The New Student's Reference Work/Bogota

Bogota (bo′ go-ta), the capital of the Republic of Colombia or New Granada, stands on a tableland of 450 square miles in area, at an elevation of 8,694 feet above the sea and is surrounded by mountains.  The city was founded by the Spaniards in 1538, and has a population of 150,000.  Although the surrounding plain is fertile and the mountains abound in valuable minerals, such as iron, coal and salt, and probably the precious metals, yet as a rule the people are greatly impoverished in consequence of the difficulty of transportation across the mountains.  There are at present few manufactures.  The city teems with churches and possesses, besides a fine capitol and other official buildings, a mint, a university, a number of schools, a free library, observatory, two theaters and several museums.  It also supports forty journals, so that its people claim for their city the title of the Athens of South America.