA
Cll. 119 No. 4-79 Usaquén ..ogotá - Colombia"
External links
*
Unicentro mall website*
Directorio del barrio Cedritos en la localidad de Usaquén
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Usaquen
Localities of Bogotá
Altiplano Cundiboyacense
Muisca Confederation
Muysccubun