Muzo Emeralds. Modern day Muzo is a municipality in the Department of Boyacá in Colombia, situated in the foothills of the eastern branch of the Andes Mountains. It is approximately 100 kilometers north-northwest of the capital, Bogotá. The average temperature is twenty-four degrees Celsius (approximately seventy five degrees Fahrenheit). It is known in Colombia as the world capital of emeralds. In November of 2009, Muzo International, a branch of Texma Group, was awarded exclusive mining rights to the Muzo mines. The company launched a global operation which mines, cuts and polishes all Colombian emeralds from Muzo. According to Andean Indian mythology, emeralds were the tears that an ancient princess shed upon the death of her prince. The Inca and Aztec peoples used emeralds for both ornamental and religious purposes, and many emeralds from pre-Colombian times have been found in burial mounds. The conquistadores chroniclers tell of troves of emeralds found in present day Peru and Mexico respectively, indicating that the emeralds were used in trade, as there are no known sources in these regions. The Muzo mines, located deep in the Andes of present-day Colombia, were in use for at least five hundred years before the Spaniards arrived in the New World. Muzo is named for the tribe that inhabited this area during the Spanish conquests of the early sixteenth century.
Posted on: Wed, 14 May 2014 03:36:50 +0000
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