Puente Nacional is a town and municipality in the Saravita Valley, part of the Santander Department of northeastern Colombia. The area was originally inhabited by four Muisca tribes, three of which named the: Semisos, Irobaes y Popobas, their heritage now only surviving in the names of three surrounding veredas. The area between Puente and neighbouring Santa Sofía was inhabited by a major tribe called the Sorocotá, governing a major commercial centre possibly home to the region's largest agricultural market. Puente's local radio station is today called . The town still has a market every Monday which sees locally sourced produce brought to the town from the town's plethora of surrounding farms. The Hoyo de La Romeraon the side of Santa Sofía remains the only alleged historical vestige to the area's indigenous past, though the claim is yet to be supported by archeological evidence. Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada travelled south through the area in 1537 in the search for El Dorado. Having followed the course of the Magdalena River, 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. 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, before eventually acquiring its current name during the period which followed the comunero rebellions of 1781. These local uprisings set in motion the first wave of Spanish American victories against the Spanish Empire, however an eventual liberation only arrived after 1819. Every year on the 8th of May week, the town transforms with homage to the comuneros. On the day of the main celebration, townspeople dress in traditional late-18th century attire and have parades across the town. The town's Cantarrana Street was the setting for a now-regularly commemorated massacre at the close of the bipartisan Colombian Civil War of the mid-twentieth. On 29 September 1960, the decennial conflict antagonising liberals and conservatives culminated with a shooting involving local :es:Efraín_González_Téllez|Efrain Gonzalez killing 11 civilians and injuring 19. In nearby Florían lie the Windows of Tisquizoque waterfalls, associated with the former cacique of the same name. Furthermore, interest in El Peñon has also risen prominently because of speleological research and tourism. The town has a tropical climate with significant precipitations even during the driest month. The area's average monthly temperatures range the mid 20s.
