Turmequé

Turmequé
Turmequé
Municipality and town
	Catholic church and central square
	UTC-5 (Colombia Standard Time)
Website	Official website

Turmequé is a town and municipality in the

Nuevo Colón and in the south the municipality Villapinzón of the department of Cundinamarca.^[1]

History

Turmequé was an important center for the

zaque based in Hunza, present-day department capital Tunja. The name of the village is Chibcha and means "vigorous chief".^[2] Another name for the town is Valle de las trompetas ("Trumpet Valley") because of the trumpets the Spanish conquistadores were bringing with them.^[1] Turmequé has given its name to the Colombian national game of tejo, previously called Turmequé. In the village center a statue honouring the Muisca sports god Chaquén

still remembers this.

Before the municipality was split, it used to be extensive in area. In 1773 Villapinzón (then called Hato Viejo) became a separate unity and in 1776 Ventaquemada was separated from Turmequé.^[1]

Economy

The town center is for the most part focused on commerce and services while the rural area has

feijoa. Livestock farming consists of mainly pork

.

Tourism

Being the birthplace of tejo, Turmequé has considerable amount of tourism. Each year the national championships of tejo are held here. The town also has a religious museum.