The history of Bogota dates back to its founding in 1538 but well before the arrival of the Spanish the fertile highland plateau on which the modern city of Bogota is built was inhabited by indigenous cultures such as the Muiscas that had settled there after migrating from populated areas further north and who named the area Bacatá, which meant planted fields.
The Muiscas were dispersed in small settlements covering about 25,000 km and were among the most advanced pre-colombian tribes. They were mainly farmers and grew a variety of fruits and vegetables including potatos, sweet potatos, tomatos, yucca, squash and tobacco in this fertile area. In addition to hunting and fishing they also mined salt and emeralds which they traded with other tribes from other areas.
They traded what they did not need with people from other areas for gold which was used in offerings to the gods as well as for jewellry and other uses. As well as being skilled craftsmen creating delicate and impressive gold relics they were also skilled at pottery.
There are a number of museums in Bogota were the precious remains of their culture can be seen, including the Gold Museum of Bogota, which has the largest collection of pre-Hispanic gold in world.
Following the River Magdalena from the Atlantic/Caribbean coast and in search of the fabled El Dorado, Spanish Conquistadors led by Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada, arrived in the area around 1538 and took over the “capital” of the the local indigenous group known as the Chibcha. The founding of the new settlement is officially August 6th 1538, the date of the first Mass held in the chapel which was converted from one of the huts that was constructed there. In total at this time there were only 12 huts and the area was renamed Santa Fe de Bogota. (Santa Fe was the name of the village just west of Granada, Spain where De Quesada was from).
At first the area was controlled by the Spanish from Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic before transferring power in 1550 to Lima in Peru where the Spanish establised a governing body and the seat of Spanish power for that area of South America.
In 1717 Santa Fe became the capital of what was now called New Granada, which encompassed Equador, Venezuela and Panama. In the latter part of the 1700s the population of the city began to grow more rapidly from 18,000 in 1789 to about 30,000 in 1819. To cope with the expansion the city had started to expand and at this stage there were already 30 churches serving the population.
1810–11 there was a revolt by the citizens against Spanish rule and a government was set up, however, in 1816 internal divisions led to the temporary return to power of Spanish military loyalists who regained control of the city.
In 1819 Simon Bolivar, the great liberator took over the city, after his victory at Boyacá, making it the capital of the new independant nation of Gran Colombia.
In 1956 the municipalities around the swelling center of the city were joined together as a “special district”
In 1991 The newly written Constitution confirmed Bogotá as the Capital of Colombia, giving it the name of “Santafé de Bogotá”, and changing the are from Special District to “Capital District” (Distrito Capital).
In 2000 the official name of the city was changed again to simply “Bogotá”, although the previous version is still sometimes used and can still be seen on signs.