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Bogotá savanna

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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 4,251.6 square kilometres (1,641.6 sq mi) and an average altitude of 2,650 metres (8,690 ft). The savanna is situated in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes.

Bogotá savanna
Sabana de Bogotá
The Bogotá savanna near the city of Bogotá
Topography and outline of the Bogotá savanna
Area4,251.6 km2 (1,641.6 sq mi)
Geology
TypeMontane savanna
Geography
CountryColombia
StateCundinamarca
RegionAndean region
Population centerBogotá
Borders onEast: Eastern Hills
South: Sumapaz mountains
North: Hills of Tausa and Suesca
West: Western hills
Coordinates4°45′0″N 74°10′30″W / 4.75000°N 74.17500°W / 4.75000; -74.17500 
RiverBogotá, Teusacá, Torca, Juan Amarillo, Fucha, Tunjuelo
[1]
All but the southernmost locality Sumapaz of Bogotá is located on the Bogotá savanna

The Bogotá savanna is crossed from northeast to southwest by the 375 kilometres (233 mi) long Bogotá River, which at the southwestern edge of the plateau forms the Tequendama Falls (Salto del Tequendama). Other rivers, such as the Subachoque, Bojacá, Fucha, Soacha and Tunjuelo Rivers, tributaries of the Bogotá River, form smaller valleys with very fertile soils dedicated to agriculture and cattle-breeding.

Before the Spanish conquest of the Bogotá savanna, the area was inhabited by the indigenous Muisca, who formed a loose confederation of various caciques, named the Muisca Confederation. The Bogotá savanna, known as Muyquytá, was ruled by the zipa. The people specialised in agriculture, the mining of emeralds, trade and especially the extraction of rock salt from rocks in Zipaquirá, Nemocón, Tausa and other areas on the Bogotá savanna. The salt extraction, a task exclusively of the Muisca women, gave the Muisca the name "The Salt People".

In April 1536, a group of around 800 conquistadors left the relative safety of the Caribbean coastal city of Santa Marta to start a strenuous expedition up the Magdalena River, the main fluvial artery of Colombia. Word got around among the Spanish colonisers that deep in the unknown Andes, a rich area with an advanced civilisation must exist. These tales bore the -not so much- legend of El Dorado; the city or man of gold. The Muisca, skilled goldworkers, held a ritual in Lake Guatavita where the new zipa would cover himself in gold dust and jump from a raft into the cold waters of the 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) high lake to the northeast of the Bogotá savanna.

After a journey of almost a year, where the Spanish lost over 80% of their soldiers, the conquistadors following the Suárez River, reached the Bogotá savanna in March 1537. The zipa who ruled the Bogotá savanna at the arrival of the Spanish was Tisquesusa. The Muisca posed little resistance to the Spanish strangers and Tisquesusa was defeated in April 1537 in Funza, in the centre of the savanna. He fled towards the western hills and died of his wounds in Facatativá, on the southwestern edge of the Bogotá savanna. The Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada established the New Kingdom of Granada with capital Santa Fe de Bogotá on August 6, 1538. This started a process of colonisation, evangelisation and submittance of the Muisca to the new rule. Between 65 and 80% of the indigenous people perished due to European diseases as smallpox and typhus. The Spanish introduced new crops, replacing many of the New World crops that the Muisca cultivated.

Over the course of the 16th to early 20th century, the Bogotá savanna was sparsely populated and industrialised. The rise in population during the twentieth century and the expansion of agriculture and urbanisation reduced the biodiversity and natural habitat of the Bogotá savanna severely. Today, the Metropolitan Area of Bogotá on the Bogotá savanna hosts more than ten million people. Bogotá is the biggest city worldwide at altitudes above 2,500 metres (8,200 ft). The many rivers on the savanna are highly contaminated and efforts to solve the environmental problems are conducted in the 21st century.

Etymology

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Bogotá savanna is named after Bogotá, which is derived from Muysccubun Bacatá, which means "(Enclosure) outside of the farm fields".[2]

Geography

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Hills of Sesquilé in the northeast of the Bogotá savanna
 
The climber's paradise Rocas de Suesca form the northeastern boundary of the Bogotá savanna
Main article: Altiplano Cundiboyacense

The Bogotá savanna is the southwestern part of the larger Andean plateau, the Altiplano Cundiboyacense. The savanna is a montane savanna, bordered to the east by the Eastern Hills, the Sumapaz mountains in the south, the hills of Tausa and Suesca in the north and western hills of Cundinamarca in the west. The total surface area is 4,251.6 square kilometres (1,641.6 sq mi).[1]

Climate

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The average temperature of the plateau is 14 °C (57 °F), but this can fluctuate between 0 and 24 °C (32 and 75 °F). The dry and rainy seasons alternate frequently during the year. The driest months are December, January, February and March. During the rainy months, the temperature tends to be more stable with variations between 9 and 20 °C (48 and 68 °F). June, July and August are the months that present the largest variations of temperature, and during the morning frost in the higher terrains surrounding the savanna is possible. Sometimes also ground frost is present, which has a negative impact on agriculture. Hail is a relatively common phenomenon on the savanna.[3][4]

Hydrology

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The Bogotá River separating Cota, Cundinamarca (top) from Bogotá
 
The Bogotá River is the main river of the Bogotá savanna

Rivers

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Lakes

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Natural
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Artificial
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  • Tominé Reservoir - northeast, biggest waterbody on the Bogotá savanna - 690 cubic megametres (2.4×1022 cu ft)
  • Neusa Reservoir - north - 102 cubic megametres (3.6×1021 cu ft)
  • El Muña Reservoir - south - 42 cubic megametres (1.5×1021 cu ft)
  • Lake Herrera (since 1973)[5]

Waterfalls

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Wetlands

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Main article: Wetlands of Bogotá

There is a system of wetlands (humedales) that regulate the soil moisture acting like sponges for the rain waters. Fifteen wetlands have a protected status, with various wetlands as unprotected. In 1950, the total surface area of the wetlands amounted to 150,000 hectares (370,000 acres), but due to the urbanisation of the Colombian capital the total area has been reduced to 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres).[6]

Map
class=notpageimage|
Wetlands within Bogotá
  Torca River basin
  Juan Amarillo River basin
  Fucha River basin
  Tunjuelo River basin
Wetland Location Altitude (m) Area (ha) Notes Image
Guaymaral y Torca Usaquén
Suba 		2547 73 [7][8]
 
La Conejera Suba 2544 58.9 [9]
 
Córdoba Suba 2548 40.51 [10]
 
Tibabuyes
Juan Amarillo 		Suba
Engativá 		2539 222.58 [11]
 
Jaboque Engativá 2539 148 [12]
 
Santa María del Lago Engativá 2549 12 [13]
 
El Burro Kennedy 2541 18.84 [14]
 
La Vaca Kennedy 2548 7.96 [15]
Techo Techo, Kennedy 2545 11.46 [16]
Capellanía Fontibón 2542 27.05 [17]
 
Meandro del Say Fontibón
Mosquera 		2548 13.6 [18]
Tibanica Bosa
Soacha 		2542 28.8 [19]
El Salitre Barrios Unidos 2558 6.4 [20]
La Isla Bosa 2550 7.7 [21]
La Florida Funza 2542 26 [22]
 

Biodiversity

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See also: Biodiversity of Colombia

Despite the continuous urbanisation and industrial activities, the Bogotá savanna is a rich biodiverse area with many bird species registered.[23] The diversity of mammals, amphibians and reptiles is much lower.[24] Before the arrival of the European colonisers, the savanna was populated predominantly by white-tailed deer, the main ingredient of the Muisca cuisine. Today, this species of deer, as well as the once common spectacled bear, is restricted to protected areas surrounding the Bogotá savanna. The Thomas van der Hammen Natural Reserve is a protected area in the north of Bogotá.

History

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class=notpageimage|
Preceramic sites on the Bogotá savanna
Ab - El Abra
Ti - Tibitó
Te - Tequendama
P - Piedras del Tunjo
Ag - Aguazuque
C - Checua
H - Lake Herrera
See also: Muisca Confederation § Prehistory, Herrera Period, and Timeline of Bogotá

The earliest confirmed inhabitation of present-day Colombia was on the Bogotá savanna with sites El Abra, Tequendama and Tibitó, where semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers lived in caves and rock shelters. One of the first evidences of settlement in open area space was Aguazuque, whose oldest dated remains are analysed to be 5000 years old. This prehistorical preceramic period was followed by the Herrera Period, commonly defined from 800 BCE to 800 AD.

Muisca Confederation

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Main article: Muisca Confederation

At the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, the region was inhabited by the Muisca who lived in hundreds of small villages scattered across the plateau. These villages were individually ruled by caciques who at the same time paid tribute to the zipa, ruler of Bacatá. The Muisca were known as "The Salt People", thanks to their extraction of rock salt from brines in large pots heated over fires. This process was the exclusive task of the Muisca women.

The economy of the Muisca, meaning "person" or "people" in their indigenous version of Chibcha; Muysccubun, was self-sufficient due to the advanced agriculture on the fertile soils of the frequently flooding Bogotá savanna. More tropical and subtropical agricultural products as avocadoes and cotton were traded with their neighbours, in particular the Guane and Lache in the north and northeast and the Guayupe, Achagua and Tegua in the east.

The Muisca were known as skilled goldworkers, represented in the famous Muisca raft, that symbolises the initiation ritual of the new zipa in Lake Guatavita. This ritual, where the zipa covered himself in gold dust and jumped in the 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) altitude lake, gave rise to the -not so much- legend of El Dorado.

Spanish conquest

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Indigenous Muisca fishermen in Funza
Litho in 1860 by Ramón Torres Méndez[25]
 
Pottery producing Muisca in Tocancipá
Litho in 1860 by Ramón Torres Méndez[25]
Main article: Spanish conquest of the Muisca

In April 1536, a group of around 800 conquistadors left the relative safety of the Caribbean coastal city of Santa Marta to start a strenuous expedition up the Magdalena River, the main fluvial artery of Colombia. Word got around among the Spanish colonisers that deep in the unknown Andes, a rich area with an advanced civilisation must exist. These tales bore the -not so much- legend of El Dorado; the city or man of gold. The Muisca, skilled goldworkers, held a ritual in Lake Guatavita where the new zipa would cover himself in gold dust and jump from a raft into the cold waters of the 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) high lake to the northeast of the Bogotá savanna.

After a journey of almost a year, where the Spanish lost over 80% of their soldiers, the conquistadors following the Suárez River, reached the Bogotá savanna in March 1537. The zipa who ruled the Bogotá savanna at the arrival of the Spanish was Tisquesusa. The Muisca posed little resistance to the Spanish strangers and Tisquesusa was defeated in April 1537 in Funza, in the centre of the savanna. He fled towards the western hills and died of his wounds in Facatativá, on the southwestern edge of the Bogotá savanna. The Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada established the New Kingdom of Granada with capital Santa Fe de Bogotá on August 6, 1538. This started a process of colonisation, evangelisation and submittance of the Muisca to the new rule. Between 65 and 80% of the indigenous people perished due to European diseases as smallpox and typhus. The Spanish introduced new crops, replacing many of the New World crops that the Muisca cultivated.

The Spanish colonizers engaged in the construction of Spanish-style towns to replace all the indigenous villages and in the process of assimilation and religious convert of the Muisca. The majority of those villages kept their indigenous names, but some were slightly modified in time, like Suacha which became Soacha, Hyntiba becoming Fontibón and Bacatá becoming Bogotá.

Modern history

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See also: New Kingdom of Granada, Gran Colombia, and History of Bogotá

Over the course of the 16th to early 20th century, the Bogotá savanna was sparsely populated and industrialised. The rise in population during the twentieth century and the expansion of agriculture and urbanisation reduced the biodiversity and natural habitat of the Bogotá savanna severely. Today, the Metropolitan Area of Bogotá on the Bogotá savanna hosts more than ten million people. Bogotá is the biggest city worldwide at altitudes above 2,500 metres (8,200 ft). The many rivers on the savanna are highly contaminated and efforts to solve the environmental problems are conducted in the 21st century.

Timeline of inhabitation

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Timeline of inhabitation of the Bogotá savanna, Colombia
TequendamaAguazuquePiedras del Tunjo Archaeological ParkBD BacatáLake HerreraNemocón#ChecuaTibitóEl AbraHistory of ColombiaSpanish EmpireSpanish conquest of the MuiscaMuisca peopleHerrera PeriodMuisca Confederation#PrehistoryBochicaMuisca mummificationMuisca economy#CeramicsAndean preceramicMuisca agricultureHunter-gatherer
 

Altiplano

 

Muisca Confederation

 

Cities

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The capital of Colombia, Bogotá, here seen at night from Monserrate, is the main city on the Bogotá savanna. The flatland is clearly visible

The main cities of the Bogotá savanna, in addition to the capital city of Bogotá, are: Mosquera, Soacha, Madrid, Funza, Facatativá, Subachoque, El Rosal, Tabio, Tenjo, Cota, Chía, Cajicá, Zipaquirá, Nemocón, Sopó, Tocancipá, Gachancipá, Sesquilé, Suesca, Chocontá and Guatavita.[26]

List of municipalities

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Municipality
Locality 		Altitude
urban centre (m) 		Surface area
(km2) 		Inhabitants[note 1] Remarks Map
Bogotá 2640 1587 7,980,00116 Named after Bacatá[note 2]
Capital of Colombia
Biggest city at altitudes
above 2,500 metres (8,200 ft)
 
Usaquén 2650 65.31 449,62116
 
Chapinero 2640 38.15 122,50707
 
Santa Fe 2640 45.17 96,24107
 
San Cristóbal 2640 49.09 404,35007
 
Usme 2700 119.04 314,43107
 
Tunjuelito 2600 9.91 182,53207
 
Bosa 2600 23.93 637,28315
 
Kennedy 2700 38.59 979,91407
 
Fontibón 2600 33.28 317,17907
 
Engativá 2600 35.88 824,33707
 
Suba 2700 100.56 1,161,50016
 
Barrios Unidos 2600 11.9 230,06607
 
Teusaquillo 2600 14.19 139,29807
 
Los Mártires 2600 6.51 94,94407
 
Antonio Nariño 2600 4.88 119,56507
 
Puente Aranda 2600 17.31 250,71507
 
La Candelaria 2640 2.06 22,11507
 
Rafael Uribe Uribe 2600 13.83 378.78007
 
Ciudad Bolívar 2700 130 593,93707
 
Soacha 2565 184.45 522,44216 Preceramic site Tequendama
Herrera site
Muisca ceramics production
Petrographs found
 
Sibaté 2700 125.6 38,41215 Petrographs found
El Muña Reservoir
 
Mosquera 2516 107 82,75015 Lake Herrera
Petrographs found
 
Bojacá 2598 109 11,25415 Lake Herrera
Petrographs found
 
Chía 2564 80 129,65216 Moon Temple
Herrera site
Petrographs found
 
Cota 2566 55 24,91615 Petrographs found
Muisca community
 
Cajicá 2558 50.4 56,87515 Located in the funnel of the northern savanna
 
Facatativá 2586 158 134,52215 Piedras del Tunjo
 
Funza 2548 70 75,35015 Muisca market town
 
Madrid 2554 120.5 77,62715 Lake Herrera
Petrographs found
 
El Rosal 2685 86.48 17,25415
 
Zipacón 2550 70 557015 Agriculture
Place of meditation for the zipa
Petrographs found
 
Subachoque 2663 211.53 16,11715 Petrographs found
 
Tabio 2569 74.5 27,03315 Hot springs used by the Muisca
 
Tenjo 2587 108 18,38715 Petrographs found
 
Zipaquirá 2650 197 124,37615 El Abra
Muisca salt mines
Important market town
Petrographs and petroglyphs found
 
Nemocón 2585 98.1 13,48815 Muisca salt mines
Preceramic site Checua
Petrographs found
 
Cogua 2600 113 22,36115 Muisca ceramics production
Petrographs found
Neusa Reservoir
 
Tocancipá 2605 73.51 31,97515 Preceramic site Tibitó
Muisca ceramics production
Important market town
Petrographs found
 
Gachancipá 2568 44 14,44215 Muisca mummy found
Muisca ceramics production
 
Guasca 2710 346 14,75915 Siecha Lakes
Muisca ceramics production
Petrographs found
 
Guatavita 2680 247.3 689815 Muisca ceramics production
Main goldworking town
Petrographs found
Tominé Reservoir
 
Sopó 2650 111.5 26,76915 Herrera site
 
Sesquilé 2595 141 13,93615 Lake Guatavita
Minor Muisca salt mines
 
Suesca 2584 177 17,31815 150 Muisca mummies found
Lake Suesca
Muisca ceramics production
Important market town
Petrographs found
 

Panoramas

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Panoramas
 
Panorama of the Tena Valley to the southwest of the Bogotá savanna, near San Antonio del Tequendama

 
Bogotá on the savanna

 
Zipaquirá

 
School in Cota

 
The northwestern part of the ancient Lake Humboldt is artificially represented in the Neusa Reservoir

 
Tominé Reservoir

 
Suba Hills

 
La Conejera wetland

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Pérez Preciado, 2000, p.2
  2. ^ (in Spanish) Etymology Bacatá - Banco de la República
  3. ^ "Climate: Bogotá - Climate graph, Temperature graph, Climate table". Climate-Data.org. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  4. ^ "Weatherbase: Historical Weather for Bogota, Colombia". Weatherbase. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  5. ^ (in Spanish) Lake Herrera largest water reserve of the Bogotá savanna
  6. ^ Moreno et al., s.a., p.2
  7. ^ Humedal Guaymaral
  8. ^ Humedal Torca
  9. ^ Humedal La Conejera
  10. ^ Humedal Córdoba
  11. ^ Humedal Tibabuyes
  12. ^ Humedal Jaboque
  13. ^ Humedal Santa María del Lago
  14. ^ Humedal El Burro
  15. ^ Humedal La Vaca
  16. ^ Humedal Techo
  17. ^ Humedal Capellanía
  18. ^ Humedal Meandro del Say
  19. ^ Humedal Tibanica
  20. ^ Humedal El Salitre
  21. ^ Humedal La Isla
  22. ^ Humedal La Florida
  23. ^ Calvachi Zambrano, 2002, p.95
  24. ^ Calvachi Zambrano, 2002, p.97
  25. ^ a b Ramón Torres Méndez (1875). Costumbres santafereñas. E. V. Sperling.
  26. ^ Cities on the Bogotá savanna Archived November 13, 2013, at the Wayback Machine

Notes

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  1. ^ 07; 2007, 15; 2015, 16; 2016
  2. ^ Bacatá refers to the southern part of the Bogotá savanna, ruled by the zipa based in Funza, but with various frequently visited other settlements, visibles in the names Nemocón (Nemequene), Zipacón, Zipaquirá, Tocancipá, Gachancipá

Bibliography

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Geology

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Wetlands

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Flora and fauna

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History

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Preceramic
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Muisca
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Conquest and colonial period
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