History of Zipaquira

foot of the Zippa mountain range, "Chicaquicha", which means "our large wall" or according to other sources, "city of our father", and until the 19th century the name was written beginning with the letter C. The other possibility refers to the name "zipa", a title conferred to the governor of the village and to his wife, the latter known by the title of "Quira", and thus "Zipa-Quirá". The native people who lived there settled in the upper part of the mine called "Puebla Viejo", now known as Santiago Pérez, approximately 200 meters above the present site of the city, and where early Spanish descriptions (1536) speak of "seeing a few hundred dwellings with a population of 12,000 people".

These lands were part of the domain of Zipa de Bacatá, the leader of the southern part of the Muisca people. This area of the Bogotá plain had at that time a series of small lakes and canyons which made possible the transportation of its inhabitants by canoe, by means of which the inhabitants ofNemocón, Gachancipá, and Tocancipá reached Chicaquicha in order to seek supplies of salt which they traded for pottery and tiles. Salt was also traded with peoples throughout the Andean region of Colombia, including thePanches, Tolimas, and Pantágoras in the present Department of Tolima, and the Muzos of the present Department of Boyacá.

Colonial Era

On July 18, 1600, Don Luis Henríquez established a settlement on the site with workers and their families, and named it the "Village of Zipaquirá".

On August 2, 1600, Henríquez contracted Juan de Robles to construct theChurch of Zipaquirá, which was later reconstructed by Pedro de Tovar y