It borders Sesquilé and Machetá in the north, Gachetá and Junín in the east, Guasca in the south and in the west are Tocancipá and Gachancipá.

Around 1490 the Battle of Chocontá took place where zaque Michuá was supported by the cacique of Guatavita and lost with their outnumbered army of 60,000 guecha warriors against the zipa Saguamanchica.

[1] Guatavita was rebuilt on higher ground in the mid-1960s due to the construction of the Tominé Reservoir, which intentionally flooded the area of the town.

In the Chibcha language of the Muisca, Guachetá means "end of the farming fields" or "point of the mountain range".

[1] The sacred and ceremonial Lake Guatavita, of the pre-Columbian Muisca is located nearby, within the Sesquilé municipality of Almeidas Province.