CUNDINAMARCA
Inhabitant: Cundinamarques

The department of Cundinamarca is situated in the heart of Colombia, on an immense plateau of the eastern cordillera (mountain range).
Cundinamarca has approximately 2,145,000 inhabitants, excluding Bogota, its capital, which has a population of 8,000,000.
Gonzalo Jiménez of Quesada was the first Spanish conqueror to step on the lands of the Chibcha, or Muisca, nation in 1538.
In the center of the region, where there used to be the town of the zipa called Bacatá, Jiménez de Quesada founded the city of Santa Fe (today Bogota) which became the center of government for the enormous territory called El Nuevo Reino de Granada (“the New Kingdom of Granada”). La Real Audiencia de Santa Fe (“the Royal Court of Santa Fe”) was established there.
In the Nuevo Reino de Granada, the Virreinato de la Nueva Granada (“the Viceroyality of the New Granada”) was subsequently established. Its area comprised what are today the countries of Colombia, Panama, Ecuador and Venezuela.
The State of Cundinamarca was founded in 1811, almost 300 years after the Spanish conquest. Its first president was the erudite Jorge Tadeo Lozano.
In 1858 the Sovereign State of Cundinamarca was established according to the Granadina Confederation Constitution. On January first, 1886, the DEPARTMENT OF CUNDINAMARCA was founded with the boundaries it has today.
It borders the departments of Boyacá, Tolima, Huila, Caldas and Meta. Its area is 24,210 square kilometers.
The department is divided into three geographical zones. The Valley of the Magdalena River, the region of the Sumapaz and part of the eastern cordillera are found in the west. The savannah of Bogota and the valleys of Ubaté and Simijaca are in the center and the foothills of the eastern cordillera and the foot plains are found in the central-eastern region of the department.
Cudinamarca’s variety of climates and its fertile lands, makes it one of Colombia’s best agricultural regions. Flower cultivation is very important and its soil grows the prettiest and widest assortment of flowers in the country.
There are also important industrial reservoirs like Muña, Guatavita, Sisga, Tominé, El Hato, Neusa , Guavio and the San Rafael dam.
The Zipaquirá salt mines are significant mining operations.
In this territory are the national natural parks of Chingaza and Sumapaz. There are beautiful natural lakes such as the Fúquene, which has a geomagnetic observatory on one of its islands, the Suesca, the Cucunubá and the Guatavita, with native legends like El Dorado, Parks of recreation: Parque Jaime Duque located between the municipality of Tocancipá and Sopó, hosts cultural, educational, and entertainment activities. It also houses museums with replicas of works of art and famous places of the world, an immense relief map of Colombia and an amusement park.
The farming national park Panaca Sabana is located near Zipaquirá and houses 2,400 animals of 800 different species. It has an area of 620 square kilometers.

Capital: Bogotá
Bogota, D.C. (Capital District, with an independent administration). Bogota is both the capital of Cundinamarca Department and the capital of the Republic of Colombia. It is Colombia’s largest, most prosperous, and most industrialized city. It is also the cultural, social, economic, and political centre of the country.