History of Villa de Leyva

ocial problems such as unemployment in the towns of Tunja and Velez, also creating a large food pantry for surrounding populations, because this is the Villa has one of the largest squares in South America because there were orders and taught military regiments.

The foundation realize a little further north, near what is now known as the Infiernito Muisca observatory. However, this position was declared illegal because it violated the Laws of the Indies , which did not allow the "establishment of settlements on land duly exploited ... to enslave the Indians and steal their goods ... not take anything against his will. " In 1575 he moved so slightly south and then in 1582 , to where it is today.

In the late seventeenth century , Villa de Leyva reached its maximum development, especially economic because the arrival of new settlers and farming techniques allowed the practice of large-scale farming, the main product being the wheat , for which processing is built large number of mills, by this time (XVI and XVII) the Villa was the leading producer of wheat in the country.

For seventy years Villa de Leyva experienced its economic boom but in 1691 a plague known as' drop of dust "in wheat plantings, seriously affected the economy of the town. The cause of this tragedy is saddled various economic situations as a total solar eclipse , a curse cast by the guardian of the convent of San Francisco by the behavior of some of the villagers, also said a revenge of strange plants planted corn that the earth was responsible for ill. A clear cause, however was poor land use, quality and lack of rotation techniques that resulted in agricultural exhaustion.