Bogota (Civ5)/Civilopedia

With its many universities, museums and libraries, Bogota has been nicknamed "the Athens of South America," a tribute to its long and rich cultural heritage. It was founded by the Spaniard Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada, who in 1536 AD led an expedition of 500 conquistadors into the Rio Grande de la Magdalena in search of El Dorado. In clashes with the indigenous Muiscas, they plundered the temples at Zaque Quemuenchatocha and Sogamoso, taking emeralds and gold. But by March 1537 only 70 men remained and Quesada decided to build a settlement to serve as a base, locating it on a plateau in the northern Andes near what would be known as the Bogota River. In 1553 the central plaza was constructed, and a cathedral and government buildings begun. The town became the capital of the crown colony of New Grenada, and remained a viceroyship until it achieved independence under Simon Bolivar in 1819. In the following years, it served as the capital city of "Gran Colombia" (until 1830), then the Republic of New Grenada (1863), then of the United States of Colombia through 1886, when the current Republic of Colombia came into existence.
Throughout these changes, Bogota flowered as the educational and cultural center of the nation, whatever form it took. In 1823, the town’s public library was expanded, modernized and became the National Library. A few years later, a National Museum was founded. The first "State School," precursor to the National University of Colombia, was established in 1867. Due to its relative isolation, the city became a mecca for authors and poets looking to create new trends distinct from South American Spanish literary traditions, and from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s was home to such great writers as Jose Asuncion Silva and Rafael Pombo. Despite bouts of civil unrest and civil war, the city was also a favorite haven of artists; in 1886, the National School of Beaux Arts was founded. Its status as one of the most culturally-rich cities of the world was formally recognized in 2007, when UNESCO named Bogota a World Book Capital, only the second one in the Western hemisphere (along with Montreal, Canada).