2,635 meters above sea level rises the city formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogota, founded on August 6th, 1538, by the Spanish colonizers as the capital of the New Kingdom of Granada (currently Colombia and Panama) on the territory of the
. The two most accepted etymologies suggest that the name Bogota comes from the
meaning either “wailing of the farmland” or “lady of the shining mountain.” Nowadays, the city still functions as the capital of Colombia and is the
with almost three times more inhabitants than the second most populous city, Medellin. With all of this, it is no surprise that Bogota is the Colombian epicenter in most levels and is the cultural, historical, economic, and industrial capital of the country.
On the way to become a megacity
A megacity is commonly defined as a city with over 10 million inhabitants. Currently, Bogota ranks as the fifth
most populated metropolitan area in Latin America, behind Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro. Only counting within the city limits, Bogota registered 7.87 million
inhabitants in 2022 and had a constant increase at least for the last ten years. Nothing gets in the way of the idea that in future years the Colombian capital will become a megacity, with constant migrations from rural areas or neighboring countries and being the economic center of Colombia. Nonetheless, with the increase in the population, urban planning begins to be one of the main challenges a megacity needs to tackle. One of the already problematic situations in the city is traffic, Bogota ranks as the
Latin American city with the highest traffic congestion levels.
Crime in Bogota
Crime and violence are some of the main problems the Colombian population faces, which is no different in the capital. Bogota recorded the second highest
perception of insecurity in the country, with almost 78 percent of the inhabitants stating that they felt insecure living there, only behind Cali. In concrete terms, Bogota has a
victimization rate of 13.6 percent of the inhabitants being victims of a crime, only behind the western department of Pasto. The capital city follows in line with the country's history of drug trafficking, guerrilla warfare, and corruption. To overcome both problems of corruption and crime, the government of the city implemented a new unified information system. The system has been helpful to identify those members of the public security institutions that work with organized crime and also to dismantle criminal organizations.
Tourism
Despite the high crime rates, its historical relevance and tourist attractions help the city to be the tourist epicenter of Colombia. Either to take a funicular to the top of Serro de Monserrate, be amazed by the Botero or National museums, or simply get lost in the old historical districts, more than eleven million international and national
tourists visited Bogota in 2022. Even though the number is still to reclaim its pre-pandemic levels, the high increase in the last year presents a good recovery sign. In recent years, most tourists have been residents: on average Colombians spend 31 USD per day when visiting the capital, while the
average spend of international tourists goes up to 93 USD.
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