Nemocón

Nemocón
Street in Nemocón
Flag
Location of the town and municipality of Nemocón in the Cundinamarca Department
Nemocón Location in Colombia
Coordinates: 5°3′19″N 74°1′17″W / 5.05528°N 74.02139°W / 5.05528; -74.02139
Country	Colombia
Departamento	Cundinamarca
Province	Central Savanna Province
Founded	26 July 1600
Founded by	Luis Henríquez
Government
• Mayor	Julián Alfredo Rodríguez Montaño (2020-2023)
Area
• City	98.1 km2 (37.9 sq mi)
• Urban	0.61 km2 (0.24 sq mi)
Elevation	2,585 m (8,481 ft)
Population  (2015)
• City	13,488
• Density	140/km2 (360/sq mi)
• Urban	5,684
Demonym	Nemoconense
Time zone	UTC-5 (Colombia Standard Time)
Area code	+1
Website	Official website

Nemocón is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Central Savanna Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. Nemocón, famous for its salt mine, was an important village in the Muisca Confederation, the country in the central Colombian Andes before the arrival of the Spanish. The municipality is situated in the northern part of the Bogotá savanna, part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense with its urban centre at an altitude of 2,585 metres (8,481 ft) and 65 kilometres (40 mi) from the capital Bogotá. Nemocón is the northeasternmost municipality of the Metropolitan Area of Bogotá and the Bogotá River originates close to Nemocón. The median temperature of Nemocón is 12.8 °C. The municipality borders Tausa in the north, Suesca and Gachancipá in the east, Tocancipá and Zipaquirá in the south and in the west the rivers Checua and Neusa and the municipality of Cogua.^[1]

Nemocón is derived from Enemocón and means "The cry or sadness of the warrior" in the Chibcha language.^[1] Another etymology is that the town is named after zipa Nemequene.^[2]

Archaeological evidence surfaced by Gonzalo Correal Urrego in 1979 and Ana María Groot in 1992 has shown that Nemocón was inhabited early in the history of inhabitation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense. One of the oldest evidence of human settlement; lithic scraper tools,^[3] bone tools and the remains of food of the hunter-gatherers (deer, foxes, jaguars and rodents) has been dated at 7640 BP.^[4] The inhabitants of the area lived under rock shelters, similar to Tequendama.^[5]

The archaeological site Checua, at 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) north from the urban centre of Nemocón, provided evidence carbon dated at around 6500 BCE. First researcher of Checua was Colombian anthropologist and archaeologist Ana María Groot.^[6] In later years other archaeological sites have been found.^[7] Rock art has been discovered at various sites in Nemocón, among others at the border with Suesca.^[8][9]

This lithic period, part of the Andean preceramic, predates the Herrera Period of which archaeological evidence has been found by Marianne Cardale de Schrimpff in 1975, 1976 and the 1980s.^[10] Remains of deer, guinea pigs, rabbits, pecaris, howler monkeys and armadillos have been discovered in Nemocón and formed an important part of the diet of the people.^[11][12][13] Ceramics of Nemocón date to the 4th century BC and showed that Nemocón in those ages was already important in the extraction of salt.^[14] Excavations in Nemocón also have revealed the use of needles.^[11]

The Herrera Period was followed by the culturally advanced civilisation of the Muisca, organised in their loose Muisca Confederation. The Muisca Period typically commenced in 800 AD and the people were named Pueblo de la Sal; "Salt People" because of their trading in the product.^[15]"Daza 2013 p22" /> Ceramics of this period found in Nemocón originated from farther away on the Altiplano and ceramics of Nemocón and Zipaquirá found elsewhere on the Bogotá savanna are related to the salt trade.^[16][17] Of the central Colombian indigenous peoples, only the Lache and U'wa were the other miners of salt. The Muisca exploited halite in various locations in their territories, among others in Nemocón, Zipaquirá, Sesquilé, Tausa, Gámeza, and Guachetá. Nemocón was a market town where the salt was traded.^[18] A smaller salt mine was located in Sopó.^[19] Early evidence of salt extraction dates back to the end of the first millennium BC.^[20]

The Muisca women extracted the salt from a brine in large pots.^[21][22][23] According to chronicler Juan de Santa Gertrudis, used the mineral to dry and preserve their fish and meat.^[24]

During the Spanish colonial period, the salt was exploited by hand labour of the surviving Muisca.^[25]

Modern Nemocón was founded on July 26, 1600 by Luis Henríquez.^[1] As of 1614, wheat was successfully cultivated in Nemocón.^[26]

In modern times the extraction of salt continued and the economical activity of the town has expanded to the cultivation of flowers and the extraction of kaolin.^[1]

Famous for its salt mine and museum, Nemocón is a touristic village and linked by train from Bogotá. The salt mine is the second-largest of Colombia, after the Salt Cathedral in neighbouring Zipaquirá. Sunday is market day in Nemocón.^[1]

• Festival del floricultor
• September: Festival de Danzas
• December: Festival del macramé and Christmas lighting

• Ricardo Moros Urbina, Painter s.XIX. Founder Colombian History Academy.
• Miguel Gutiérrez Nieto, Bogotá´s National Prefect and Major under Mosquera's presidency, S. XIX
• Eustacio Sanz de Santamaría, Foreign Affairs Secretary under Holguín's presidency. Diplomatic and writer
• Felipa Molina Morales and Antonio de Luna, Commoners revolution indigenous leaders.
• Luis Antonio Orjuela Quintero, Historian,. academic, educator.
• Manuel Medardo Espinosa, romantic poet.
• Julio Rubiano, former professional cyclist

• Remains of a mastodont have been found in Nemocón.^[27]
• Scenes of the movie The 33 were filmed in the salt mine of Nemocón.^[27]
• The second leg of The Amazing Race 32 featured the salt mine of Nemocón and the Templo Parroquial San Francisco de Asís.^[28]

Panorama of the central square of Nemocón

• Muisca salt mining
• Zipaquirá, Tausa, Muisca women, Nemequene

• Argüello García, Pedro María (2015). Subsistence economy and chiefdom emergence in the Muisca area. A study of the Valle de Tena (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Pittsburgh. pp. 1–193. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
• Caballero Herrera, Germán (2011). Lamento de guerrero-Monografía de Nemocón Alcaldía Municipal. ISBN 978-958-99927-0-8.
• Cardale de Schrimpff, Marianne (1985). "En busca de los primeros agricultores del Altiplano Cundiboyacense" [Searching for the first farmers of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense] (PDF) (in Spanish). Bogotá, Colombia: Banco de la República. pp. 99–125. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
• Cooke, Richard (1998). "Human settlement of Central America and northernmost South America (14,000-8000 BP)". Quaternary International. 49/50. Pergamon: 177–190. ISSN 1040-6182.
• Correal Urrego, Gonzalo (1990). "Aguazuque: Evidence of hunter-gatherers and growers on the high plains of the Eastern Ranges" (PDF) (in Spanish). Bogotá, Colombia: Banco de la República: Fundación de Investigaciones Arqueológicas Nacionales. pp. 1–316. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
• Correal Urrego, Gonzalo (1990). "Evidencias culturales durante el Pleistocene y Holoceno de Colombia" [Cultural evidences during the Pleistocene and Holocene of Colombia] (PDF). Revista de Arqueología Americana (in Spanish). 1: 69–89. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
• Daza, Blanca Ysabel (2013). Historia del proceso de mestizaje alimentario entre Colombia y España [History of the integration process of foods between Colombia and Spain] (PhD thesis) (in Spanish). Barcelona, Spain: Universitat de Barcelona. pp. 1–494.
• Espejo Olaya, Maria Bernarda (1999). Notas sobre toponimia en algunas coplas colombianas - Notes about toponomy of some Colombian ballads - Thesaurus (PDF) (in Spanish). Vol. LIV. pp. 1102–1157. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
• Groot de Mahecha, Ana María (2008). Sal y poder en el altiplano de Bogotá, 1537-1640 (in Spanish). Universidad Nacional de Colombia. pp. 1–174. ISBN 978-958-719-046-5.
• Groot de Mahecha, Ana María (1992). "Checua: Una secuencia cultural entre 8500 y 3000 años antes del presente" [Checua: a cultural sequence between 8500 and 3000 years before present] (in Spanish). Banco de la República. pp. 1–95. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
• Paepe, Paul de; Cardale de Schrimpff, Marianne (1990). "Resultados de un estodio petrológico de cerámicas del Periodo Herrera provenientes de la Sabana de Bogotá y sus implicaciones arqueológicas" [Results of a petrological study of ceramics form the Herrera Period coming from the Bogotá savanna and its archaeological implications]. Boletín Museo del Oro (in Spanish). _. Museo del Oro: 99–119. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
• Restrepo Manrique, Cecilia (2009). "La alimentación en la vida cotidiana del Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario: 1653-1773 & 1776-1900" [The food in the daily life of the Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario: 1653-1773 & 1776-1900] (PDF) (in Spanish). Bogotá, Colombia: Ministerio de la Cultura. pp. 1–352. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
• Rivera Pérez, Pedro Alexander (2013). "Uso de fauna y espacios rituales en el precerámico de la sabana de Bogotá" [Use of fauna and ritual spaces in the preceramic of the Bogotá savanna]. Revista ArchaeoBIOS (in Spanish). 7–1: 71–86. ISSN 1996-5214.
• Zerda, Liborio (1947) [1883]. "El Dorado" (PDF) (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-07-07. Retrieved 2016-07-08.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nemocón.

• (in English and Spanish) Salt mine of Nemocón - official website
• Video of Nemocón

05°03′N 73°53′W / 5.050°N 73.883°W / 5.050; -73.883