Puente Nacional, Santander

Puente Nacional, Santander
Municipality and town
Flag of Puente Nacional, Santander
Flag
Location of the municipality and town of Puente Nacional, Santander in the Santander Department of Colombia.
Location of the municipality and town of Puente Nacional, Santander in the Santander Department of Colombia.
Country Colombia
DepartmentSantander Department
Founded1556[1]
Founded byAndrés Díaz Venero de Leiva[1]
Area
[2]
 • Total315 km2 (122 sq mi)
Elevation
1,625 m (5,331 ft)
Population
 (Census 2018[3])
 • Total12,586
 • Density40/km2 (100/sq mi)
DemonymPontanalino -a
Time zoneUTC-5 (Colombia Standard Time)
Websitewww.puentenacional-santander.gov.co

Puente Nacional (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpwente nasjoˈnal]) is an agricultural town and municipality in the Suárez River Valley, part of the Santander Department of northeastern Colombia. Colloquially referred to as "Puente" by its inhabitants.

Annual parades celebrating local culture and music

The area was originally inhabited by four Muisca tribes, three of which were the Semisos, Irobaes, and Popobas.[4][5] Their heritage now only survives in the names of three surrounding veredas.

The area between Puente and neighbouring Santa Sofía (formerly called Guatoque) was inhabited by a major tribe called the Sorocotá[6] who governed a major commercial centre (possibly home to the region's largest agricultural market)[7][8][9] which is why Puente's local radio station is called La Voz de Sorocotá (The Voice of Sorocotá). The town still has a market every Monday which sees locally sourced produce brought to the town from its many surrounding farms.

Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada travelled south through the area in 1537[10][11][12] in the search for El Dorado.[13] Having followed the course of the Magdalena River,[14] his expedition then travelled down the Saravita, which formed the main trajectory of the subsequent conquests. It was in this area that some sources report that Quesada's men made the first ever encounter with a "truffle" crop later identified as the potato.[15][16][17]

Following the Spanish conquests a new town was baptised Puente Real de Vélez, existing as a subsidiary to the town founded by Martin Galeano in 1539,[18] before eventually acquiring its current name during the period following the Comunero Rebellions of 1781.[19] These local uprisings set in motion the first wave of Spanish American victories against the Spanish Empire, although liberation only arrived after 1819. Every year on 8 May week, the town transforms with homage to the Comuneros. Townsfolk dress in traditional late-18th century attire and parades are held through the town.

In 1960 the town's Cantarrana Street was the setting of a now-regularly commemorated massacre. It happened two years after the end of La Violencia (The Violence); the name given to the ten year sectarian civil-political conflict which pitted conservatives against liberals.[20] On September 29, tensions still present from the decennial conflict culminated with a shooting involving local brigand Efrain Gonzalez which left 11 civilians dead and injured 19.

  1. ^ a b "Puente Nacional (Puente Real): Cuna de la guabina santandereana". Ministerio de Cultura. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  2. ^ "Municipalities of Colombia". Statoids. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  3. ^ "Censo Nacional de Población y Vivienda 2018" (in Spanish). DANE. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  4. ^ Pita Pico, Roger (6 November 2012). "Vestigios de a Lengua Guane: Una Aproximación al Fenómeno del Mestizaje Idiomático en Santander" (PDF). Academia Colombiana de Historia.
  5. ^ Gamba Matesus, Carlos Andrés. "Puentenal.com Todo sobre Puente Nacional en internet". www.puentenacional.com. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  6. ^ Valle de Sorocota; estudio monográfico de Guatoque-Santa Sofía y remembranza histórica de la antigua provincia de Ricuarte, memorias, etc. in SearchWorks catalog. Bibliotecade autores boyacenses. Imprenta del Departamento. 1965. Retrieved 12 April 2018. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Fulgencio Gutiérrez, José (1990). Santander y sus municipios (in Spanish). Impr. Departamental de Santander.
  8. ^ Boada, Boada Ordóñez O. (1996). Libro de oro de Santander (in Spanish).
  9. ^ Puente Nacional ayer y hoy (in Spanish). IDESAN. 1994.
  10. ^ T, Martínez Trujillo Martínez (2005). Los inconquistables panches del Magdalena: epopeya de un exótico reino caribe y su infortunado tropiezo con el Imperio Español (in Spanish). Ángel Martínez T.
  11. ^ Geografía e historia de Santander (in Spanish). Librería "Stella". 1947.
  12. ^ Lodge, Henry Cabot (1928). The history of nations. P.F.Collier.
  13. ^ Padrón, Francisco Morales (1974). Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, capitán de Eldorado (in Spanish). Publicaciones Españolas. ISBN 9788450064155.
  14. ^ Graham, Robert Bontine Cunninghame (1922). The Conquest of New Granada: Being the Life of Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada. W. Heinemann.
  15. ^ Salaman, Redcliffe N.; Burton, William Glynn (21 November 1985). The History and Social Influence of the Potato. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521316231.
  16. ^ Gould, W. A. (28 November 2013). Potato Production, Processing and Technology. Elsevier. ISBN 9781845696122.
  17. ^ Contributions from Texas Research Foundation. Texas Research Foundation. 1962.
  18. ^ Pueblos de Santander: procesos de desarrollo urbano (in Spanish). Terpel Bucaramanga S.A. 1 January 1996. ISBN 9789589589816.
  19. ^ Phelan, John Leddy (June 2011). The people and the King : the Comunero Revolution in Colombia, 1781. Madison. ISBN 9780299072940. OCLC 680040669.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  20. ^ Sánchez, Fajardo; Armando, Jhon (27 July 2017). "La masacre de La Cantarrana: tensiones políticas y bandolerismo". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)