History of Bogotá

History

By Richard McColl

Standing high on its plain, Bogotá was originally inhabited by one of the region’s most advanced pre-Colombian civilizations, the Muisca. Later in the 16th Century the Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada reached the Muisca capital of Bacatá. Struck by the easily defendable location, the prevalence of rivers, and by the legend of El Dorado – the Muisca were master goldsmiths – Quesada attacked and defeated the tribe and christened the location Santa Fe de Bogotá. With the passage of riches from current day Ecuador and Peru up through Colombia, Bogotá grew rapidly as an important administrative center. In 1740 the city had grown in stature to such an extent that it was declared the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Granada, an area including what is now Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama. In the following years Bogotá both heralded the arrival of South America’s Liberator Simon Bolivar and shunned him from the city limits. The city became defined by its remarkable and ornate Republican architecture, all of which can be seen in and around the Plaza de Bolivar. Despite considerable growth by the turn of the 20th century, Bogotá still only contained a population around the 100,000 mark. It wasn’t until the middle of the century, in a drive for industrialization, that the city really began to thrive. In an unfortunate turn of events that has resulted in the socially fractured Colombia we know today, Liberal leader Jorge Eliacer Gaiten was assassinated on April 9, 1948, in Bogotá. What ensued is known as the Bogotazo – a period of mayhem when the city was literally under attack from within. Churches, public offices and buildings were sacked and burned during this time, a tenuously organized mob took control and thousands of people lost their lives. Since then, Bogotá has been regaining its confidence and evolving into a vibrant capital city.