Located at an elevation of about 2,650 m, 700 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean and 370 kilometers from the Pacific on a mountain rimmed plateau high in the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes Mountains, Bogotá was founded on the 6th of August 1538 by the Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada who fought the Chibcha Indians near the site of the populous tribe center called Bacatá. The new city became the vice-regal capital of New Granada in 1717. It was captured by Simón Bolívar in 1819 and was the capital of the independent nation of Great Colombia (which included modern day Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela). It became the capital of New Granada (later renamed Colombia) in 1830 when Great Colombia was dissolved.
The rain and altitude gave the people of Bogotá their identity, while the architecture started acquiring a Parisian feel, the people started looking more and more like Londoners. Historians have written about the rain in Bogotá on many occasions. For a long time, at certain hours of the afternoon, Bogotá became a river of umbrellas. However, although it is still rainy and cold, the capital has lost much of this image. Increases in population and pollution have raised the temperature here as in other places. Modernity arrived in Bogotá thanks to violence. On the 9th of April, 1948, Colombia's 20th century history was split in two. It all started in the capital, with the murder of the political leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitán, a liberal loved by the people and despised by the governing class. The people took to the streets, raided the shops, and burnt the churches and official buildings. Until that day, the city of 400,000 people had withstood many earthquakes. But the "Bogotazo," as this event is known, left behind a ruined city. That was the end of the streetcar and of the city's aspirations to be like London or Paris. From that time on, the North American influence became clear. The first modern buildings went up, and twenty years later, the first skyscrapers and shopping centers appeared. Migration from the provinces continued, and the contrasts between the rich North and the poor South became even more striking.
Today Bogotá is a cosmopolitan city in continuous expansion. It is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas, not only in Colombia, but also in South America. Its almost 6 million inhabitants include a multitude of immigrants from all over the world, which makes the capital a true microcosm of the nation. Modern highrises and skyscrapers contrast with old houses of colonial and republican architecture.
Recent local governments have concentrated on bringing people back to the city center and improving the transportation system that takes 9 million citizens to and from their destinations every day. At the moment, there is no underground system; therefore a new transportation system has been created called “el transmilenio” this system has change the city infrastructure and is now being mimic by other cities.Bogotá is a city in which energy and chaos, insecurity and emotion, violence and creativity come together. It is certainly not a quiet place, but then one would never call it boring either. Those who enjoy Bogotá find a strange fascination in its chaos. The city is full of contrasts, as we have said: gray by day, colorful by night, surrounded by green mountains protecting the vast valley, sunshine announcing rain, professional beggars, abject poverty next to modern shopping centers, a true synthesis of classes, styles and regions. At once, modern, classical and primitive, Bogotá is an authentic city.
Major suburbs include Bosa, Engativá, Fontibón, Suba, Usaquén, and Usme. Industries include printing and publishing, motor-vehicle assembly, food processing, and the manufacture of beverages, textiles, metals goods, machinery, and electrical equipment. Many banks and corporations maintain their headquarters in the city. Railroads and highways, including the Pan-American Highway, link the city with other major centers.
The rain and altitude gave the people of Bogotá their identity, while the architecture started acquiring a Parisian feel, the people started looking more and more like Londoners. Historians have written about the rain in Bogotá on many occasions. For a long time, at certain hours of the afternoon, Bogotá became a river of umbrellas. However, although it is still rainy and cold, the capital has lost much of this image. Increases in population and pollution have raised the temperature here as in other places. Modernity arrived in Bogotá thanks to violence. On the 9th of April, 1948, Colombia's 20th century history was split in two. It all started in the capital, with the murder of the political leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitán, a liberal loved by the people and despised by the governing class. The people took to the streets, raided the shops, and burnt the churches and official buildings. Until that day, the city of 400,000 people had withstood many earthquakes. But the "Bogotazo," as this event is known, left behind a ruined city. That was the end of the streetcar and of the city's aspirations to be like London or Paris. From that time on, the North American influence became clear. The first modern buildings went up, and twenty years later, the first skyscrapers and shopping centers appeared. Migration from the provinces continued, and the contrasts between the rich North and the poor South became even more striking.
Today Bogotá is a cosmopolitan city in continuous expansion. It is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas, not only in Colombia, but also in South America. Its almost 6 million inhabitants include a multitude of immigrants from all over the world, which makes the capital a true microcosm of the nation. Modern highrises and skyscrapers contrast with old houses of colonial and republican architecture.
Recent local governments have concentrated on bringing people back to the city center and improving the transportation system that takes 9 million citizens to and from their destinations every day. At the moment, there is no underground system; therefore a new transportation system has been created called “el transmilenio” this system has change the city infrastructure and is now being mimic by other cities.Bogotá is a city in which energy and chaos, insecurity and emotion, violence and creativity come together. It is certainly not a quiet place, but then one would never call it boring either. Those who enjoy Bogotá find a strange fascination in its chaos. The city is full of contrasts, as we have said: gray by day, colorful by night, surrounded by green mountains protecting the vast valley, sunshine announcing rain, professional beggars, abject poverty next to modern shopping centers, a true synthesis of classes, styles and regions. At once, modern, classical and primitive, Bogotá is an authentic city.
Major suburbs include Bosa, Engativá, Fontibón, Suba, Usaquén, and Usme. Industries include printing and publishing, motor-vehicle assembly, food processing, and the manufacture of beverages, textiles, metals goods, machinery, and electrical equipment. Many banks and corporations maintain their headquarters in the city. Railroads and highways, including the Pan-American Highway, link the city with other major centers.
2 comments:
bogota seems to have a very compact history. it sound very interesting to me. as it is quite a young settlement there is still a lot of memories of the past.
are my feelings right that there is a lot more history as is most of the us cities. some of ur images show rather spanish settings of houses and churches... in the us cities seem to lack any culture from the past but here it appears different to me - let me know -
the second aspect that u write about is the contrast that it self would be worth a full research. a immens topic with facets in any field... great to put between our existing topics - it talks about life, culture and people. but i am not sure whether bogota is the only city to have such a broad variety of contrasts. even here in switzerland I think we could find such contrasts (maybe I have to look very hard and dig a bit deeper, but I 'll pick up on this next week...)
I think this could be a very good topic where we easily can compare the three cities with very simple questions. could be a very good introduction to what we are planning to do.
I like ur idea of having this culture as a base to cycles. but as u mention in ur next post there still exist cycles and here I think they exist beyond culture. obviously they are affected by culture but do no come to existence by it...
To me the background of Bogotá is very complicated (I'm sure that every city got their unique history). Even though that Colombia and Hong Kong were both colonies, the results left by their original countries are very different.
I find the topic very interesting and meaningful as understanding the history and the culture of one city is the foundation of understanding it, and so as to design it. (L, you make me thinking about your ambition on the patchwork city).
Referring to the chaos you mentioned, could you elaborate more? Are you meaning the social conflict caused by the imbalance distribution of capital? Could you take some photos on the boundaries / edges of the chaos? Like poverty next to modern shopping centre, spaces by different uses?
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