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]
Etymology
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 zipaNemequene.[2]
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]
Modern Nemocón was founded on July 26, 1600 by Luis Henríquez.[1] As of 1614, wheat was successfully cultivated in Nemocón.[26]
Nemocón today
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]
Tourism
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]
Ferias
Festival del floricultor
September: Festival de Danzas
December: Festival del macramé and Christmas lighting
Cooke, Richard (1998). "Human settlement of Central America and northernmost South America (14,000-8000 BP)". Quaternary International. 49/50. Pergamon: 177–190. ISSN1040-6182.
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.
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. ISSN1996-5214.
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