Guasca
Municipality and town in Cundinamarca, Colombia
Guasca is a Colombian town and municipality in the Guavio Province, part of the Cundinamarca Department located approximately 55 km from Bogotá passing through the town of La Calera, Cundinamarca or 65 km passing through Sopó. Guasca borders the municipalities Tocancipá and Guatavita in the north, Junín in the east, in the south La Calera and in the west Sopó.
01History
Before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca of the central highlands of the Colombian Andes, the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, the area was inhabited by the Muisca who spoke Chibcha. Guasca was ruled by a cacique who was loyal to the cacique of Guatavita. In the religion of the Muisca, the Siecha Lakes were considered sacred.
02Etymology
According to friar and Muisca scholar Bernardo de Lugo the name Guasca is derived from guâ, "mountain range" and shucâ; "skirt". The name thus means "skirt of the mountain range", indicating the position of the village with respect to the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes.
03Economy
Main economical activities of Guasca are agriculture; potatoes, carrots, flowers and strawberries and dairy farming.
04Tourism
Guasca is known for ecotourism and has access to Chingaza Natural National Park. Other natural areas are Los Encenillos and the Siecha Lakes.
05Born in Guasca
- Mariano Ospina Rodríguez - president of the Granadine Confederation
06Trivia
- The plant Galinsoga parviflora is called "Guasca(s)" in Colombia and an essential ingredient of the soup ajiaco
- The spiders Anapis guasca, Deinopis guasca, and moth Dognina guasca are found in and named after Guasca
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Guasca”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Guasca vista desde el occidente.jpg by Hugozam, CC BY-SA 3.0
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