Muisca numerals were the numeric notation system used by the

Muisca The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) are indigenous peoples in Colombia and were a Pre-Columbian culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The Muisca spe ...

, one of the civilizations of the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

before the

Spanish conquest of the Muisca The Spanish conquest of the Muisca took place from 1537 to 1540. The Muisca people, Muisca were the inhabitants of the central Andes, Andean highlands of Colombia before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. They were organised in a loose M ...

. Just like the

Mayas Maya () are an ethnolinguistic group of Indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived within that historical region. Today ...

, the Muisca had a

vigesimal A vigesimal ( ) or base-20 (base-score) numeral system is based on 20 (number), twenty (in the same way in which the decimal, decimal numeral system is based on 10 (number), ten). ''wikt:vigesimal#English, Vigesimal'' is derived from the Latin a ...

numerical system, based on multiples of twenty (

Chibcha The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) are indigenous peoples in Colombia and were a Pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia, Pre-Columbian culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish colonizati ...

: ''gueta''). The Muisca numerals were based on counting with fingers and toes. They had specific numbers from one to ten, yet for the numbers between eleven and nineteen they used "foot one" (11) to "foot nine" (19). The number 20 was the 'perfect' number for the Muisca which is visible in their

calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A calendar date, date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is ...

. To calculate higher numbers than 20 they used multiples of their 'perfect' number; ''gue-muyhica'' would be "20 times 4", so 80. To describe "50" they used "20 times 2 plus 10"; ''gue-bosa asaqui ubchihica'', transcribed from ''guêboʒhas aſaqɣ hubchìhicâ''. 1619
Muisca numbers according to Bernardo de Lugo
- accessed 29-04-2016 In their

, which was

lunisolar A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures, that combines monthly lunar cycles with the solar year. As with all calendars which divide the year into months, there is an additional requirement that the year have a whole number of months ...

, they only counted from one to ten and twenty. Each number had a special meaning, related to their

deities A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

and certain animals, especially the abundant

toad Toad (also known as a hoptoad) is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. In popular culture (folk taxonomy ...

s.Izquierdo, 2009, p.30 For the representation of their numbers they used digits inspired by their natural surroundings, especially

s; ''ata'' ("one") and ''aca'' ("nine") were both derived from the animals so abundant on the

Bogotá savanna The Bogotá savanna is a savanna#Savanna ecoregions, montane savanna, located in the southwestern part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the center of Colombia. The Bogotá savanna has an extent of and an average altitude of . The savanna is si ...

and other parts of the

Altiplano Cundiboyacense The Altiplano Cundiboyacense () is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes covering parts of the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. (Do not confuse with The Altiplano or the Altiplano Nariñense, both fur ...

where the Muisca lived in their

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

. The most important scholars who provided knowledge about the Muisca numerals were Bernardo de Lugo (1619), Pedro Simón (17th century),

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

and José Domingo Duquesne (late 18th and 19th century) and Liborio Zerda.Humboldt, 1878, Part 1Humboldt, 1878, Part 2Humboldt, 1878, Part 3Duquesne, 1795Zerda, 1883

Numerals

The Muisca used a vigesimal counting system and counted primarily with their fingers and secondarily with their toes. 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 Chibcha, Mosca, Muisca, Muysca (*/ˈmɨska/ * �mʷɨska, or Muysca de Bogotá is a language spoken by the Muisca people, one of the many indigenous cultures of the Americas. The Muisca inhabit the Altiplano Cundiboyacense of what today is th ...

''Muysccubun''. Eleven became thus "foot one", twelve: "foot two", etc. As in the other

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

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). Muisca cyphers acc acosta humboldt zerda

Muisca cyphers acc acosta humboldt zerda

The numeral symbols were first provided by Duquesne and reproduced by Humboldt, Acosta, and Zerda. These glyphs have been criticized and their authenticity questioned, as they are “practically nonexistent” in the surviving archaeological record, including the calendar stone from Choachí. Potentially, they might represent asterisms or months instead of numerals.Izquierdo Peña, 2009, pp.42-44, 118-120

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Muisca navbox, Topics, state=expanded

Numerals A numeral is a figure (symbol), word, or group of figures (symbols) or words denoting a number. It may refer to: * Numeral system used in mathematics * Numeral (linguistics), a part of speech denoting numbers (e.g. ''one'' and ''first'' in English ...

1 Vigesimal numeral systems

Numerals

See also

References

Bibliography