Bogotá

Bogotá, D.C.

Flag	Coat of Arms
Geography
Size	1.775,98 km²
Population	Total: 7,185,889 Density: 4,528 people/km² Metro Area: 7,594,000
Location	04°39′00″N, 74°03′00″W [1]
Founded	August 6, 1538
Time zone	UTC–5
Official website	www.bogota.gov.co
Government
Country	Colombia
Department	Cundinamarca
Capital District	Bogotá
Mayor	Samuel Moreno Rojas

Bogota is the capital (city) of Colombia. In 2009 more than 7 million people live in Bogota which is the largest city in Colombia. It is about 2,640 meters above sea level, on top a plateau (a mountain with a flat top). This makes it the third highest capital in the world. With many universities and libraries, Bogotá has become known as "The Athens of South America".The weather is usually nice during the day and cool at night. It has a series of bike paths (trails that are made for bikes) that wind through the city. It has many recreational and amusement parks open to the public. Samuel Moreno was elected mayor of Bogota on October 29, 2007. He assumed his office on January 1, 2008.

History

Bogota was founded back in 1538 by Gonzalo Jimenes de Quezada, a Spanish conqueror. Bogota has had extremely awful moments. In 1948, a presidential candidate, Jorge Elieser Gaitan, was murdered while doing a speech in front of hundreds of persons. This tragic moment brought with it terrible consequences: one of the most remembered one is the "Bogotazo". The "Bogotazo" started as a political party war, the blue party, self named the "conservatives", began to hunt and kill every single member of the red party, the "liberals". Such a sadistic event had not been seen in the history of Colombia since the independence war of this very country. Seeing this terrible unfair situation, the remaining blue party members decided to create the "Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia" (FARC); however, this group was ironically created to protect the oppressed people from their oppressors. Nowadays, this group is known as terrorists and murderers;nevertheless, Colombia's capital city, Bogota, has not being attacked in the last few years.