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Hacienda Cañasgordas constitutes a space with unique historical characteristics and location. In addition to being the residence and place of operations of the last Royal Ensign, it was a fundamental economic and political center for the area during the colonial and republic times. It became the largest hacienda in the south west of what was then New Granada, consolidating an important economic development.
“Recovering the memory of Hacienda Cañasgordas is recovering a fundamental chapter in the history of the city, as well as of the region.”
Its territory was between the western cordillera of the Andes and the Cauca river, and between the Lili ravine and the Jamundí river. The extension of that territory was little more than a league from north to south, and several leagues from east to west.
The aspect of that region is the most beautiful and picturesque that can be imagined. From the foot of the steep mountain range that has the name of the Farallones there, a hill emerges that gently descends in the direction of the Cauca River, in more than a league of development: its shape is so symmetrical that it is not observed in it a bump not a shoal; There is no tree, nor bushes, nor undergrowth, because it is clean in all its extension and it is covered with fine grass. It could be worthy seat of the capital of a great nation, and it would enjoy such a poetic perspective and vast horizons, as perhaps no city has. A temple built in the middle of that hill, with a façade to the East, and with its towers and dome, would be a truly grand monument, and its appearance sublime for those who contemplate it from afar.
Going down the hill, you can see to the right vast meadows watered by the crystalline Pance, whose limit is the green wall of foliage that opposes the Jamundí with its dense guaduales; to the left, graceful hills covered with grass, through which the Lili murmurs, almost hidden in the shade of the charcoal burners; and down there, where the great hill disappears, an extensive plain covered with green grass extends, which will end in the jungles of Cauca, and which boasts, placed at regular distances, leafy trees, or thick groves, left there intentionally so that in its shade the cattle gather to nap in the hot hours of the day.
Streams of very clear water run everywhere, escaping noisily, snatched away by the sensitive unevenness of the terrain and which will bring the tribute of its humble streams to Cauca. “
Excerpts from the book El Alférez Real
Eustaquio Palacios
Going down the hill, you can see to the right vast meadows watered by the crystalline Pance, whose limit is the green wall of foliage that opposes the Jamundí with its dense guaduales; to the left, graceful hills covered with grass, through which the Lili murmurs, almost hidden in the shade of the charcoal burners; and down there, where the great hill disappears, an extensive plain covered with green grass extends, which will end in the jungles of Cauca, and which boasts, placed at regular distances, leafy trees, or thick groves, left there intentionally so that in its shade the cattle gather to nap in the hot hours of the day.
Streams of very clear water run everywhere, escaping noisily, snatched away by the sensitive unevenness of the terrain and which will bring the tribute of its humble streams to Cauca. “
Excerpts from the book El Alférez Real
Eustaquio Palacios
«The priest Juan Sánchez Migolla, in 1629, bought the farm for 180 pesos; then I already had a mill. Later it became the property of Ruiz Calzado, until it fell into the hands of the royal lieutenant, Nicolás Caicedo Hinestrosa, who cites it in his will, given in 1735. This noble mansion is linked to the Royal Ensign, who has popularized the Valle del Cauca novel of Eustaquio Palacios … The house in its current form can be considered as from the 18th century. The chapel is missing, which must have been like those in other haciendas …. »
Santiago Sebastian:
Colonial Architecture in Popayán and Valle del Cauca
Hacienda Cañasgordas was owned by the Cayzedo family for more than two hundred years, which for six generations held the honorary position of Alférez Real, a culminating and most influential figure in the city in colonial times. The alferazgo was not a simple decorative title, nor was it a gratuitous honorific distinction.
Before Don Manuel de Cayzedo and Tenorio, other members of the family had held the title: Juan de Cayzedo Salazar, Cristóbal de Cayzedo Rengifo, Nicolás de Cayzedo Hinestrosa and Juan de Cayzedo Jiménez. On the death of don Juan the title was vacant, which for this reason was put out to tender. In the diligence, it was granted by royal decree of King Fernando VI, in the year 1748, to Don Nicolás de Cayzedo Jiménez, brother of the immediately previous Ensign and father of Don Manuel de Cayzedo y Tenorio. The proclamation for this award was not only made in Cali, but also in Popayán and Quito.
The last of this family, Don Joaquín de Cayzedo y Cuero, voluntarily suppressed the title of Royal Ensign of Cali that he held and organizes the Confederate Cities of Valle del Cauca, made up of a group of leaders of the region. On July 3, 1810, Don Joaquín Caycedo promoted the signing of the Act of the Cabildo de Santiago de Cali, at the Hacienda Cañasgordas. Thus he became, seventeen days before the declarations of July 20 in Bogotá, a precursor of independence.
A few years later, during the war of independence, he was shot by the royalist forces in Pasto and today he is considered the most important hero of the independence of Cali, whose main square today bears his name. The Spaniards stripped Cayzedo of all his belongings, and the Hacienda Cañasgordas passed through several hands, until at the end of the 19th century it was acquired by Mr. Eusebio Velasco Borrero, an enterprising man who belonged to one of the most recognized families in the city. region.
Their descendants, the Velasco, were owners and responsible custodians of Hacienda Cañasgordas for many decades, until at the end of the 20th century, Mr. Roberto Reinales Velasco, at that time one of the leaders of the extended family, had the vision of importance of the Hacienda as a historical heritage, not only of Valle del Cauca, but of the nation.
The casona of the Hacienda Cañasgordas was declared a National Cultural Interest Site (BICN), by decree number 191 of January 31, 1980. In 2004 the Cañasgordas Eusebio Velasco Borrero Foundation was created whose objective will be to ensure the preservation of the property Cultural Interest, ensure the sustainability of the Hacienda Cañasgordas and manage the resources for this purpose.
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