Muisca Confederations were loose confederations of different Muisca chiefdoms in the Eastern Andean highlands of what is today Colombia before the Spanish conquest of northern South America.Carl Henrik Langebaek, Mercados, poblamiento e integración étnica entre los Muiscas SIGLO XVI, 1987 These unions, centred around main chiefdoms recognised by smaller ones, were not a single, even loose, muisca confederation of chiefdoms, but multiple, independent regional entities.Doris Kurella, The Muisca: Chiefdoms in transition, University Press of Florida, p. 192–194 The area, presently called Altiplano Cundiboyacense, comprised the current departments of Boyacá, Cundinamarca and minor parts of Santander.

Usually, Muisca chiefdoms were composed of various basic matrilineal units (uta, minor, or sibyn, major) called capitanías by the Spaniards.François Correa Rubio, El sol del poder: Simbologia y politica entre los muiscas del norte de los Andes, 2004, p. 18 However, power was based on individual alliances of Muisca rulers with households or basic units.Hope Henderson, Nicholas Ostler, Muisca settlement organization and chiefly authority at Suta, Valle de Leyva, Colombia: A critical appraisal of native concepts of house for studies of complex societies, 2005, p. 151 Often, sibyn were villages and uta groups of houses.Hope Henderson, Nicholas Ostler, Muisca settlement organization and chiefly authority at Suta, Valle de Leyva, Colombia: A critical appraisal of native concepts of house for studies of complex societies, 1995, p. 150 Four confederations of chiefdoms formed in Muisca territory: Bogotá, Tunja, Duitama and Sogamoso. Additionally, the Chibcha-speaking Guane and Lache were also ruled by the confederation of Guanentá and the confederation of El Cocuy respectively.Blanca Ofelia Acuña Rodríguez, Territorio Indígena de la sal en la Sierra Nevada del Cocuy. S. XVI, 2006Camilo Barrios, Los Guanes: Una comunidad periférica?, p. 26 Different models exist to explain the nature of power among Muisca elites.Jorge Gamboa Mendoza, El Cacicazgo muisca en los años posteriores a la Conquista, 2017 edition

Geography

Climate

Climate charts for the extremes and four most important settlements of the Muisca Confederation The climates (Af-Cfb-Cwb) of the geographic (NW, NE, SW and SE) and topographic extremes and for the four main settlements of the Muisca Confederation situated on the Altiplano,from SW to NE; Bacatá, Hunza, Suamox and Tundama are rather constant over the year with wetter periods in April–May and October–November

Muisca Confederations

The Muiscas lived in the Andes Orientales in a territory of approximately 22.000 .Edison Agudelo, La sociedad Muisca: Una pesquisa arqueológica, p. 1–2 At the time of the Spanish Conquest, four confederations existed in their territory (Bogotá, Tunja, Duitama, Sogamoso). According to colonial documents, the confederations of Sogamoso and Duitama were independent of Tunja and had great importance.Carl Henrik Langebaek, Los Muiscas, 2019, Penguin Random House, p. 93 Political power was not based on economic or political subordination but recognition of certain authorities, sometimes multiple at a time.Carl Henrik Langebaek, Los Muiscas, 2019, Penguin Random House, p. 97—98 The size of muisca population remains debated.Carl Henrik Langebaek, Los Muiscas, 2019, Penguin Random House, p. 76 The most powerful chiefdom at the time of the Spanish conquest was Bogotá.Carl Langebaek, Mercados, poblamiento e integración étnica entre los Muiscas SIGLO XVI, 1987, p. 35 Additionally, there were independent chiefdoms in the north-west, not affilitiated to any confederation.Carl Langebaek, Mercados, poblamiento e integración étnica entre los Muiscas SIGLO XVI, 1987, p. 38–39

Muisca settlements were organised around the cacique's enclosure or cercado.Uribe Villegas, Martinón-Torres, and Quintero Guzmán, The Muisca Raft: Context, materiality and technology, 2021, p. 293Carl Langebaek, Regional Archaeology in the Muisca Territory: A Study of the Fúquene and Susa Valleys, 1995, p. 29 Roads were present to connect the settlements with each other and with the surrounding indigenous groups, of which the Guane and Lache to the north, the Panche and Muzo to the west and Guayupe, Achagua and Tegua to the east were the most important.

History

Prehistory

Early Amerindian settlers led a hunter-gatherer life among still extant megafauna living in cool habitats around Pleistocene lakes, of which the humedales in Bogotá, Lake Suesca, Lake Fúquene and Lake Herrera are notable examples. Multiple evidences of late Pleistocene to middle Holocene population of the Bogotá savanna, the high plateau in the Colombian Andes, have been found to date. As is common with caves and rock shelters, Tequendama was inhabited from around 11,000 years BP, and continuing into the prehistorical, Herrera and Muisca periods, making it the oldest site of Colombia, together with El Abra (12,500 BP), located north of Zipaquirá and Tibitó, located within the boundaries of Tocancipá (11,740 BP). Nivel Paleoindio. Abrigos rocosos del Tequendama Gómez Mejía, 2012, p.153 The oldest human remains and the oldest complete skeleton were discovered at Tequendama and has been named "Hombre del Tequendama" or Homo Tequendama. Other artefacts have been found in Gachalá (9100 BP), Sueva (Junín) and Zipacón.Ocampo López, 2007, p.27 Just west of the Altiplano, the oldest archaeological remains were found; in Pubenza, part of Tocaima and have been dated at 16,000 years Before Present.Ocampo López, 2007, p.26

Pre-Columbian era

Herrera Period Periodname Startage Endage Herrera 800 BCE 800 Early Muisca 800 1200 Late Muisca 1200 1537 Kruschek, 2003 Herrera Period – Universidad Nacional de Colombia

The Herrera Period is a historical period named after the La Herrera lake, south of Bogotá, it took place approximately between 800 BCE to 800 AD.Carl Langebaek, Regional Archaeology in the Muisca Territory: A Study of the Fúquene and Susa Valleys, 1995, p. 69Kruschek, 2003 However, current academic consensus considers the period to have ranged from 400 B.C. to 1000 A.D., with regional variations.Carl Henrik Langebaek, Los Muiscas, Penguin Random House, p. 44 The muisca arrival to the Altiplano Cundibyacense most likely pre-dated the beginning of the Herrera period.Carl Henrik Langebaek, Los Muiscas, p. 57–58 However, the exact date of their arrival is unknown, and the least oldest date would be the middle of the first millennium B.C.

Generally, the Herrera period is characterized by agriculture, ceramic traditions and the use of salt sources.Carl Langebaek, Regional Archaeology in the Muisca Territory: A Study of the Fúquene and Susa Valleys, 1995, p. 73 The political organisation and level of social complexity during the Herrera period is uncertain.Ana María Boada Rivas, The Evolution of Social Hierarchy in a Muisca Chiefdom of the Northern Andes of Columbia, 2007, p. 9

Muisca

The period named "Muisca" is separated by scholars into "early muisca" (approximately 1000–1200 A.D.) and "late muisca" (apr. 1200–1600).Carl Henrik Langebaek, Los Muiscas, 2019, p. 44 This period is associated with the rise of muisca chiefdoms.Carl Langebaek, Regional Archaeology in the Muisca Territory: A Study of the Fúquene and Susa Valleys, 1995, p. 89Hope Henderson, Nicholas Ostler, Muisca settlement organization and chiefly authority at Suta, Valle de Leyva, Colombia: A critical appraisal of native concepts of house for studies of complex societies, 2005 Through the construction of monolithic structures, elites acquired an ideological more than a direct economic control.Carl Langebaek, Regional Archaeology in the Muisca Territory: A Study of the Fúquene and Susa Valleys, 1995, p. 159 The reasons for the expansion of chiefdoms are uncertain. According to Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff, the north-western, independent chiefdoms are representative of the state of Muisca society prior to the creation of confederations. Possibly, matrimonial alliances, conducted independently of the "territory" assigned to each chiefdom, played an important role.Carl Henrik Langebaek, Los Muiscas, 2019, p. 98–103 Two traditions of chroniclers reported different versions of Bogotá expansion:Eduardo Londoño, La Conquista del Cacicazgo de Bogotá, p. 25–26 According to Juan Rodríguez Freyle, Bogotá's expansion began just one year before the Spanish conquest, after having revolted against the previously dominant chiefdom of Guatavita. On the other hand, Lucas Fernández de Piedrahíta related Bogotá's expansion in the course of 67 years, as the result of various military campaigns led by different chiefs. According to Martha Herrera Angel, the colonial-era writings, while filled with exaggerations and misunderstandings, contain a core of historical truth.

The concept of gue ("house") was essential for muisca chiefs to secure their legitimacy,Hope Henderson, Nicholas Ostler, Muisca settlement organization and chiefly authority at Suta, Valle de Leyva, Colombia: A critical appraisal of native concepts of house for studies of complex societies, 2005, p. 153–154 which was based on rules of succession and a certain degree of popular consent. Their role was to redistribute an accumulated surplus of goods, not to accumulate them.Carl Henrik Langebaek, Mercados, poblamiento e integración étnica entre los Muiscas SIGLO XVI, 1987, p. 47 The existence of religious specialists can be explained by the need to maintain the equilibrium of the world.Carl Langebaek, Los Muiscas, 2019, p. 63

The people used a decimal counting system, based on the digits of the hand. Their system went from 1 to 10 and for higher numerations they used the prefix quihicha or qhicha, which means "foot" in their Chibcha language Muysccubun. Eleven became thus "foot one", twelve "foot two", etc. As in the other pre-Columbian civilizations, the number 20 was special. It was the total number of all body extremities; fingers and toes. The Muisca used two forms to express twenty: "foot ten"; quihícha ubchihica or their exclusive word gueta, derived from gue, which means "house". Numbers between 20 and 30 were counted gueta asaqui ata ("twenty plus one"; 21), gueta asaqui ubchihica ("twenty plus ten"; 30). Larger numbers were counted as multiples of twenty; gue-bosa ("20 times 2"; 40), gue-hisca ("20 times 5"; 100). The Muisca script consisted of hieroglyphs, only used for numerals.Izquierdo Peña, 2009 Gold was not the main object of prestige, but had religious significance, as chiefs preferred exotic clothing and sumptuous palisades to show their power.Carl Langebaek, Regional Archaeology in the Muisca Territory: A Study of the Fúquene and Susa Valleys, 1995, p. 29 There was no currency among the Muiscas.

Territorial organization

Bacatá

Capital – Bacatá Area – Average elevation – Last rulers – zipas Tisquesusa, Sagipa Date of conquest – 20 April 1537 (Funza) – Jiménez & Pérez de Quesada First city – 6 August 1538 (Bogotá) – Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada