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Lake Guatavita

Lake in Cundinamarca Department, Colombia

Summary

Lake in Cundinamarca Department, Colombia

Field	Value
name	Laguna
image	LagunaDeGuatavita.jpg
pushpin_map	Colombia
location	Sesquilé, Cundinamarca, Colombia
length	700 m
width	700 m
area	19.8 ha
max-depth	125 m
elevation	3000 m
reference
coordinates

a lake

Guatavita | max-depth = 125 m

The ''[[zipa]]'' used to cover his body in gold dust, and from his raft, he offered treasures to the ''Guatavita'' goddess in the middle of the sacred lake. This Muisca tradition became the origin of the legend of El Dorado. [[Muisca raft]] in the [[Gold Museum, Bogotá]], Colombia

Votive objects found at the bottom of Lake Guatavita. [[British Museum]]<ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?place=15311&plaA=15311-3-1 British Museum Collection]</ref>

Lake Guatavita (Spanish: Laguna Guatavita) is located in the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes in the municipality of Sesquilé in the Almeidas Province, Cundinamarca department of Colombia, 57 km northeast of Bogotá, the capital of Colombia. This lake is famous for being the inspiration for the legendary El Dorado.

The lake is circular and has a surface area of 19.8 ha. The earlier theories of the crater's origin being a meteorite impact, volcanic cinder, or limestone sinkhole are now discredited. The most likely explanation is that it resulted from the dissolution of underground salt deposits from an anticline, resulting in a kind of sinkhole.

There are hot springs nearby in the municipality of Sesquilé, which means "hot water" in the now-extinct language of Chibcha, once spoken by the local indigenous people, the Muisca.

Spanish colonizers and Conquistadors knew about the existence of a sacred lake in the Eastern Ranges of the Andes possibly as early as 1531. The lake was associated with indigenous rituals involving gold. However, the first conquistador to arrive at the actual location was Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, possibly in June 1537, while on an expedition to the highlands of the Eastern Ranges of the Andes in search of gold. This brought the Spanish into first contact with the Muisca inhabiting the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, including around Lake Guatavita.

The lake is a focus of ecotourism, and its association with the legend of El Dorado is also a major attraction.

Etymology

The name of the lake is derived from Chibcha, the language of the Muisca: gwa: mountain or gwata, gwate: high elevation, or gwatibita: high mountain peak; hence, a pool at a high mountain peak. Another meaning is "End of the farmfields".

Muisca mythology

Main article: El Dorado

Lake Guatavita was reputedly one of the sacred lakes of the Muisca, and a ritual conducted there is widely thought to be the basis for the legend of El Dorado, "the golden one". The legend says the lake is where the Muisca celebrated a ritual in which the zipa (named "El Dorado" by the conquistadors) was covered in gold dust, and then, venturing out into the water on a ceremonial raft made of rushes, dove into the waters, washing off the gold. Afterward, trinkets, jewelry, and other precious offerings were thrown into the waters by worshipers. A few artifacts of gold and silver found at bottom hold proof to this claim; however, to date, attempts to drain the lake or salvage the gold (see Lake Guatavita gold) have yielded no more than these.

In pop culture

Lake Guatavita is the filming location of the music video of the song No Te Pido Flores by Fanny Lú.

References

{{in lang. es [https://www.freemaptools.com/area-calculator.htm Google Maps Area Calculator]
{{in lang. es [https://www.freemaptools.com/elevation-finder.htm Google Maps Elevation Finder]
[https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?place=15311&plaA=15311-3-1 British Museum Collection]
(14 January 2013). "El Dorado: The truth behind the myth".
(1972). "Laguna Guatavita: Not Meteoritic, Probably Salt Collapse Crater". Meteoritics.
M. Louis Ghisletti, Los Mwiskas, Bogota, 1954
{{in lang. es [http://www.guatavita-cundinamarca.gov.co/index.shtml#3 Official website Guatavita] {{Webarchive. link. (2016-01-30)

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

lakes-of-the-andes lakes-of-colombia sacred-lakes-of-the-americas geography-of-cundinamarca-department tourist-attractions-in-cundinamarca-department muisca-mythology-and-religion altiplano-cundiboyacense

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