Usaquén

Usaquén
Locality of Bogotá
Santa Barbara Financial Center
Location of the locality in the city of Bogotá
Location of the locality in the Capital District of Bogotá
Country	Colombia
City	Bogotá D.C.
Area
• Total	65.31 km2 (25.22 sq mi)
Elevation	2,650 m (8,690 ft)
Population (2016)
• Total	449,621
• Density	6,900/km2 (18,000/sq mi)
Time zone	Colombia Standard Time (UTC-5)
Website	Official website

Usaquén is a residential and commercial locality (district) in northern Bogotá, capital of Colombia. Although it is designated on maps as Bogotá's #1 locality, it was a separate municipality of Cundinamarca until 1954, when it was annexed into the city. Today, Usaquén is home to more than 480,000 inhabitants as projected by 2008. The Cordillera Oriental forms a natural border to the east.

North: The municipality of Chía
East: The municipality of La Calera
South: The locality of Chapinero
West: The locality of Suba

The name comes from the cacique Usaque, who was ruling the area of the Muisca. Usaque in Chibcha means "under the pole". In 1537 conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and his troops arrived on the Bogotá savanna. Usaquén was abandoned by Spanish decree in 1777. It was gradually repopulated by people from Bogotá, and was host to some fighting during the war for Colombian independence. It was re-founded as a municipality in 1846, and in 1860 it was the scene of a battle between government troops and Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera. After winning that battle, Cipriano took power of the country.

Until 1954, the municipality covered 71 km², starting from Avenida España in the south and ending at 12 km on the road to Chía. It had traditionally been a spot for Bogotá's elites to maintain country homes. When it was integrated into the city, it maintained many of its municipal institutions, but with the supervision of Bogotá's mayor. Under the new constitution of 1991, Bogotá was reorganized into localities. Usaquén was numbered first of twenty.