Bogota, Colombia

Capital and largest city of Colombia

About Bogotá

Bogotá is the capital and largest city of Colombia. The city is administered as the Capital District, as well as the capital of, though not politically part of, the surrounding department of Cundinamarca. Bogotá is a territorial entity of the first order, with the same administrative status as the departments of Colombia. It is the main political, economic, administrative, industrial, cultural, aeronautical, technological, scientific, medical, educational and airport center of the country and northern South America.

Toponymy

The name of Bogotá corresponds to the Spanish pronunciation of the Chibcha Bacatá (or Muyquytá) which was the name of a neighboring settlement located between the modern towns of Funza and Cota. There are different opinions about the meaning of the word Muyquytá, the most accepted being that it means "walling of the farmland" in the Chibcha language. Another popular translation argues that it means "The Lady of the Andes". Others suggest that Bacatá was the name of the Muisca cacique who governed the land before the Spaniards arrived. Jiménez de Quesada gave the settlement the name of "Our Lady of Hope" but the Spanish crown gave it the name of Santafé (Holy Faith) in 1540 when it was appointed as a city. The Muisca, the indigenous inhabitants of the region, called the place on which the city was founded "Thybzaca" or "Old Town".

History

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 civilization 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 great civilizations 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. …

Geography

Bogotá is located in the southeastern part of the Bogotá savanna (Sabana de Bogotá) at an average altitude of 2,640 meters (8,660 ft) above sea level. The Bogotá savanna is popularly called "savannah" (sabana), but constitutes actually a high plateau in the Andes mountains, part of an extended region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, which literally means "high plateau of Cundinamarca and Boyacá". Bogotá is the largest city in the world at its elevation; there is no urban area that is both higher and more populous than Bogotá. In the extreme south of Bogotá's District, the world's largest continuous paramo ecosystem can be found; Sumapaz Páramo in the locality Sumapaz. The Bogotá River running NE-SW crosses the sabana, forming Tequendama Falls (Salto del Tequendama) to the south. …

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Culture

Bogotá has many cultural venues including 58 museums, 62 art galleries, 150 libraries (of different types), 45 stage theaters, 75 sports and attraction parks, and over 150 national monuments. Many of these are renowned globally such as: BibloRed, Bogotá's Public Libraries Network, the Luis Ángel Arango Library, the most important in the region which receives well over 6 million visitors a year; the Colombian National Museum, one of the oldest in the Americas, dating back to 1823; the Ibero-American Theater Festival, largest of its kind in the world, receives 2 million attendees enjoying over 450 performances across theaters and off the street; the Bogotá Philharmonic is the most important symphony orchestra in Colombia, with over 100 musicians and 140 performances a year. The city has been a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the category of music since March 2012. …

Economy

Bogotá is the main economic and industrial center of Colombia. The Colombian government fosters the import of capital goods, Bogotá being one of the main destinations of these imports. The metro contributes to 38% of Colombia's GDP. (150 billion dollars in 2024) Travel and tourism's share of the city's overall GDP stands at 2.5%. Bogotá is responsible for 56% of the tourism that arrives to Colombia and is home to 1,423 multinational companies. Bogotá also ranks highly as a global city for doing business and holding meetings. Bogotá is a growing destination for international meetings. In 2016, Bogotá has won 50 major international events, with 12 more world-class events in progress. The 16th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates took place from 2 to 5 February 2017 in Bogotá, Colombia. One Young World is the preeminent global forum for young leaders, aged 18–30. …

Transport

In addition to TransMilenio, the Peñalosa administration and voter-approved referendums helped to establish travel restrictions on cars with certain license plate numbers during peak hours called Pico y placa (peak, as in hour, and plate, as in license plate); 121 kilometers (75 miles) of Ciclovía on Sundays and major holidays; a massive system (376 km (234 mi) as of 2013) of bicycle paths and segregated lanes called ciclorrutas; and the removal of thousands of parking spots in an attempt to make roads more pedestrian-friendly and discourage car use. Ciclorrutas is one of the most extensive dedicated bike path networks of any city in the world, with a total extension of 376 kilometers (234 miles). It extends from the north of the city, 170th Street, to the south, 27th Street, and from Monserrate on the east to the Bogotá River on the west. …

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