Muisca

The Muisca were an indigenous people of the central Andean highlands of present-day Colombia, inhabiting the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in what is now Boyacá and Cundinamarca. They formed the Muisca Confederation, a loose political union of communities organized around two main rulers: the zipa, who governed the southern region around Bacatá (modern Bogotá), and the zaque, who ruled the northern area centered at Hunza (modern Tunja).

Society was stratified into nobility and commoners, with priests exerting religious authority and serving as keepers of calendar and ritual knowledge. The Muisca economy combined agriculture, crafts, and long-distance trade. They cultivated maize, potatoes, quinoa, beans, and fruit; produced cotton textiles and pottery; and were especially famed for goldworking. They carved tunjos and other figures and conducted elaborate gold offerings, most famously at Lake Guatavita, which fed the El Dorado legend. They also mined emeralds and traded salt, gold, and emeralds with neighboring groups within the Andean corridor.

Language and calendar: The Muisca spoke Muysccubun, a Chibchan language. They developed calendrical systems that integrated ceremonial cycles and a solar year, a feature noted in colonial sources and ongoing scholarship.

History and legacy: The Muisca Confederation persisted until the Spanish conquest, which began in 1537 with the expedition of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. The conquest disrupted their political structure and integrated their lands into the Spanish colony of New Granada. Today, the Muisca are recognized as an important component of Colombian indigenous heritage, with archaeological sites, toponyms, and cultural traditions that reflect their pre-Columbian civilization.