Chivor


Chivor is a town and municipality in the Eastern Boyacá Province, part of the Colombian department of Boyacá. The mean temperature of the village in the Tenza Valley is and Chivor is located at from the department capital Tunja. Chivor is world-famous for its emeralds.

Borders

Bordered to the north with the municipality of Macanal; to the south with Ubalá, Cundinamarca, on the east with the municipality of Santa María, and the west by the municipality of Almeida.

Etymology

Chivor comes from Chibcha and means "Our farmfields - our mother" or "Green and rich land". The latter refers to the rich emerald deposits.

History

Chivor was inhabited by the Muisca in the times before the Spanish conquest. The Muisca were organized in their loose Muisca Confederation with northern ruler the zaque of Hunza and the southern zipa in Bacatá. Already in those times the rich emerald deposits were known and mined by the Muisca. The emeralds functioned as offer pieces in the Muisca religion, as decoration and as money.
The emerald deposits of Chivor were discovered by Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada in 1537 but the mines were abandoned until 1886.
Modern Chivor was not founded until December 16, 1930 by Florencio Novoa.

Economy

Main economical activities of Chivor are agriculture and especially the emerald mining. Only in 2014 emeralds worth 30 million US dollars were extracted in Boyacá. The rich deposits have led to numerous conflicts in the region, including in Chivor.
The Gran Esmeralda de Moctezuma is a mineral of high, long and thick and has been found in Chivor. Currently the emerald is in Vienna, Austria. Other grand emeralds from Chivor are Patricia weighing 632 carats, and La Magnífica of 1225 carats.
The Embalse la Esmeralda producing hydroelectric energy is governed from Chivor, Macanal and Almeida.

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