Bogota

mbia, on a high plateau known as the Bogotá savanna, part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes. It is the third-highest capital in South America and in the world after Quito and La Paz, at an average of 2,640 metres (8,660 ft) above sea level. Subdivided into 20 localities, Bogotá has an area of 1,587 square kilometres (613 square miles) and a relatively cool climate that is constant through the year.

The city is home to central offices of the executive branch (Office of the President), the legislative branch (Congress of Colombia) and the judicial branch (Supreme Court of Justice, Constitutional Court, Council of State and the Superior Council of Judicature) of the Colombian government. Bogotá stands out for its economic strength and associated financial maturity, its attractiveness to global companies and the quality of human capital. It is the financial and commercial heart of Colombia, with the most business activity of any city in the country.[20][21] The capital hosts the main financial market in Colombia and the Andean natural region, and is the leading destination for new foreign direct investment projects coming into Latin America and Colombia.[22] It has the highest nominal GDP in the country, responsible for almost a quarter of the nation's total (24.7%).

The city's airport, El Dorado International Airport, named after the mythical El Dorado, handles the largest cargo volume in Latin America, and is third in number of people.[23] Bogotá is home to the largest number of universities and research centers in the country,[21] and is an important cultural center, with many theaters, libraries and museums. Bogotá ranks 52nd on the Global Cities Index 2014,[24] and is considered a global city type "Alpha −" by GaWC
The area of modern Bogotá was first populated by groups of indigenous people who migrated south based on the relation with the other Chibcha languages; the Bogotá savanna was the southernmost Chibcha-speaking group that exists from Nicaragua to the Andes in Colombia. The civilisation built by the Muisca, who settled in the valleys and fertile highlands of and surrounding the Altiplano Cundiboyacense (modern-day departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá and small parts of Santander), was one of the four great civilisations in the Americas. The name Muisca Confederation has been given to a loose egalitarian society of various chiefs (caciques) who lived in small settlements of maximum 100 bohíos. The agriculture and salt-based society of the people was rich in goldworking, trade and mummification. The religion of the Muisca consisted of various gods, mostly related to natural phenomena as the Sun (Sué) and his wife, the Moon; Chía, rain Chibchacum, rainbow Cuchavira and with building and feasting (Nencatacoa) and wisdom (Bochica). Their complex luni-solar calendar, deciphered by Manuel Izquierdo based on work by Duquesne, followed three different sets of years, where the sidereal and synodic months were represented. Their astronomical knowledge is represented in one of the few extant landmarks of the architecture of the Muisca in El Infiernito outside Villa de Leyva to the north of Bogotá.

Pre-Columbian era
Main article: Muisca Confederation
See also: El Abra, Tequendama, and Herrera Period

The first populations inhabiting the present-day Metropolitan Area of Bogotá, were hunter-gatherer people in the late Pleistocene. The oldest dated evidence thus far has been discovered in El Abra (12,500 BP), north of Zipaquirá. Slightly later dated excavations in a rock shelter southwest of the city in Soacha provided ages of ~11,000 BP; Tequendama. Since around 0 AD, the Muisca domesticated guinea pigs, part of their meat diet.[26] The people inhabiting the Bogotá savanna in the late 15th century were the Muisca, speaking Muysccubun, a member of the Chibcha language family.[27] Muisca means "people" or "person", making "Muisca people", how they are called, a tautology. At the arrival of the conquerors, the population was estimated to be half a million indigenous people on the Bogotá savanna of up to two million in the Muisca Confederation. They occupied the highland and mild climate flanks between the Sumapaz Mountains to the southwest and Cocuy's snowy peak to the northeast, covering an approximate area of 25,000 km2 (9,653 sq mi), comprising Bogotá's high plain, the current Boyacá department portion and a small Santander region.

Trade was the most important activity of the Muisca with other Chibcha-speaking neighbours,[28] such as the Guane, Lache and U'wa and with Cariban groups as the Muzo or "Emerald People". Their knowledge of salt production from brines, a task exclusively for the Muisca women, gave them the name "Salt People".[29] Tropical fruits that didn't grow on the cool highlands, coca, cotton and gold were traded at markets that took place every Muisca week; every four days. At these frequent markets, the Muisca obtained various luxury goods that seem worthless in modern sense and precious metals and gemstones that seem valuable to us became abundant and used for various purposes.[30] The Muisca warrior elite was allowed to wear feathered crowns, from parrots and macacs whose habitat was to the east of the Andes; the Arawkan-speaking Guayupe, Tegua and Achagua.

The Muisca cuisine consisted of a stable and varied diet of tubers, potatoes and fruits. Maize was the main ingredient of the Muisca, cultivated on elevated and irrigated terraces. In Muysccubun exist many words for maize, corn and the various types and forms of it.[29] The product was also the base for chicha; the alcoholic beverage of the people, still sold in central Bogotá today. It was the drink for construction of houses, celebrations of harvests and sowing, ritual practices around the various sacred sites of the Altiplano, music and dances, trade at special ferias with farther away trading indigenous groups of Colombia and to inaugurate the new highest regarded member of the community; zipas, zaques, caciques and the religious ruler iraca from Sacred City of the Sun Sugamuxi.[31]

The zipa at the moment of Spanish conquest was Tisquesusa. His main bohío was in Bacatá with others in Funza and Cajicá, giving name to the present day capital of Colombia. A prophecy in his life came true; he would be dying, bathing in his own blood. Defending Funza with a reduced army of guecha warriors against the heavily exhausted but heavily armed strangers, his reign fell in the hands of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and his younger brother Hernán Pérez on April 20, 1537. Upon his death, his brother Sagipa became the last zipa, against the inheritance tradition of the Muisca. Sagipa used to be a main captain for Tisquesusa but quickly submitted to the Spanish rulers. The first encomenderos asked high prices in valuable products and agricultural production from the indigenous people. On top of that epidemics of European viruses razed through the population, of which in current Boyacá 65–85 % of the Muisca were killed within 100 years.[32]

Bogotá was founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada traditionally on the 6th of August 1538. Other documents state a second establishment was done on April 27, 1539. Gonzalo Jiménez and main conquerors De Belalcázar and Federmann, left for Spain in April 1539, founding Guataquí together on April 6, 1539. The rule over the fresh New Kingdom of Granada was left to Hernán. The first mayors of the city were capitains Pedro de Arevalo y Jeronimo de Inzar. Bogotá became the capital of the later Viceroyalty of New Granada.[27] With independence, Bogotá became capital of Gran Colombia and later the capital of the Republic of Colombia.

Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada expedition

Main article: Spanish conquest of the Muisca

From 1533, a belief persisted that the Río Grande de la Magdalena was the trail to the South Sea, to Perú, legendary El Dorado. Such was the target of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, the Granadanian conquistador who left Santa Marta on 6 April 1536 with 800 soldiers, heading towards the interior of current Colombia. The expedition divided into two groups, one under Quesada's command to move on land, and the other commanded by Diego de Urbino would go up river in four brigantine ships to, later on, meet Quesada troops at the site named Tora de las Barrancas Bermejas. When they arrived, they heard news about Indians inhabiting the south and making large salt cakes used to trade for wild cotton and fish. Jiménez decided to abandon the route to Peru and cross the mountain in search of salt villages. They saw crops, trails, white salt cakes and then huts where they found corn, yucca and beans. From Tora, the expedition went up the Opón River and found indigenous people covered with very finely painted cotton mantles. When they arrived in Muisca territories, of the expedition leaving Santa Marta, only 162 men were left.[33]

Spanish colonization

The city mayor and the chapter formed by two councilmen, assisted by the constable and the police chief, governed the city. For better administration of these domains, in April 1550, the Audience of Santafé was organized. Santafé was the seat of the government of the New Kingdom of Granada . Fourteen years later in 1564, the Spanish Crown designated the first Royal Audience chairman, Andrés Díaz Venero de Leyva. The Chapter and the Royal Audience were located on the other side of what is today the Plaza de Bolívar. The street joining the Major Square and Herbs Square— now Santander Park— was named Calle Real (Royal Street), now Carrera Séptima (or "Seventh Street"; counted from the mountains to the east of the city). After 1717 Santafé became the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Granada.

Formed by Europeans, mestizos, indigenous people, and slaves, from the second half of the 16th century, the population began to grow rapidly. The 1789 census recorded 18,161 inhabitants, and by 1819 the city population reached 30,000 inhabitants distributed in 195 blocks. Importance grew when the Diocese was established.Nineteenth century

Following the abdication of the House of Bourbon in Spain, pressed by Napoleon to give the crown to his brother Joseph, many in Spain and in the American colonies created local resistance governments called Juntas. The dissolution of the Supreme Central Junta, following a series of military defeats in the Spanish troops promoted the creation of local juntas all throughout Latin America. Political unease had been feeling all over Spanish colonies in America, and it was expressed in New Granada in many different ways, accelerating the movement to independence. One of the most transcendent was the Insurrection of the Comuneros, a riot of the inhabitants that started in Villa del Socorro —current Department of Santander—in March 1781.[citation needed] Spanish authorities suppressed the riot, and José Antonio Galán, the leader, was executed. He left an imprint, though. He was followed in 1794 by Antonio Nariño, precursor of independence by translating and publishing in Santa Fe, the Rights of Men and the Citizen, and by 20 July movement leaders in 1810.[citation needed]

Following the establishment of juntas in Cartagena de Indias and many other cities throughout the Viceroyalty, the Junta of Santafé was established in July 20, 1810, in what is often called the Colombian Declaration of Independence. The period between 1810 and 1816 was marked by intense conflict between federalist and centralist factions over the nature of the new government of the recently emancipated territory, a period that has become known as la Patria Boba. The Province of Santafé became the Free and Independent State of Cundinamarca, which soon became embroiled in a civil war against other of the local juntas which banded together to form the United Provinces of New Granada and advocated for a federalist government system. Following a failed military campaign against Quito, General Simón Bolívar of the United Provinces led a campaign that led to the surrender of the Cundinamarca province in December of 1814.

In Spain, the war had ended and the Spanish monarchy was restored on 11 December 1813. King Ferdinand VII of Spain declared the uprisings in the colonies illegal and sent a large army to quell the rebellions and reconquer the lost colonies, for which he appointed General Pablo Morillo. Morillo led a successful military campaign that culminated in the capture of Santafé on May 6, 1816.

In 1819, Bolívar initiated his campaign to liberate New Granada. Following a series of battles, the last of which was the Battle of Boyacá, the republican army led by Bolívar cleared its way to Santafé, where he arrived victorious on August 10, 1819. It was Simón Bolívar who rebaptized the city with the name of Bogotá, to honor the Muisca people and to emphasize the emancipation from Spain. Bogotá then became the capital of the Gran Colombia.

Between 1819 and 1849, there were no fundamental structural changes from the colonial period. By the mid-19th century, a series of fundamental reforms were enacted, some of the most important being slavery abolition and religious, teaching, print and speech industry and trade freedom, among others.[citation needed] During the decade of the 70s, radicalism accelerated reforms and state and social institutions were substantially modified. However, during the second half of the century, the country faced permanent pronouncements, declarations of rebellions between states, and factions which resulted in civil wars: the last and bloodiest was the Thousand Days' War from 1899 to 1902.[citation needed]

In 1823, a few years after the formation of Gran Colombia, the Public Library, now the National Library, was enlarged and modernized with new volumes and better facilities.[citation needed] The National Museum was founded. Those institutions were of great importance to the new republic's cultural development. The Central University was the first State school, precursor of the current National University, founded in 1867 and domiciled in Bogotá.[citation needed]

Regeneration

President Rafael Núñez declared the end of Federalism, and in 1886 the country became a centralist republic ruled by the constitution in force – save some amendments – up to 1981. In the middle of political and administration avatars, Bogotá continued as the capital and principal political center of the country.

From a base of only 20,000 people in 1793, the city grew to approximately 117,000 people in 1912. Population growth was rapid after 1870, largely because of emigration from the eastern highlands.[34]

Twentieth century

Early in the 20th century, Colombia had to face devastating consequences from the One Thousand Days War, which lasted from 1899 to 1902, and the loss of Panama.[citation needed] Between 1904 and 1909, the lawfulness of the liberal party was re-established and President Rafael Reyes endeavored to implement a national government. Peace and state reorganization generated the increase of economic activities. Bogotá started deep architectural and urban transformation with significant industrial and artisan production increases.[citation needed] In 1910, the Industrial Exposition of the Century took place at Park of Independence. Stands built evidenced industrial, artisan work, beaux arts, electricity and machinery progress achieved. The period from 1910 to 1930 is designated conservative hegemony.[citation needed] Between 1924 and 1928, hard union struggles began, with oil fields and banana zone workers' strikes, leaving numerous people dead.[citation needed]

Bogotá had practically no industry. Production was basically artisan work grouped in specific places, similar to commercial sectors.[citation needed] Plaza de Bolívar and surroundings lodged hat stores, at Calle del Comercio –current Carrera Seventh– and Calle Florián –now Carrera Eight– luxurious stores selling imported products opened their doors; at Pasaje Hernández, tailor's shops provided their services, and between 1870 and 1883, four main banks opened their doors: Bogotá, Colombia, Popular and Mortgage Credit banks

Following the banana zone killings and conservative party division, Enrique Olaya Herrera took office in 1930. The liberal party reformed during 16 years of the so-called Liberal Republic, agricultural, social, political, labor, educational, economic and administrative sectors. Unionism strengthened and education coverage expanded.[citation needed]

The celebration produced a large number of infrastructure works, new construction and work sources. Following the 1946 liberal party division, a conservative candidate took presidential office again in 1948, after the killing of liberal leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Bogotá's downtown was virtually destroyed as violence reigned. From then, Bogotá's urban, architectural and population sectors were substantially reorganized.[citation needed]

Twenty-first century

The city begins the 21st century with important changes in its urban space and public transport, looking to plan a demographic and economic growth that would position it as a strategic hub for international business in Latin America. Some of the main interventions initiated in this century looked to develop projects contained in the Plan of Territorial Ordering (POT), which will guide the development of the city for the next two centuries.

One of the most important interventions in the city for this time was its transportation system. In 1967, there were 2,679 urban buses in Bogotá that transported, on average, 1,629,254 passengers per day. The city had a little more than a million inhabitants and 8,000 hectares in length, the service was relatively reasonable and comfortable. But as the city grew and reached more than five million inhabitants and an area greater than 30,000 hectares, not only did the car fleet increase substantially to reach more than 20,000 vehicles, but chaos multiplied, as well as pollution and the inefficiency of the only existing transportation system.

By the end of the 20th century, the situation was critical. There was no real urban public transport system that would serve as an alternative to the private vehicle - which further incentivized its use - and the city had low levels of competitiveness in Latin America, as well as an unsatisfactory quality of life for the vast majority of its inhabitants.

The administrations of mayors Andrés Pastrana (1988-1990) and Jaime Castro (1992-1994), in addition to the first one of Antanas Mockus (1995 - 1997), formulated proposals to solve the problem of public transport, with limited results. It was during the mayoralty of the latter when there was an insistent talk about the possibility of establishing a mass transportation system that would help remedy the problem of mobility in Bogotá.

Mayor Enrique Peñalosa (1998-2000) included in his government program as a priority project a solution to the problem of public transport. Consequently, in the execution of the development plan "For the Bogotá we Want" in terms of mobility and in a concrete way to the massive transportation system project, the construction of a special infrastructure exclusively for its operation was determined. This system would include specialized bus corridors, equipped with single-use lanes, stations, bridges, bike paths and special pedestrian access platforms, designed to facilitate the user's experience in the system.

Although the proposal for biarticulated diesel buses called "Transmilenio" was in its early stages a success, due in part to the small numbers of passengers that it transported, in the long term it became an inefficient and contaminating system, saturated for a metro population of almost ten million inhabitants, guilty of the environmental deterioration and the terrible quality of the air that Bogotá suffers now (2019)