PITIJOC INDIAN
Sergio Umbria
The word Betijoque is derived from a word
Indigenous identified as betit-snoppa
Which means place where there is or there is a fire
The story derives from a cacique named Pitijoc or
Four sticks. Until the 17th century it was an indigenous village
And it works as a parish in the year 84 of the aforementioned century
The tribe of the Escuqueyes stationed in the estates of Betijoque
It gives rise to the doubling in an indigenous ranchería that took the name
Pitijoc, lands that were distributed in encomiendas to the conquerors
The courageous Régulo Pitijoc (Four Sticks in the Cuica language) is evoked
By 1539 the conquerors dedicated themselves to looking for a land route
May he lead them comfortably and on the shortest path to the high
Andean mountains. This tenacious labor took them to the coast of the great
Lake Coquivacoa. They arrive at the Betijoque region heading south
On the way to Ponemesa, cross the La Laja hill and sight Sabana
Free, they go down the hill and head towards Trujillo looking for other lands
This same route, 150 years later, would be used by the French pirate Francisco
Esteban Gramont de La Mote in his looting and looting from Gibraltar to
Trujillo between September 16 and 30, 1678
Those primitive aborigines congeners of what was constituted
A tiny village of five or more families, sheltered other
And after several years they form a small town. In 1729, the
Raids by the ferocious and unfriendly Motilones Indians who
They prowled the lower areas of the lake, making them leave these places
The geographical location strategy, the nutrient virtues of the land and the
Benevolent climate, makes those settlers return and rebuild the
Town, three years later
The elevated position of height above the flat lands allows them to
Observe far away and dominate any riotous attempt
Or filibuster trying to get closer. Some authors agree
In that Betijoque was in principle the obligatory royal road between the lake
And Trujillo and that it was populated on its shores until it formed a ranchería
Indigenous that later becomes a people