I’m perplexed as to how this city was apparently such a prominent cultural and financial center (even being named a Spanish Viceroyalty) in the 18/19th century despite being seemingly so removed from other civilization. I was recently reading David McCullough’s ‘The Path Between the Seas’ and he mentions the arduous journey to get there involving a river journey and horseback trekking — and that was in the mid-1800s. How did this land-locked city remain in contact with Spain? How did Bogota post-Columbian independence survive as the nation’s capitol, and why wasn’t a coastal city chosen instead [like other major South American cities, such as Caracas, Lima, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro (pre Brasília), etc.]?
I'm no historian, but I'm from Bogotá. It might even be illegal for me to answer this. Jkjk
I think there are two reasons. First Bogotá wasn't removed from civilization, it might have been removed from major Spanish colonies but Bogotá was founded on top of one of the two biggest Muisca settlements, the muisca people ruled over a territory the size of the Roman republic. This means two things. First the conquistadores had access to a huge population, meaning there were less efforts mobilizing slaves to the area, second the best spots for settlement were already marked including roads and other important Muisca population centers, Bogotá sits on a very big plateau. It's an easily accessible, resource rich area with a cold weather (62F) and less dense vegetation, unlike the Chocó jungles. Also less tropical diseases or dangerous animals.
The second reason is that Bogotá is actually not that secluded. It has relatively easy access to the savannah that connects to Venezuela. And it is somewhat close to the Magdalena river, a 1500km navigable river that crosses the entire country from the Caribbean (easy access to Santa Marta and Cartagena) to south of the country, close to the border with Ecuador. Also, Bogotá is located on the occidental range of the Colombian Andes, which today holds the main land crossing to Ecuador and Quito. I've crossed the border here.
Why did it remain the capital? It was the most central spot for the entire Gran Colombia as it was liberated. I believe it was still too remote and this played a part in it's collapse.