BOGOSLOV, brig(!)-slte. A volcanic islet off the northwest coast of Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, U. S. It was formed by a volcanic upheaval in the year 1796. It is a haunt of sea-lions.
BOGOTA, (under Spanish rule Santa Fa de Bogota). The capital of Colombia and an archiepiscopal city situated on a plateau, 8700 feet above sea-level, at the western base of the Guadalupe and \lonserrate mountains, in the eastern Cordillera of the Andes (Map: Co lombia. C 3). The plateau is surrounded by high mountains on all sides, except to the southwest, where the river Bogota. or Funcha cuts a nar row channel through a rocky precipice, on its way to the _Magdalena, and 14 miles from the city leaps from a height of over 475 feet, forming what is called the fall of Tequendama. The climate of Bogota is moist and moderate, the temperature varying between 57° and 61° F., with two rainy seasons each year. The city is regularly laid out, is rhomboidal in. shape. and occupies an area of 6 square miles, measuring miles from north to south, and half that length from east to west. The city is divided into four parts by the San Francisco and San Augustin rivers, which are crossed by twenty bridges. The streets cross at right angles, are broad, well paved, and well shaded. Around the principal square, la Plaza de is Constitucian, or de Bolivar, are the Government buildings and the cathedral, a magnificent edifice in the Corinthian style. In the middle is the bronze statue of Bolivar by Pedro Tenerani. The city possesses two theatres, a museum of natural his tory and antiquities, a national university, a public library of more than 50,000 volumes, a mint, and an observatory. The museum and library are situated iu a former Jesuit monas tery. The museum contains many interesting specimens of Inca civilization, and thelibrary has a rich collection of plants and national litera ture. There are many churches and convents, and in the former may be found paintings by Spagnoletto. and Vasques. The city is governed by a municipal council that elects the mayor and also the police inspectors of the wards (barrios), while one of the President's secretaries is the governor of the department.
Besides the national university there are col leges and schools giving instruction to more than 10,000 children of both sexes. There are about forty periodicals of all sorts, and the city ranks among the foremost it South America for culture and education. Bogota suffers much from its lack of communication, but this is being remedied by governmental improvement of the roads and rivers throughout the country. A railway from Girardot on the Magdalena to Bo gota is under course of construction. There is rail connection with Facatativa (25 miles), Zipaquira (37 miles), and Soacho (7 miles). The city com municates with Honda and La Dorada on the Mag dalena by mule paths, and it projected railway is to connect it with the Orinoco Basin. The indus tries of the city are not numerous, but include the manufacture of cloth, carpets, matches, glass, cor dage. and porcelain. A large part of the import trade for points farther in the interior passes through Bogota. The exports of the interior also find their point of distribution here. The district north and east of Bogota is rich in coal, iron, lime stone, sand, manganese, and fire-clay. At Zipaqui ra, north of Bogota, are large salt mines, worked by the Government, which supply nearly all of Co lombia with salt and are a great source of revenue.
Bogota was settled in 1538 by the Spaniards under Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada, on the site of Tensaquillo, but then called Santa Ft. after the founder's birthplace. In 1598 it became the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Granada, and it was the meeting-place in 1811 of the Congress that followed Venezuela in declaring for a repub lic (November 12). The Spaniards seized it in 1S16, but it was recaptured, and on the proclamation of the independence of the vice royalty (July 20, NM it became the capital of the Republic of Colombia, wide]) split up into three States—Venezuela, Ecuador. and New Granada—in 1831, since which time it has been the seat of the Government of New Granada, later Colombia. Population, about 100,000.