Bogotá, formerly called Santa Fe de Bogotá, is the capital city of Colombia, as well as the largest and most populous city in the country, with 7,033,914 inhabitants (2007). Bogotá and with its metropolitan area, which includes municipalities such as Chía, Cota, Soacha, Cajicá and La Calera, had an estimated population of 8,244,980[1] as of 2007. Bogotá’s altitude makes it the third-highest major city in the world after La Paz and Quito. Also in the way of comparison, the city of Bogota has land area that is larger than New York City, Mexico City, or Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Bogotá was originally called “Bacatá” (which means “planted fields”) by the Muiscas.[2] It was the center of their civilization before the Spanish explorers colonized the area, and it sustained a large population. The European settlement was founded in August 6, 1538 by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and was named “Santa Fé de Bacatá” after his birthplace Santa Fé and the local name. “Bacatá” had become the modern “Bogotá” by the time it was made the capital of the New Kingdom of Granada, which was then part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, and later of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. The city soon became one of the centers of Spanish colonial power and civilization in South America.
In 1810-11 its citizens revolted against Spanish rule and set up a government of their own, but had to contend with internal divisions and the temporary return to power of Spanish military loyalists who retook the city in 1816. In 1819 Simón Bolívar recaptured it after his victory at Boyacá. Bogotá was then made the capital of Gran Colombia, a federation combining the territories of modern Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. When Gran Colombia was broken up, Bogotá remained the capital of New Granada, which later became the Republic of Colombia. See History of Colombia.