Bogota is the
first stop for most travelers to Colombia and as such is a good way to acclimatize to the country. Bogota’s
origins can be traced back to 1538 when a certain Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada thought that it was a good location to found a settlement for his fellow Spaniards; it was actually built on the site of Teusaquillo, a small indigenous settlement in the area predominantly inhabited by Chibcha speaking people. It was originally called Santa Fe.
The town steadily grew and soon became the capital of the
New Kingdom of Granada (the Royal Court was established
there in 1550). By the beginning of the 19th century, its population had reached 30,000 and its cultural, academic and artistic offerings showed all the characteristics of a true
national capital, with three universities, a large number of monasteries, convents and schools, as well as numerous collections of paintings, carvings and sculptures.
A new chapter in the town’s life began on 20 July 1810 when the
independence movement started; a charismatic
Simon Bolivar (still very much in the minds and hearts of the today’s Latin America) was elected president of the new republic which desperately tried to run away from the despotic, greedy and parasitic rule of the Spanish court. In 1819 the town changed its name to Bogota.
The town has since then developed its
infrastructure, and established itself as the country’s main urban center. The 20th century remained interestingly fairly
dictators’ free period (which cannot be said of the rest of that often troubled continent).
Bogota earned a
bad reputation, however, through its notoriously poor safety record, mainly to do with the
narco-mafia and organized crime that plagued the city in the 1980s and early 1990s. The situation, though,
improved substantially in the 2000s after the former NYC mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s crime fighting policies were implemented by Colombia’s current president Alvaro Uribe.
Indeed, now police officers can be seen on almost every street corner in Bogota and the city appears to be
breathing freely again with frequent
festivals, street
exhibitions and
fairs offering great entertainment to visitors and locals alike.
The main
dry season is between December to March and wettest months are April and October.
The Columbus World Travel Guide has been published for 26 years and is sold in over 90 countries worldwide.
Related Colombia Content
The Columbus World Travel Guide has been published for 26 years and is sold in over 90 countries worldwide.
Word Travels is a comprehensive travel guide covering hundreds of cities and holiday resorts in more than 125 countries.
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