Lake Tota in the context of Tota, Boyacá


Lake Tota in the context of Tota, Boyacá

⭐ Core Definition: Lake Tota

Lake Tota (Spanish: Lago de Tota) is the largest lake in Colombia, located in the east of Boyacá department, inside the Sugamuxi Province, it is the source of the Upia River which flows into the Orinoco River basin.

The major town on the lake is Aquitania, located on its eastern side. Other nearby villages include Tota, Iza and Cuítiva.

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Lake Tota in the context of Muisca people

The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) were a pre-Columbian culture and colonial communities of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense before the Spanish colonization of the Americas, whose customs lasted up the beginning of the 19th century and Colombian independence, and are indigenous peoples in Colombia in a process of cultural re-definition and revitalization. The Muisca spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan language family, also called Muysca and Mosca, which is part of an important revival effort. The first known contact with Europeans in the region was in 1537 during the Spanish conquest of New Granada.

In New Spain, Spanish clerics and civil officials had a major impact on the Muisca, attempting to Christianize and incorporate them into the Spanish Empire as subjects.

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Lake Tota in the context of Muisca religion

Muisca religion describes the religion of the Muisca who inhabited the central highlands of the Colombian Andes before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca. The Muisca formed a confederation of holy rulers and had a variety of deities, temples and rituals incorporated in their culture. Supreme being of the Muisca was Chiminigagua who created light and the Earth. He was not directly honoured, yet that was done through Chía, goddess of the Moon, and her husband Sué, god of the Sun. The representation of the two main celestial bodies as husband and wife showed the complementary character of man and woman and the sacred status of marriage.

The Muisca worshipped their gods at sacred sites, both natural, such as Lake Guatavita, the Siecha Lakes and Lake Tota and constructed; the Sun and Moon Temples in respectively Suamox (the "Rome" or "Mecca" of the Muisca) and Chía, City of the Moon. During these rituals the priests, obgues, performed sacrifices, sometimes human in character. The last public religious ceremony of the Muisca was performed in Ubaque on December 27, 1563.

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