Saboyá

Saboyá is a town and municipality in the Western Boyacá Province, part of the Colombian department of Boyacá.^[1]

Saboyá
Municipality and town
Train station Saboyá
Location of the municipality and town of Saboyá in the Boyacá Department of Colombia.
Country	Colombia
Department	Boyacá Department
Province	Western Boyacá Province
Founded	4 October 1556
Government
• Mayor	Jeferson Leonardo Ortiz Sanabria (2020–2023)
Area
• Municipality and town	246.9 km2 (95.3 sq mi)
• Urban	0.1 km2 (0.04 sq mi)
Elevation	2,600 m (8,500 ft)
Population  (2015)
• Municipality and town	12,372
• Density	50/km2 (130/sq mi)
• Urban	789
Time zone	UTC-5 (Colombia Standard Time)
Website	Official website

Etymology

Saboyá is an Italian name brought by European colonizers.^[2]

History

Before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca on the central highlands of the Colombian Andes, Saboyá was ruled by a cacique with the same name.

The first encomendero of Saboyá was Pedro de Galeano, brother of Martín Galeano and soldier in the army of Hernán Pérez de Quesada, brother of Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. Modern Saboyá was founded on October 4, 1556.^[1]

Simón Bolívar visited Saboyá on three occasions: January 2, 1821, September 6, 1827 and June 9, 1828.^[1]

Economy

Main economical activities in Saboyá are agriculture and livestock farming. Among the agricultural products potatoes, maize and the fruits curuba, blackberries, tree tomatoes and strawberries are cultivated.^[1]