Muisca Confederation
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Muisca Confederation
The Muisca Confederation was a loose confederation of different Muisca rulers (''zaques'', ''zipas'', '' iraca'', and ''tundama'') in the central Andean highlands of present-day Colombia before the Spanish conquest of northern South America. The area, presently called Altiplano Cundiboyacense, comprised the current departments of Boyacá, Cundinamarca and minor parts of Santander. According to some Muisca scholars the Muisca Confederation was one of the best-organized confederations of tribes on the South American continent. Modern anthropologists, such as Jorge Gamboa Mendoza, attribute the present-day knowledge about the confederation and its organization more to a reflection by Spanish chroniclers who predominantly wrote about it a century or more after the Muisca were conquered and proposed the idea of a loose collection of different people with slightly different languages and backgrounds.Gamboa Mendoza, 2016 Geography Climate Muisca Confederation In the time ...
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Spanish Conquest Of The Muisca
The Spanish conquest of the Muisca took place from 1537 to 1540. The Muisca were the inhabitants of the central Andean highlands of Colombia before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. They were organised in a loose confederation of different rulers; the '' psihipqua'' of Muyquytá, with his headquarters in Funza, the '' hoa'' of Hunza, the ''iraca'' of the sacred City of the Sun Sugamuxi, the Tundama of Tundama, and several other independent ''caciques''. The most important rulers at the time of the conquest were ''psihipqua'' Tisquesusa, ''hoa'' Eucaneme, ''iraca'' Sugamuxi and Tundama in the northernmost portion of their territories. The Muisca were organised in small communities of circular enclosures (''ca'' in their language Muysccubbun; literally "language of the people"), with a central square where the '' bohío'' of the ''cacique'' was located. They were called "Salt People" because of their extraction of salt in various locations throughout their territories, ma ...
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Meicuchuca
Meicuchuca (died 1470) was the first ruler (''zipa'') of Bacatá, as of around 1450. His ''zaque'' counterpart ruling over the northern area of the Muisca territory was Hunzahúa. Biography Little is known about Meicuchuca and many stories about his reign are more mythical than historical. He ruled the southern Muisca territory from around 1450 to 1470 and was succeeded according to Muisca heritage laws by his nephew Saguamanchica. Meicuchuca and the snake The legend of Meicuchuca and the snake tells the story of the ''zipa'' who already had many wives. Polygamy was common practice with the Muisca and the higher the rank, the more wives could be held. The highest position of ''zipa'' could allow to have and sustain 300 wives, while the lower rank ''cacique'' "only" made 100 wives possible. Meicuchuca allegedly fell in love with a woman outside of the Muisca community. He only had eye for her and spent day and night with the beautiful stranger, forgetting all his other wives. ...
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Zaque
When the Spanish arrived in the central Colombian highlands, the region was organized into the Muisca Confederation, which had two rulers; the ''zipa'' was the ruler of the southern part and based in Muyquytá. The ''hoa'' was the ruler of the northern area and based in Hunza, known today as Tunja. Organization ''Psihipqua'' and ''hoa'' were the titles given to these rulers of the ancient confederation. Neither exercised absolute power, not rigid or strict control over those to whom they owed their power, so that they can be considered kings. However, these positions of power were of great honor and were surrounded by a rather elaborate ceremony. The position of the ''psihipqua'' was such that not even the members of the nobility dared to look him in the face, and it is said if the ''psihipqua'' needed to spit, someone would hold out a piece of rich cloth for him to spit on, because it would be sacrilegious for anything so precious as his saliva to touch the ground. Whoever hel ...
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Muisca
The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan language family, also called ''Muysca'' and ''Mosca''. They were encountered by conquistadors dispatched by the Spanish Empire in 1537 at the time of the conquest. Subgroupings of the Muisca were mostly identified by their allegiances to three great rulers: the ''hoa'', centered in Hunza, ruling a territory roughly covering modern southern and northeastern Boyacá and southern Santander; the '' psihipqua'', centered in Muyquytá and encompassing most of modern Cundinamarca, the western Llanos; and the '' iraca'', religious ruler of Suamox and modern northeastern Boyacá and southwestern Santander. The territory of the Muisca spanned an area of around from the north of Boyacá to the Sumapaz Páramo and from the summits to the western p ...
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Confederation
A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issues, such as defense, foreign relations, internal trade or currency, with the central government being required to provide support for all its members. Confederalism represents a main form of intergovernmentalism, which is defined as any form of interaction around states which takes place on the basis of sovereign independence or government. The nature of the relationship among the member states constituting a confederation varies considerably. Likewise, the relationship between the member states and the general government and the distribution of powers among them varies. Some looser confederations are similar to international organisations. Other confederations with stricter rules may resemble federal systems. Since the member states of ...
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Boyacá Department
Boyacá () is one of the thirty-two departments of Colombia, and the remnant of Boyacá State, one of the original nine states of the "United States of Colombia". Boyacá is centrally located within Colombia, almost entirely within the mountains of the Eastern Cordillera to the border with Venezuela, although the western end of the department extends to the Magdalena River at the town of Puerto Boyacá. Boyacá borders to the north with the Department of Santander, to the northeast with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Norte de Santander, to the east with the departments of Arauca and Casanare. To the south, Boyacá borders the department of Cundinamarca and to the west with the Department of Antioquia covering a total area of . The capital of Boyacá is the city of Tunja. Boyacá is known as "The Land of Freedom" because this region was the scene of a series of battles which led to Colombia's independence from Spain. The first one took place on 25 July 1819 in ...
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Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuela to the east and northeast, Brazil to the southeast, Ecuador and Peru to the south and southwest, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and Panama to the northwest. Colombia is divided into 32 departments and the Capital District of Bogotá, the country's largest city. It covers an area of 1,141,748 square kilometers (440,831 sq mi), and has a population of 52 million. Colombia's cultural heritage—including language, religion, cuisine, and art—reflects its history as a Spanish colony, fusing cultural elements brought by immigration from Europe and the Middle East, with those brought by enslaved Africans, as well as with those of the various Amerindian civilizations that predate colonization. Spanish is th ...
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Sagipa
Sagipa or Zaquesazipa (died 1539, Bosa, New Kingdom of Granada) was the fifth and last ruler ('' psihipqua'') of Muyquytá, currently known as Funza, as of 1537. He was the brother of his predecessor Bogotá but the traditional faction of the Muisca considered him an usurper as his nephew Chiayzaque, the ''cacique'' of Chía, was the legitimate successor of Tisquesusa. His ''hoa'' counterpart in the northern part of the Muisca territory was Quiminza, the last surviving ruler of the Muisca. The daughter of Sagipa, named as Magdalena de Guatavita, married conquistador Hernán Venegas Carrillo, one of the first mestizo marriages in the New Kingdom of Granada.Zaquezazipa
- Geni
Sagipa appears with alternative names in the Spanish chronicles; Saquesazippa, Saquezazippa, Sacresasigua, Saxagipa, Sajipa and Zaquezazigua.
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Tisquesusa
Tisquesusa, also spelled Thisquesuza, Thysquesuca or Thisquesusha (referred to in the earliest sources as Bogotá, the Elder) (died Facatativá, 1537) was the fourth and last independent ruler ('' psihipqua'') of Muyquytá, main settlement of the southern Muisca between 1514 and his death in 1537. The Spanish pronunciation of his name brought about the Colombian capital Bogotá. Tisquesusa was the ruler of the southern Muisca Confederation at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Muisca, when the troops led by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and his brother entered the central Andean highlands. Biography Bogotá was ''cacique'' of Chía and following the Muisca heritage rules, he as nephew of the previous ruler Nemequene succeeded his uncle in 1514. At the start of his reign, Bogotá fought against the Panche in the west of the Muisca Confederation. The brother of Tisquesusa and later -according to Muisca heritage rule illegal- successor Sagipa was the general in the southern ...
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Nemequene
Nemequene or Nemeguene (died 1514) was the third ruler (''zipa'') of Bacatá as of 1490. His ''zaque'' counterpart ruling over the northern area of the Muisca territory was Quemuenchatocha. Etymology Nemequene in the Chibcha language of the Muisca has two possible meanings, derived from the words ''nymy'', "jaguar" and ''quyne'', meaning either "bone" or "force". Biography Nemequene succeeded to the throne of the southern Muisca in 1490 after the death of his predecessor Saguamanchica in the Battle of Chocontá where the ''zaque'' of the northern Muisca Michuá had also died. While Nemequene wanted to continue the attacks against the northern Muisca, he had to face the dangers of the Panche to the west of his territory. Nemequene installed his nephew and legal successor Tisquesusa as army general to fight off the Panche with success. Looking to expand the territory of the southern Muisca, Nemequene succeeded in the conquest of other areas in the central highlands of Colomb ...
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