50 free Bogota trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Bogotá sits 2,640 metres up on the Bogotá savanna, the third-highest capital in the world and the biggest city at its altitude anywhere. Founded in 1538 by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada on Muisca land, renamed Santafé by the Spanish crown and Bogotá again by Simón Bolívar, it is Colombia's political, financial and cultural heart. These 50 questions cover the whole city: the meaning of Bacatá, the zipa Tisquesusa, twelve reed houses at Chorro de Quevedo, the Viceroyalty of New Granada, Antonio Nariño and 20 July 1810, the Battle of Boyacá, El Bogotazo, El Dorado airport and Avianca, TransMilenio, TransMiCable, Ciclovía and Pico y placa, the mule-drawn tram of 1884, La Candelaria, Casa de Nariño, Monserrate, the Gold Museum's 35,000 pieces, the Botero Museum, Rock al Parque, the Cristóbal Colón Theater, ajiaco and canelazo, Santa Fe and Millonarios at El Campín, the 2001 Copa América, the yellow-and-red flag and the black eagle. Easy questions stick to landmarks and transport; the hard tier asks about conquistadors, architects and climate records. Every answer is cited to a page we checked and comes with a short explanation that adds one more fact. Play it solo or print it for a geography night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which conquistador founded Bogotá in 1538?
Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada
Belalcázar and Federmann attended the official founding ceremony the following year.
Q 02Which indigenous people inhabited the Bogotá savanna before the Spanish arrived?
Muisca
Their goldwork fills the city's Gold Museum.
Q 03What name did the Spanish crown give the city in 1540?
Santafé
It honoured a town near Granada where Jiménez de Quesada grew up.
Q 04Who rebaptised the city as Bogotá after independence?
Simón Bolívar
He did it to honour the Muisca and mark the break from Spain.
Q 05Which 1819 battle cleared Bolívar's path to the city?
Boyacá
Bolívar entered the city victorious on 10 August 1819.
Q 06What is Bogotá's average altitude?
2,640 m
That makes it the third-highest capital city in the world.
Q 07Bogotá ranks where among the world's highest capital cities?
Third
No urban area on earth is both higher and more populous.
Q 08How many localities is Bogotá subdivided into?
20
They range from Usaquén and Chapinero to Ciudad Bolívar and Sumapaz.
Q 09What share of Colombia's nominal GDP does Bogotá produce?
24.7%
It is the leading Latin American destination for new foreign direct investment projects.
Q 10What is the name of Bogotá's main airport?
El Dorado
It is named after the mythical golden city and handles Latin America's largest cargo volume.
Q 11Which airport did El Dorado replace when it was ordered in 1955?
Techo
President Gustavo Rojas Pinilla ordered the construction.
Q 12What is the most accepted meaning of the Chibcha name Bacatá?
Walling of the farmland
Another reading is "The Lady of the Andes".
Q 13Who was the zipa ruling the savanna at the time of the Spanish conquest?
Tisquesusa
His brother Sagipa became the last zipa.
Q 14How many reed houses did Jiménez de Quesada build at the 1538 founding?
Q 21Whose assassination in 1948 sparked the riots known as El Bogotazo?
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
Downtown was virtually destroyed and the tram system never recovered.
Q 22What is Bogotá's bus rapid transit system called?
TransMilenio
Its first phase opened in 2000 under Mayor Enrique Peñalosa.
Q 23What is the gondola lift that serves Ciudad Bolívar called?
TransMiCable
Line T opened in December 2018 with four stations.
Q 24What is the Sunday car-free programme on major highways called?
Twelve
They referred to the Twelve Apostles.
Q 15What name did Jiménez de Quesada give the settlement at its founding?
Our Lady of Hope
The Spanish crown renamed it Santa Fe two years later.
Q 16In which square is the city's founding site traditionally located?
Chorro de Quevedo
The official founding followed eight months later at Theusaquillo.
Q 17After 1717, the city became the capital of which viceroyalty?
New Granada
The Royal Audiencia had been created there in 1550.
Q 18On what date was the Junta de Santa Fe established, often called Colombia's independence day?
20 July 1810
Rebels wore yellow-and-red armbands, the origin of the city flag.
Q 19Who translated and secretly published the Rights of Man in the city in 1794?
Antonio Nariño
He was sentenced to ten years in prison and exile.
Q 20Which Spanish general recaptured the city for the crown on 6 May 1816?
Pablo Morillo
He was sent by Ferdinand VII to reconquer the colonies.
Ciclovía
Roads close from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays and public holidays.
Q 25What is the licence-plate-based driving restriction called?
Pico y placa
It restricts cars with certain plate numbers during peak hours.
Q 26What pulled Bogotá's first tramway when it opened in 1884?
Mules
It ran from Plaza de Bolívar to Chapinero on wooden rails.
Q 27What is Bogotá's historic centre called?
La Candelaria
It features Spanish Colonial and Baroque architecture around Plaza de Bolívar.
Q 28What is the presidential residence in Bogotá called?
Casa de Nariño
The Palacio Liévano houses the mayor's office on the same square.
Q 29Which mountain overlooking the city can be reached by cable car or funicular?
Monserrate
Guadalupe is the neighbouring peak in the Eastern Hills.
Q 30Roughly how many pieces of tumbaga gold does the Gold Museum hold?
35,000
It is the largest collection of pre-Columbian gold in the world.