WHO IS THE FOUNDER OF BUCARAMANGA? - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

It is said that the founder of Bucaramanga was Captain Andrés Páez de Sotomayor together with the priest Miguel de Trujillo on December 22, 1622. The foundation took place during a Eucharist celebrated in the place that would later occupy the Chapel of Dolores, following the indications of the Spanish oidor Juan de Villabona Zubiaurre (Industriales, 1962).

Although some sources maintain that Bucaramanga never had an official foundation, many sources agree that Andrés Páez de Sotomayor and Miguel de Trujillo were the ones who founded the Bucaramanga hamlet as an indigenous reservation attached to Pamplona.

Monument to the founders of Bucaramanga. Retrieved from World Travel Server.

Specifically, it was established in the Real de Minas sector. Later, it was a parish and a village. Finally, with the Constitution of 1886, it was declared a municipality and capital of the department of Santander.

Some biographical information about the founder of Bucaramanga

Andrés Páez de Sotomayor was born in Pamplona, ​​north of Santander, Colombia in 1574 and died in the same town in 1633 at the age of 59. He was the son of the Spanish Diego Páez de Sotomayor and Doña Beatriz de Vargas, who also died in Pamplona (Sitebuilding, 2001).

Captain Sotomayor was also known for being entrusted to the indigenous Quenejos after the resignation of Martín Guillén, in 1592. It is said that he held the position of Deputy Mayor of Minas during the year 1517 in the Río del Oro and for having been in 1622 settlement judge of Bucaramanga.

History of the Bucaramanga Foundation

Bucaramanga was not a founded town in itself, as were Bogotá, Cartagena, Cali, Santa Marta or their close neighbors, Girón and Pamplona.

What is known as its foundation was the transfer of several indigenous settlements to the place that today occupies the Custodio García Rovira Park and its surroundings. This transfer was carried out in order to facilitate the indoctrination and catechization of the indigenous people (Gómez, 2012).

At that time, Juan de Villabona y Zubiaurre acted as judge in the hearings of the kingdom and had the obligation to hear and sentence the causes and lawsuits. For this reason it is called oidor (Jordán & Izard, 1991).

Juan de Villabona y Zubiaurre, as a judge, arrived in the region that would later become Bucaramanga, assigned by the Royal Court.

The objective was to inquire about the complaints, claims and serious denunciations brought to Santa Fe by the indigenous Miguel de Bucarica and Luis de Guaca, from Gaspar de Guaca.

These complaints pointed to the Bucarica encomenderos -Juan de Arteaga and Juan de Velasco- of mistreatment and irregular behavior.

Villabona was obliged to indicate which indigenous groups should make up the new town and ordered that a hamlet be built where they could be catechized by the Crown.

A doctrinal priest named Miguel de Trujillo is assigned to this hamlet, who also has a house built within the hamlet. This priest has the obligation to determine various aspects of the town's organization.

Similarly, the judge Villabona orders Antonio Guzmán (mayor of Minas de Las Vetas, Montuosa and Río de Oro) to be in charge of supporting Miguel de Trujillo in the work of building the village.

However, twenty days later, the Royal Court entrusts this task to Captain Andrés Páez de Sotomayor, who has only thirty days to carry out the mission of displacing the indigenous Guanes from the Real de Minas sector, territory assigned for the construction of the farmhouse.

In this way, on December 22, 1622, between Captain Andrés Páez de Sotomayor and Father Miguel de Trujillo, together with several spearmen, the Guanes indigenous people who inhabited the area are repelled.

Right there and during that date, the indigenous gold panners previously chosen by the oidor are gathered and the first Eucharist is celebrated, with which the Bucaramanga hamlet is considered to have been founded (University, 2012).

Act of Foundation of Bucaramanga

It is considered that on December 22, 1622, the founding of Bucaramanga took place, since that day Father Miguel de Trujillo draws up an act.

This act indicates that on December 22, 1622, he, doctrinal priest of the Río de Oro and the surrounding territories, certifies together with the settlement judge, Captain Andrés Páez de Sotomayor, the fulfillment of the mission assigned by the oidor Juan de Villabona y Zubiaurre.

The record also indicates that Juan de Villabona y Zubiaurre is the oldest judge of the Royal Audience assigned by the Council of the Spanish Crown.

It was he who commissioned the priest and the captain in the mission of giving a mass in this town and building a hamlet and a sacristy with good woods, poles, beams and a stall in an area of ​​110 by 25 feet with typical finishes of a hut and suitable for indigenous people to go to mass.

On the other hand, the act declares that all displaced indigenous people are given good land to work in, including those in charge of Captain Andrés Páez. They could grow any type of seed near the Cuyamata stream. The minutes are finally signed by Andrés Páez de Sotomayor and Miguel de Trujillo.

After Captain Sotomayor

A century after the impetuous work of Captain Sotomayor and Father Miguel de Trujillo, a new judge of the Royal Audience arrives at the Bucaramanga hamlet and turns it into an independent parish.

It does this by sending the remaining Indians to the Guane territory in 1776. Those who are not indigenous are assigned to make up what would be the parish of Nuestra Señora de Chiquinquirá and San Laureano de Real de Minas.

In 1824, with the arrival of independence, the parish was transformed into the town of Bucaramanga and, with the constitution of 1886, Bucaramanga was finally declared as a municipality and the capital of the department of Santander (Santander, 1990).

References

1. Gómez, Ó. H. (December 22, 2012). Óscar Humberto Gómez Gómez. Obtained from Officially, 390 years old meets Bucaramanga.: oscarhumbertogomez.com.
2. Industrials, AN (1962). Historical Data. In AN Industriales, Bucaramanga, Development and Perspectives (p. 1). Bucaramanga: Editorial Bedout.
3. Jordán, PG, & Izard, M. (1991). Conquest and resistance in the history of America. Barcelona: University of Barcelona.
4. Santander, G. d. (1990). Of some glories of the race and people of Santander. Bucaramanga: Government of Santander.
5. Sitebuilding, TN (2001). Genealogy only. Obtained from Andrés Páez de Sotomayor: sologenealogia.com.
6. University, C. (2012). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. New York: Columbia University Press.