Siachoque

Siachoque
Municipality and town
Central square Siachoque
Location of the municipality and town of Siachoque in the Boyacá Department of Colombia
Country	Colombia
Department	Boyacá Department
Province	Central Boyacá Province
Founded	2 August 1556
Founded by	Friar Jerónimo de Peralta
Government
• Mayor	Andrés Cuítiva Jiménez (2016-2019)
Area
• Municipality and town	125 km2 (48 sq mi)
Elevation	2,760 m (9,060 ft)
Population (2015)
• Municipality and town	8,964
• Density	72/km2 (190/sq mi)
• Urban	1,574
Time zone	Colombia Standard Time (UTC-5)
Website	Official website

Siachoque is a town and municipality in the Central Boyacá Province, part of the Colombian department of Boyacá. Siachoque is situated on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense at a distance of 21 kilometres (13 mi) from the department capital Tunja. It borders in the north, Rondón and Viracachá in the south, in the east Toca, Pesca and Rondón and in the west Soracá and Chivatá.

The name Siachoque comes from the Chibcha language of the Muisca people who inhabited the central highlands of present-day Colombia before the Spanish conquest. It is composed of the words Si; "here", a; "from, taste, smell", chó; "good" and que; "vigorous fortress", translating as "place of good smells and strong and vigorous cultures" or "Land of the vigorous taste".

Siachoque was part of the loose Muisca Confederation, the former country in the Colombian Andes and the cacique of Siachoque was loyal to the zaque of Hunza. At the defeat of the latter the municipality became part of the New Kingdom of Granada and modern Siachoque was founded on August 2, 1556 by friar Jerónimo de Peralta.

Main economical activities in Siachoque are agriculture; potatoes, Solanum phureja (papa criolla), maize, oat, barley and wheat, farming and processing of meat and dairy products.