Muiscas
The Muiscas (from muysc cubun: muysca; AFI: /mʷɨska/) are an indigenous Amerindian people who have inhabited the Cundiboyacense highlands and the south of the department of Santander, in the center of the current Republic of Colombia, from about the 6th century B.C. C., and whose current descendants live in the departments of Cundinamarca, Boyacá and part of Santander. A small part of its population is organized in the form of indigenous councils in the city of Tunja and in localities of the district of Bogotá such as Suba, Bosa, Usme, Fontibón and Engativá, as well as neighboring municipalities such as Chía, Cota, Mosquera and Sesquilé. Much of the current population of the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia is the result of miscegenation between the Muiscas and other peoples, mainly Spanish.
The Muiscas have also been called chibchas, but although that name is not incorrect, it is not accurate either, since chibchas are actually all the groups belonging to the Chibchense linguistic family, such as the u& #39;wa, the motilones-barí or the kogui, among others.
Etymology
The word “muisca” is derived from the muysc cubun (Muisca language) as an autonomous term, that is, a name for itself. The word in its original pronunciation, transcribed as muysca, was not pronounced with the Castilian "i", as it is today, but with a sixth vowel that does not exist in the Spanish language, which has been transcribed as «y», whose pronunciation is intermediate between the Spanish «i» and «e», so that, in terms of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the correct pronunciation is /mʷɨska/, and the literal meaning of the word it is "man", "person" or "people". This particular feature of the vowel "y" was partly what confused some conquerors, who understood "fly" instead of "muysca", although later it would be said that they were called "flies" because they were so many.
To specify that we are talking about a woman, and not a man, we say muysca fucha, or muisca fuhucha, since fucha and fuhucha are terms that designate females or individuals of the female sex.
On the other hand, a very similar word in the language is the one used to designate the monkey, or ape (probably of the Platyrrhini species), which is designated with the term veryco. This word could be related to the origin of the word "mico".
Spanish men were called sue, which literally means "bird" or "bird", although it could also be related to the word sua, which means "sun". », as some chroniclers report that the Muiscas identified the Spaniards as «children of the sun». The Spanish woman was called sue fucha, or sue fuhucha, and to refer to black Africans, the Muiscas said suemza (from sue and imza), which would literally mean "Spanish partner".
Finally, in the academic sphere the idea that the term chibcha is used to designate the linguistic family of which the Muiscas are a part has been accepted, although, in the popular sphere, «Muisca» and «chibcha» continue to be synonymous terms, widely and widely used. The word chibcha can also be understood as an autonomous plural, with the meaning of: «ours» (chib), «men» (cha).[citation required].The Muiscas (muyska: person, people) or Chibchas are an indigenous people who inhabited the Cundiboyacense highlands and the south of the department of Santander, in Colombia, since the VI a. C., and whose direct descendants currently live in localities of the Bogotá district such as Suba and Bosa, and in neighboring municipalities such as Cota, Chía and Sesquilé, as well as in the capital of Boyacá: Santiago de Tunja, which corresponds to the mythical city of Hunza, which was the main city of all the Chibchas and the main political, administrative, economic and spiritual center. Additionally, the reconstituted "Cabildo Mayor Chibcha - Muisca de Tunja" which represents the indigenous territorial authority of the old Zaque (Caciques - Principal Captain) as the main Native American organization in the entire center of the country.
Although the descendants of the Chibcha civilization are 90% - 95% mestizo between European and Native American, the cultural force of the indigenous is manifested and remains in innumerable cultural, idiomatic, folkloric, gastronomic and even spiritual expressions, achieving The Chibcha is evident when comparing regionalisms from other areas of the country, compared to the Muisca - Guane area, where very different customs are presented and in contrast to the Caribbean region, or the Amazon or Pacific region.
Geographical location and climatic situation
The Muisca territory includes the departments of Cundinamarca, Boyacá and a part of southern Santander. The climate varies from the implacable cold of the windy Sumapaz páramo, passing through temperate plains, to the first foothills of the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy. The central axis of the region is the Cundiboyacense highlands, made up of a succession of plains, valleys and elevations, and furrowed by abundant sources of water that flow through rivers and streams or are deposited in hundreds of lagoons, swamps and wetlands. With heights that oscillate between 2,500 and 2,800 m s. no. m., and with mountains that can exceed 5000 meters in some points, the climate is cool and cold during most of the year. Rainfall rarely exceeds 1,000 millimeters on an annual average. Water and tectonism have been the decisive elements in the modeling of the landscape. All the Greater Plains are ancient Pleistocene lake beds leveled by slow sedimentation over tens of thousands of years. The largest of the plains is that of the Sabana de Bogotá, with more than 1,200 kilometers completely flat, and furrowed by the Bogotá River (formerly called the "Funza River"). The youngest of these plains is the Valley of Hunza - Tunja, where the city of the same name and regional capital sits. Currently, this region is the most densely populated in all of Colombia, and everything seems to indicate that it was also so at the time of the Spanish conquest. The two main cities in this territory are Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, and Tunja, capital of the department of Boyacá. Both cities were originally founded by the Muisca approximately 500 years before the arrival of the Europeans.
The topography of the Chibcha territory is mountainous, even in the central part occupied by the fertile highlands of Simijaca, Ubaté and Tunja. Approximately two thirds of its territory are made up of steep and rugged land, and the rest by relatively flat and slightly uneven terrain. The landscape is framed by gigantic elevations that are capriciously linked to each other, forming valleys, precipices, gentle slopes or abrupt cuts in the rocks. Variations in climate depend on altitude.
Over the millennia, the waters have forced their way through narrow gorges, where the liquid flows swiftly. Sometimes it falls off forming immense waterfalls and other times it slides slowly through the valleys; it can feed lagoons or occasionally devastate the surrounding banks; it even dams up and then overflows, destroying everything in its path.
Pre-Hispanic history
Pre-Music Era
The pre-Muisca era covers the period of time before the arrival of the Muiscas in the Cundiboyacense highlands. It is estimated that around 18,000 years ago the first inhabitants arrived in this region. According to archaeological discoveries, this era comprises three major periods of human occupation: the Paleoindian period, the Archaic Period, and the Herrera Period.
Paleoindian Period
The first groups arrived approximately 18,000 years ago, that is, between the late Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene, which corresponds to the archaic period of America. In the archaeological site of Tibitó (Tocancipá), 47 km from Bogotá, a Pleistocene megafauna slaughter site has been found. These human groups settled mainly inside rock shelters, surviving thanks to the hunting of the American horse, the gray deer, and smaller species such as the armadillo, the crab-eating fox and the bush dog.
Archaic Period
With the beginning of the Holocene, around 10,000 BC, the mastodons and the American horse became extinct. The temperature and humidity increased, favoring the increase of forests of encenillo and Colombian oak, which displaced the páramo area between 300 and 400 meters, towards heights higher than 3600 m s. no. m. At that time, human groups began to give greater importance to gathering, and the domestication of the curí began.
The archaeological site of "El Abra", between Tocancipá and Zipaquirá, reveals vestiges of a culture known as "abriense", of which remains have been found throughout a wide geographical area, even up to the banks of the Magdalena River. This culture, which is estimated to be around 12,000 years old, inhabited rock shelters, but not permanently, but occasionally.
Herrera period
The first period of human occupation for which abundant archaeological material is available is known as the "Herrera Period", lived from the century onwards IV a. C.. A human population agroalfarera occupied an extensive territory. Ceramics painted with geometric motifs and remains of small farmhouses on artificial terraces have been found from this period. The progress of agricultural practices is also confirmed, especially the cultivation of corn and the domestication of Pisco or American Turkey. Archaeological findings allow us to distinguish between the Early Herrera (400 BC - 200 AD) the Intermediate (200 - 700 AD) and the Late Period (700 - 1000 AD). Large vestiges of the Herrera-Prechibcha Culture are found in the surroundings of the city of Tunja and the Hunza valley.
Muisca settlement
Between 500 B.C. C. and 1000 AD. C. a new wave of settlers arrived at the Cundiboyacense highlands, whose presence is indicated by painted ceramics and by agricultural and housing adaptation works. These new settlers were the Muiscas, belonging to the Chibcha linguistic family. Apparently the Muiscas were integrated into the population that already inhabited the territory. The Chibcha family of peoples includes the indigenous people of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Kogui, Ijka, Wiwa, and Kankuamo) and the slopes of the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy (U'wa, or Tunebos, and Guanes), in addition to the Laches, among others. The territory of the current department of Cundinamarca was occupied by a great variety of cultures: Muiscas, Panches, Tapaces (or Colimas) and Muzos, among others.
The appearance of Muisca human groups could be derived from migratory processes of peoples belonging to the Chibcha linguistic family, coming from Central America. The transition between the "Herrera Period" and the Muisca settlement occurred gradually, since in some areas they coexisted for some time. Finally, the ceramics associated with the Muiscas became general, at least in the department of Cundinamarca, in a territory much less extensive, but eventually more densely populated than that of the "Herrera Period", in particular during the period late Muisca (1200 to 1600 AD). This panorama, in which the territory of Cundinamarca was occupied by various groups, coincides with that recorded at the time of the arrival and colonization of Europeans in the XV and XVI.
Mythical origins
Creation Myths
In the beginning there was only Bachué, the Mother Grandmother originally from Iguaque and who settled in what is now Tunja. Then Bachué shouted, and the gods, the light, the plants, the animals and the Muiscas or Chibchas appeared. Then the gods filled a pot with seeds and stones, and sowed stars in space. They took the crumbs that were left in the pot and threw them far away, and that was the origin of the stars. However, everything was still, nothing moved. Then the gods went to visit Bague, and they told him of her sorrow because nothing moved, nor grew, nor sounded. Mother Grandmother prepared a drink that the gods drank until they fell asleep. They began to dream and have visions, and in their dreams everything moved, the birds sang, the waterfalls made noise and the men went about their daily tasks. When the gods woke up, the light spread throughout the universe, and everything had movement, as in their dreams.
Myth of Chiminigagua
When it was night, before there was anything in the world, the light was inside a big thing called Chiminigagua, from where it later came out. Chiminigagua began to dawn and to show the light that it had in itself. The first thing that she created were some large black birds, which he ordered to have beings and to go around the world blowing breath or air through their beaks. And the air they blew out was lucid and resplendent. And after they had traveled the world, everything was clear and illuminated. Then he created Chiminigagua all the other things in the world, and among all of them, the most beautiful were the Sun and his wife, the Moon.
Myth of the chiefs of Sogamoso and Ramiriquí
In the provinces of Hunza (Tunja) and Sogamoso, there was a creation myth according to which, when the world dawned, there was already heaven and earth, and everything else, except the Sun and the Moon, so that everything was in darkness, and there were only two people in the world: the Cacique of Sogamoso and the one of Ramiriquí (or Tunja). These caciques created human beings: men from yellow earth, and women from tall grass with a hollow trunk. Later, to give light to the world, the chief of Sogamoso ordered that of Ramiriquí, who was his nephew, to go up to the sky and light up the Earth transformed into the Sun. But seeing that the Sun was not enough to illuminate the night, he Sogamoso went up to the sky and became Moon. This happened in the month that corresponds to December, and since then that event has been celebrated, especially in Sogamoso, with a festival called Huan and in Tunja with the winter solstice ceremony in the "Sanctuary of Zaque" (Cojines del Zaque) to the east of the city.
Myth of Bachué
From the Iguaque Lagoon, shortly after the creation of the world, came a woman named Bachué, also known as Furachogua, which means "good woman". He brought with him a child by the hand, about three years old (who was not related) and they went down together from the mountains to the savannah, more precisely to the valley of Hunza, present-day Tunja, where they built a house in which they lived. until the boy was old enough to marry Bachué. They later had many children, and Bachué was so fertile that in each birth she gave birth to four to six children, so that very soon the Earth was filled with people.
Bachué and her husband traveled through many places, leaving children everywhere, until after many years, being old, they called many of their descendants to accompany them back to the lagoon from which they had left. When they were next to the lagoon, Bachué spoke to everyone, exhorting them to peace, to live in harmony and to keep the precepts and laws that she had given them, especially the worship of the gods. At the end of her speech, she said goodbye to the tears of both parties, turning her and her husband into two large snakes that entered the waters of the lagoon to never return, although Bachué appeared after her in many parts.
Myths of civilization
Myth of Bochica
According to this myth, from the eastern plains, a long time ago, an unknown man arrived in the Sabana de Bogotá, with white skin and blue eyes, with long hair and beard down to his waist, his hair tied up with a headband, with bare feet, and wearing a calf-length blanket or tunic, tied in a knot over the right shoulder. He entered through the town of Pasca, and from there he went to Bosa, where a camel he was bringing died, whose bones the Muiscas preserved. This man, known as Bochica, received other names, such as Chimizapagua (which means "messenger from Chiminigagua"), Nemqueteba, Xué, among others.
Bochica taught the Muiscas to spin cotton and weave blankets, because before this, they covered themselves with coarse sheets of raw cotton, tied with fique cords. From Bosa he went to Fontibón, Funza, Serrezuela (now Madrid, Cundinamarca) and Zipacón, from where he headed north. In Cota he spent a few days teaching a large number of people from all the neighboring towns. There he spoke from a high promontory, which was dug for more than two thousand paces so that people would not run over him and he could speak freely. In that place they later made a sanctuary. At night, Bochica slept in a cave at the foot of one of the mountains that surround Cota. Then he continued his journey towards the Northeast, until he reached the province of Guane, in the current department of Santander, and from Guane he turned towards the East and entered the province of Hunza - current Tunja where he would continue his teaching and guiding work. spiritual, to later go to the Sogamoso valley, where he disappeared.
Myth of Sadigua
According to the chroniclers of the Indies, Bochica was known as Sadigua in the provinces of Hunza (Tunja) and Sogamoso. Sadigua would mean "our relative". He was also known in those provinces as Sugumonxe ("who becomes invisible") and Sugunsua ("man who disappears").
The first town he arrived in that region was Ganza (now Gámeza), in a place called Toyú, where he spent three days in a cave. There the caciques of Ganza, Bubanza (Busbanzá), Socha, Tasco, Guaquirá and Sátiva came to visit him, in that order, achieving greatness for their towns as they arrived. Among them, Sogamoso was superior to the others. When Sadigua arrived at the site of Otga, Nompanen, chief of Sogamoso, came out to receive him with all his people.
Sadigua taught how to spin cotton and weave blankets, as well as moral precepts and community life. When he arrived at the town of Iza, he disappeared, leaving the imprint of one of his feet on a stamped stone.
Myth of Huitaca
Some time after Bochica disappeared, a woman of disturbing beauty arrived, called Huitaca, or Xubchasgagua, sometimes identified as the goddess Chía herself, or as the daughter of Chía. Huitaca taught doctrines contrary to those taught by Bochica. She affirmed that one could have a relaxed life, dedicated to pleasures, games and drunkenness, and that they should not help those in need, even if they were her own parents.
Myth of Tequendama
Since the Muisca had lost respect for the gods, they offended Chibchacum, who had previously been the most beloved of their gods. He decided to punish them by flooding the savannah, for which he caused the Sopó and Tibitóc rivers to be born, which joined their beds to the Funza (old name of the Bogotá river). The flood ended many crops and human lives, until the people cried out with fasting and sacrifices to Bochica to free them from that calamity. Finally, one afternoon, in the midst of a great roar, Bochica appeared over the rainbow, with a golden rod in her hand, which she threw towards the mountain range that blocked the water, instantly opening the Tequendama Falls, which gave way to the waters. As punishment for the flood caused, Bochica sentenced Chibchacum to carry the world on his shoulders, so that every time he changes shoulders to rest, an earth tremor occurs. Bochica punished Huitaca by turning her into an owl.
Muisca Confederation
With the establishment of the Muisca groups, there was an increase in demographic density and a complex sociopolitical organization. The Muiscas settled under a governmental system known today as the Muisca Confederation. A good part of the territory was under the administration of two large political units: to the southwest was the Zipazgo, with its capital in Funza, whose supreme ruler was the Zipa. To the northeast was Zacazgo, with its capital in Hunza (present-day Tunja), whose supreme ruler was the Zaque. Both lordships maintained close political and commercial relations, given their ethnic and cultural brotherhood, although there were constant rivalries for control of the territory, over all at the borders. There were also some dialectal differences in the Muisca language between the two regions, especially compared to the Duit dialect, typical of Duitama.
Each of the great political-territorial divisions of the Muisca Confederation was divided into Clans, known in muysccubun as Zybyn. Each Zybyn was ruled by a Clan chief, called Zibyntyba. In turn, each Zybyn encompassed several villages, or towns, called Uta, which were administered by local leaders called Utatiba. Thus, for example, the Zipazgo was governed by the Zipa; Within the Zipazgo there were multiple Zybyn, or Clans, such as Guatavita, led by a Zibyntyba; the Zybyn of Guatavita included several Uta, such as that of Sesquilé, ruled by a Utatiba.
The following scheme represents the hierarchical division of the territory of the Muisca Confederation:
- Zipazgo or Zacazgo: Major territory, governed by the Zipa or the Zaque.
- Zybyn: Intermediate territory (clan), governed by the Zibyntyba.
- Uta: Minor territory (aldea, or village), governed by the Utatiba.
- Zybyn: Intermediate territory (clan), governed by the Zibyntyba.
There was also another hierarchy of power: that of the Uzaques, or Ubzaques, who were nobles of pure blood, belonging to the Zipa or Zaque family, with extensive military and territorial prerogatives.
The Zipazgo
In the Cundiboyacense highlands, in the central area of the Department of Cundinamarca, and in part of the eastern and western slopes of the Eastern Cordillera, the Muiscas subject to the Zipazgo were settled, that is, under the domain of the Zipa de Bacatá (Bogota). During the Spanish Colony, practically all the territories subject to the Zipa formed the Province of Santafé de Bogotá, except for the areas of Chiquinquirá and Saboyá, which became part of the province of Tunja.
| Zybyn | Uta |
|---|---|
| Zybyn de Bacatá | Bacatá, Chía, Funza, Engativá, Fontibón, Facatativá, Tenjo, Subachoque, Tabio, Cota, Cajicá, Zipaquirá, Nemocón, Bosa, Zipacon and Soacha. |
| Zybyn de Guatavita | Guatavita, Sesquilé, Guasca, Sopo, Usaquén, Tuna, Suba, Teusacá (La Calera), Gachetá, Chocontá and Suesca. |
| Zybyn de Ubaque | Ubaque, Choachí, Chipaque, Cáqueza and Usme. |
| Zybyn de Ubaté | I used, Cucunubá, Simijaca, and Susa. |
| Zybyn de Fusagasugá | Fusagasugá, Pasca and Tibacuy. |
The Zacazgo
The current municipalities of Lenguazaque and Villapinzón belonged to the territory of Zacazgo, and during the Spanish Colony to the corregimiento of Turmequé, in the province of Tunja. The municipality of Guachetá also belonged to this corregimiento, but there are doubts as to whether before the Spanish Conquest it was subject to the Zaque or the Zipa, or if it was independent.
| Zybyn | Uta |
|---|---|
| Zybyn de Hunza | Hunza, Ramiriquí, Tibaná, Guachetá, Icabuco, Machetá, Moniquirá, Motavita, Toca, Tuta, Samacá, Sotaquirá, Lenguazaque, Turmequé. |
| Zybyn de Tenasuca | Tenasuca, Tenza, Garagoa, Sutatenza, Somondoco, Soratá, Tibirita. |
| Zybyn de Saquencipá | Saquencipá (Villa de Leyva), Ráquira, Sutamarchán, Sachica, Sora, Cucaita, Chíquiza. |
Sacred Zybyn
In addition to the two main political units, Zipazgo and Zacazgo, the chroniclers refer to the existence of two territories whose importance was more religious and sacred than political: it was Zybyn de Iraca (with capital Suamox, current Sogamoso), whose ruler was the priest also named Iraca, who was considered the successor of Venerable Bochica (also known in that province as Sadigua) and Zybyn de Tundama (with capital in present-day Duitama).
| Zybyn | Uta |
|---|---|
| Sacred Zybyn of Iraca | Sogamoso, Bombaza, Busbanzá, Chusvita, Pesca, Pisba, Toca, Toca. |
| Sacred Zybyn of Tundama | Duitama, Tobasía, Paipa, Cerinza, Chitagoto, Ocavita, Onzaga, Sativa, Soatá, Susacón, Topachoque, Tutazá. |
Autonomous Territories
The Clans, or Zybyn Muiscas considered as autonomous or independent, since they had not been centralized under the same leader in particular, were the following:
| Saboyá, Charalá, Chipatá, Tinjacá and Tacasquirá. |
On the other hand, the Guanentá confederation belonged to the Guanes, and the Cocuy confederation to the Tunebos, both peoples of Chibcha languages, but independent.
Muisca rulers
Psihipquas of Muyquytá
- Saguamanchica:
Saguamanchica (1470-1490) is considered the first historical Zipa, since data on his life are much more abundant than those of his predecessors. He sought to extend the domains of the Zipazgo and undertook constant battles against the Sutagaos and the Panches, staunch enemies of the Muiscas. One of the first battles of significant importance was undertaken against the powerful cacique of Fusagasugá, supreme ruler of the sutagaos. Saguamanchica assaulted the Fusagasugueño territory at the command of 30,000 güechas (Muisca warriors), a battle in which he was victorious and in which he managed to capture Uzatama, general of the Fusagasugá armies. Subsequently, Saguamanchica had to face the rebellion of the Zybyn of Guatavita and Ubaque, whose Zibyntyba tried to ally with Zaque Michuá. This one, at first, gave them a timid help, but later he decided not to face the Zipa. During the following sixteen years, the wars against the panches on the borders of Zipacón were constant, and against the rebel Zibyntyba from Guatavita, who constantly attacked the Uta de Chía and Cajicá. Finally, Zaque Michuá, after having assembled an army of 60,000 men, decided to attack Zipa, which at that time had 50,000 güecha. The battle, known as the Battle of Chocontá, took place in the Chocontá fields and lasted for three hours. In the end, the Zipa troops won, but both Saguamanchica and Michuá were killed.
- Nemequene:
Nemequene (1490-1514) inherited the throne of Zipazgo from his uncle Saguamanchica. He appointed his nephew, Tisquesusa, as commander of an army of 40,000 güecha, with which he achieved the final defeat of the Fusagasugá cacique. In addition, he made sure to keep the panches at bay, who continued in their attempt to invade the lands of Zipacón. He also achieved the final surrender of the Guatavita rebel Zybyn, whose Zibyntyba was executed. But the most important event during the Nemequene government was the promulgation of the so-called Nemequene Code, which was a legal compendium whose laws partly remained in force until after the Spanish conquest.
- Tisquesusa:
Tisquesusa (1514-1537), Nemequene's nephew and heir, had been Utatiba de Chía in his youth (as was appropriate according to tradition, since the lineage of the Zipas came from Chía), and later he had assumed the leadership of the Zipazgo armies. When his uncle died in a confrontation against Zaque Quemuenchatocha, Tisquesusa had to withdraw from the battlefield to comply with the protocol of the inauguration ceremony of El Dorado, in the Guatavita Lagoon. He left the army under the command of his brother, Zaquesazipa, who managed to subdue the Zibyntyba of Ubaque, who wanted to ally with the Zaque. At the conclusion of the El Dorado ceremony, Tisquesusa, already anointed as the new Zipa, hurried to join his brother again to launch a definitive attack against Quemuenchatocha, but Sugamuxi, Iraca de Suamox (Sogamoso), who was considered Bochica's successor, stood between both sides and forced them to agree to a truce.
The truce was about to end when the Spanish arrived in the Muisca territory, under the command of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. Some years before, a chyquy (Muisca priest) from Ubaque, named Popón, had prophesied to Tisquesusa that he would die "drowned in his own blood" because of some foreigners who came from very distant lands. This prophecy made Tisquesusa's first reaction, upon learning of the arrival of the white men, was to avoid their contact at all costs, at the same time that he ordered a squad of opquabachua (spies) to keep him aware of everything foreigners did. Tisquesusa left the court of Bacatá and went to Nemocón, where he felt safer. However, the Spanish were already on his trail. The news from the Zipa's spies about the mysterious "thunders" that the foreigners were firing worried Tisquesusa even more, who decided to move again, this time to the military fortress of Cajicá, but shortly after he returned to Bacatá and ordered the total eviction of the population, so that when the Spanish arrived they would not They found no one and headed north, towards the territory of the Zaque, which they subdued.
Meanwhile, Tisquesusa fled to the forests of Facatativá in search of refuge (probably in the vicinity of the "Piedras del Tunjo"), but when the Spanish returned to Bacatá they learned of his whereabouts and left immediately to Facatativá, surrounding the forest in which the Zipa was hidden. There the Spaniards camped, and one night, while Tisquesusa tried to flee, a Spanish soldier, not knowing that it was the Zipa, pierced his chest with a sword, stole the gold and emerald ornaments he was wearing, as well as the rich blanket of painted cotton that he was wearing, and left him naked, lying on the ground, while he was dying drowned in his own blood. The next morning, Tisquesusa's servants found his corpse when they saw vultures fly in the area.
- Zaquesazipa:
Zaquesazipa or Sagipa (†. August 1538), was the last Zipa, brother and successor of Tisquesusa, although most of the Muisca nobility considered him a usurper of the throne, since the legitimate successor was his nephew, Chiayzaque, Utatiba de Chía, who had allied with the Spanish. Chiayzaque denounced his uncle before Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, because Zaquesazipa had not respected the rules of matrilineal succession.
Meanwhile, Zaquesazipa assumed command of the Muisca army, but when he found himself cornered by the Spanish, he made a peace agreement with Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and asked him to support him in the fight against the panches. After the resounding defeat of the panches at the hands of the Spanish, Jiménez de Quesada urged Zaquesazipa to reveal to him the place where a treasure was found that Tisquesusa had hidden when he learned of the arrival of the Spanish. The conqueror gave Zaquesazipa a deadline to fill a hut with gold to the ceiling, but since Zaquesazipa could not comply, he was subjected to all kinds of torture until he died at the beginning of 1539, due to the injuries received.
Zaques of Hunza
- Hunzahúa:
Hunzahúa, from whose name comes Hunza (the current city of Tunja), capital of Zacazgo, was Zaque de Hunza, and the only Muisca ruler who achieved the complete unification of the Muisca Confederation. The agreement between all the rulers of the region was made through the mediation of Iraca de Suamox, Bochica's successor. The unit was broken by the Zipa Saguamanchica, initially due to conflicts with the Zibyntyba of Guatavita.
- Michua:
Michuá (1470-1490 approx.) was Zaque de Hunza when Saguamanchica served as zipa of Bacatá. Guatavita's Zibyntyba asked him for help to face Saguamanchica. The Zaque sent a tyuquyne (messenger) to the Zipa to demand that he appear in his court and give an account of what had happened, but Saguamanchica mocked the Zaque's authority and mistreated the messenger. Faced with this act of contempt, Michuá wanted to attack the Zipa, but he refrained when he found out about the large army it had. Then Saguamanchica took the opportunity to attack the Zybyn of Guatavita and Ubaque, since the latter also wanted to ally with the Zaque. Sixteen years later, Michuá, in command of 60,000 güechas (Muisca warriors), finally decided to confront Zipa, which had 50,000 men. The battle, known as the Battle of Chocontá, took place in the Chocontá fields, and lasted for three hours. In the end, the Zipa's troops triumphed, but both Saguamanchica and Michuá died in the battle.
- Cheer up!
Quemuenchatocha (1490-1538), when he was 10 years old, succeeded his uncle Michuá on the throne of Zacazgo. After the Battle of Chocontá, in which Zipa's troops had triumphed, a period of peace followed between Zacazgo and Zipazgo. However, years later the news reached him that the Zipa Nemequene was preparing an attack against him. When the armies of both sides faced each other, Quemuenchatocha proposed to Nemequene that, to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, only the two of them should fight, hand to hand, but the Zipa did not accept. In the battle, Quemuenchatocha was seriously injured, so his troops began their withdrawal. Upon Nemequene's death, his successor, Tisquesusa, continued the hostilities against Zaque. However, shortly before the final battle, Sugamuxi, the Iraca of Suamox (Sogamoso), who was considered the successor of Bochica, intervened and forced the commanders to agree to a truce. Shortly before the end of the truce, the Spanish arrived in Muisca territory. Upon learning of the arrival of the foreigners, Quemuenchatocha did not move from his fence and ordered that his location be indicated to the Spaniards for no reason. But when the Spanish were very close, the Zaque sent them gifts and emissaries of peace while he hid all the gold he could, since he had already been informed of the incredible and excessive greed of the foreigners, who wanted to seize all the gold they found. On August 2, 1537, the Spanish assaulted the Zaque fence, sacked the town and took the elderly Quemuenchatocha prisoner, whom they took to Suesca to question him about the hidden gold. During his absence, he designated himself as heir to his nephew, Aquiminzaque. Subsequently, Quemuenchatocha, seriously mistreated by the Spanish, managed to withdraw to Ramiriquí, where he died shortly after due to serious injuries received.
- Aquiminzaque:
Aquiminzaque (1537-1541) was the last Zaque of Hunza. He assumed the government of Zacazgo when his elderly uncle was taken prisoner to Suesca by the Spanish. He was baptized as Catholic, but shortly after, when trying to rebel with other Muisca rulers, he was discovered by Hernán Pérez de Quesada, who ordered his beheading, together with the other participants in the rebellion, in a public act in the main square of the recently founded city of Tunja.
Customs and ways of life
Agriculture and food
The Muiscas established scattered cultivation plots in different climatic zones. In each zone they had temporary housing, which allowed them to take advantage of the agricultural products of the cold and temperate zones in regulated periods of time. This system of agriculture, called the "microvertical model", was administered directly or through tribute and exchange relations with other indigenous ethnic groups to which the Muiscas had subjugated. This model would be an adaptive response to ecological limitations, since most of the crops were annual. In addition, the constant risk of hailstorms and frosts, despite not implying the total loss of crops, could generate shortages. Part of the problem was solved with the multiple varieties of potato that existed, in addition to the fact that most of these varieties could resist frost five months after being planted. But also, by having products of different thermal levels, they had full access to sweet potatoes, cassava, beans, chili peppers, coca, cotton, ahuyama, arracacha, fique, quinoa and hayo colorado, although the staple in their diet was corn.
Since the Muiscas did not know iron, they tilled the land with stone or wooden tools in the rainy season, when the soil softened, and for this reason they considered dry seasons as a great calamity. Potatoes, corn, and quinoa were the main consumer products, which were seasoned with salt, chili peppers, and a wide variety of aromatic herbs. Twice a year they harvested potatoes, and corn once in the cold lands, where most of the population was settled. It is not known if they used the sweet extract of the corn cane, like the Mexican natives, or only the honey of bees, which abounded on the slopes of the mountains. The quintessential drink of the Muiscas was chicha, an alcoholic beverage made from corn. They hunted and fished, the latter in the rivers and lagoons of the plains with small nets and reed rafts that they continued to manufacture until the century XIX.
The Muisca authorities were in charge of redistributing food in times of scarcity. They consumed abundant vegetable proteins such as beans, quinoa, peanuts and coca, and animal protein such as curí (domesticated), deer, rabbit, fish, ants, caterpillars, birds and animals of mount.
The Spanish chronicler Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo recounted that in the two years that the conquest lasted, not a day did all the necessary supplies fail to enter the Christian warehouses. He tells that there were days with a hundred deer, others with a hundred and fifty, and the day that least, thirty deer, rabbits and curies, and even a day with a thousand deer.
The Muiscas built canal and ridge systems (artificially raised land to improve drainage and protect crops). They controlled the flow of water, both for irrigation and to prevent flooding. Large canals ensured that the water followed the traced course to prevent it from affecting crops and houses. Some channels were used to divert fish towards wetlands and lagoons or towards wells and ditches built with running water where forms of fish farming were practiced.
Hygiene and relationship with water
The Muiscas bathed several times a day, which caused surprise and rejection by the Spaniards, for whom bathing so many times was unnecessary and obscene (since men, women and children bathed in the rivers at the same time).. They also did certain ritual baths: for mother and child after childbirth, at the arrival of menstruation, in the male initiation rite and in the coronation of a new Zipa in the Laguna de Guatavita, and in other sacred lagoons. The priests bathed when investing after many years of preparation during which only the tips of their fingers could be washed. Bathing in rivers, men, women and children at the same time, was considered by the Spanish as a sinful habit, for which this practice was persecuted, censored and eradicated by the colonial authorities. The Muiscas considered that the lagoons and the water sources were sacred places; for this reason, many of the offerings to the gods were deposited in these places. The goddess Bachué, mythical mother of the Muiscas, leaves the Iguaque Lagoon in the company of the child with whom she will later marry; Some time later, they return to the lagoon transformed into snakes. Another Muisca myth related to water is that of the spilled chicha from which the mythical Pozo de Hunzahúa is born in Tunja.
Sexuality
There was total sexual freedom before marriage and this little had to do with virginity; On the contrary, virginity for the Muisca woman was a true disgrace; As Alonso de Zamora recounts it: "They paid very little attention to not finding maidens for their women and in some it was a reason to hate them, if they found them with integrity: because they said they were wretched women because there was no one to pay attention to them".
Polygamy was common among the Muisca society. Men could have as many tygüi (wives) as they were able to support, although the first was the main one, and was given the name güi chyty (first consort). Incest was prohibited. The Spanish chronicler Lucas Fernández de Piedrahíta reports that the men asked the father of the bride (or whoever replaced him) for permission to marry her, offering a certain amount of goods. If the woman's father was not satisfied with the goods received, he asked for more, and the boyfriend increased his offer up to a third time, but if he was not accepted the third time either, he gave up the proposal forever. On the contrary, if his proposal was accepted, he could have the woman for a few days in his house, and if he liked her, he would marry her. For his part, the historian Ezequiel Uricoechea refers that when someone requested in marriage to a woman, he sent her parents a blanket; if they did not return it to him within eight days, he would send another, and then considering himself accepted, he would sit one night at the door of the bride's house and imply, albeit indirectly, that she was there. Then the door would open and the woman who was wanted would come out with a totuma full of chicha that she would taste first and then give the suitor a drink. Marriages were celebrated before the chyquy (Muisca priest), and the contracting parties had to intertwine their arms during the ceremony.
Lithic phalli are still found in Tunja, Ramiriquí and Villa de Leiva. Torteros with mating monkeys are found in museums. Prostitution existed in Muisca society, and prostitutes were called Chihizapquaza. Pedro Simón relates the high Muisca population density with their remarkable sensuality, when he writes: these Indians so many, because they are so given to sensuality".
Clothes and apparel
The Muiscas were skilled cotton weavers. The Spanish chronicler Lucas Fernández de Piedrahíta recounts that, unlike the natives of the warmer lands, the Muiscas were always dressed. In the General History of the Conquests of the New Kingdom of Granada, Piedrahíta reports that the Muiscas wove closed shirts that reached just below the knee, which could go without or with sleeves, and on top They put some blankets that were usually white, but in the people with higher rank they were painted with black and red figures. The güechas (Muisca warriors) wore gold helmets on their heads, while the common men covered their heads with cotton caps, and on special occasions with bear skins and ocelots adorned with feathers of all colors. The men who belonged to the Zipa family wore half moons of gold or silver on their foreheads, with the points facing upwards. Around their arms, they used to wear bracelets encrusted with emeralds, and the townspeople wore animal bone bracelets. The nobility wore gold nose rings and ear rings, and all painted their faces and bodies with natural dyes. The women wore a long blanket that was tied around the waist with a sash, and another small blanket on the shoulders, fastened to the neckline with a large gold or silver pin, which had a rattle at one end, so that the breasts were almost uncovered. Men wore shoulder-length hair, and women also wore it long and loose, although noblewomen wore it tied up with a net coif. The greatest affront for a Muisca man or woman was to have his hair cut, or for his cacique to tear their blanket, as punishment for some minor crime.
Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada reports that they used «black and white blankets and of different colors tight to the body that covered them from the chest to the feet, and others over the shoulders (...) they are all covered. On their heads they commonly wear garlands made of cotton with roses of different colors of the same kind that comes to the right of their foreheads. Some main caciques sometimes bring bonnets made there from their cotton (...) some women of the main ones bring some net caps".
Juan de Castellanos refers that the Muiscas took from Bochica the example of walking barefoot, with their customary cotton suit and long hair, which was dyed black, but unlike the mythical Bochica, he points out that «beards very few occupy the cheeks ». Tearing garments and cutting hair "have it as a serious insult".
Certain paintings, ornaments and jewels, as well as the right to have pierced ears and noses to put jewels on them, were symbols of power reserved for high hierarchies, both civil and priestly.
Sports
Sports have had ritual and recreational importance for the Muiscas. In pre-Hispanic times, in addition to wrestling, they also practiced zepguagoscua, which consisted of throwing a gold disc until it hit a target; that game evolved into the current tejo, considered the national sport of Colombia. This sport has become quite established in the population, mainly in the Andean region of the country. According to tradition, the yew has its origin in the municipality of Turmequé, in the department of Boyacá. Precisely, the yew is also called turmequé. It is estimated that the Muiscas have been practicing it for more than 500 years.
Art
The women spun the cotton blankets, while the men wove and painted them. They carved wood and bone figurines to hang on necklaces or other ornaments. The straw was used to cover the roofs of their houses and to make certain small items such as baskets. Stone was worked in a similar way to bone, and high-ranking people used skins from certain animals such as the spectacled bear and the ocelot. The colorful feathers of the parrot and other birds, which were imported from the warmer lands, were prized luxury items.
Architecture
The Muiscas built their houses using reed and mud as the main material to make walls called bahareque. The common houses were of two shapes: some conical and others rectangular. The first consisted of a wall in a circle made of sticks buried as stronger pillars on which a double interweaving of reeds was supported on both sides, the interstice of which was thick with mud. The roof was conical and covered with straw secured on poles. The profusion of such conical-shaped constructions in the Sabana de Bogotá gave rise to Gonzalo Jiménez de Quezada giving this plateau the name "Valle de los Alcázares". The rectangular constructions consisted of parallel walls also made of bahareque, like the previous ones, with a roof in two rectangular wings.
Both conical and rectangular buildings had small doors and windows. Inside, the furniture was simple and consisted mainly of beds also made of reeds, called barbecues, on which a great profusion of blankets was spread; The chairs, although they had them, were scarce, since the Muiscas preferred to rest squatting or kneeling on the ground. Usually, the chairs were used only by the nobility. In addition to the common houses, there were two other kinds of much more complex constructions: one for the main lords, probably the head of the clan, and others for the heads of the confederations, such as the Zipa, the Zaque or the Iraca.
Economic activity
In pre-Columbian times, the economic activity was mainly agriculture; they grew corn, potatoes, quinoa and cotton, among other agricultural products. They were excellent goldsmiths, they bartered blankets, salt, emeralds and other products with neighboring towns (muzos, panches, sutagaos, guayupes, tecuas, achaguas, tunebos and lanches).
Mining activity
The Muisca confederation exploited the following mineral products:
- Gold (nyia(c): The gold was imported and became so plentiful that it was the main material for the common Muslim craftsmanship (orfebrería). At the arrival of the Spaniards, in the Sabana de Bogotá there were golden bells hanging from the trees. The use of this metal within the territory of the Musca confederation, combined with the tradition of the coronation of the Zipa in the Laguna de Guatavita, would contribute to the creation of the myth of El Dorado.
- Emeralds (chuecuta(c): Even today Colombia is the first global producer of emeralds, which are among the most precious of the planet. The main deposits of these precious stones are located in the department of Boyacá, and especially in the municipality of Muzo. Along with the gold, the emeralds were offered to the gods in the sacred lagoons.
- Copper (bahazca nyia(c): The historian Ezequiel Uricoechea refers that in the battles and in the parties the muiscas used very well-made copper masks, and that in the commercial exchange with other peoples they also used small "tejuelos" of copper.
- Coal (gazpqua(c): Both vegetable and mineral. coal mines are still being exploited today, for example in Zipaquira and Samacá. In this product Colombia is one of the main global reserves.
- Sal (nygua(c): Extracted from the mines of Nemocón, Zipaquirá and Tausa, it also became one of the main exchange assets with other peoples.
Textile production
In a very special way we must mention the textile production, since the Muisca cotton blankets were also used for the payment of tributes to the indigenous authorities, and in external commercial exchange. In this regard, Paul Bahn says that the Andean cultures dominated all the techniques of weaving and decoration, and by 3000 BC. C. had developed cotton textiles and produced fabrics of extraordinary delicacy, superior in many cases to contemporary ones. The archaeologist Sylvia Broadbent —who studied painted cotton fabrics— concludes that the techniques of the Muiscas were very complex to produce one-piece fabrics with innumerable interweavings and a great capacity to resist time.
Market
The market was an obligatory site of the economy of the Muisca communities, who practiced buying and selling, and more commonly barter. There, basic necessities such as corn, salt, honey, fruits, grains, and blankets were exchanged for luxury items such as feathers from birds from the warmer lands, copper, cotton, coca, and sea snails. The main markets in which the Muiscas exchanged their products were the following:
- The market of Coyaima, the territory of the Poincos, which inhabited both banks of the Magdalena River, to where the muiscas wore painted blankets, articles of manufactured gold, salt and emeralds, which changed by powdered gold, guacamayas, parrots to those who taught to speak, and some food products of the warm lands.
- The market that was made on the grounds of the cacique of Zorocotá, in what is now the municipality of Puente Nacional, in which exchanges were made with the Guanes, Chipataes and Agataes.
- The market in Turmequé, which was probably the most popular of the muiscas, where in addition to the articles already mentioned, there was a lot of emeralds coming from the Somondoco mines.
Weights and measures
For commercial exchanges, the Muiscas generally used round "tiles" of gold, silver and copper, cast in molds without any kind of seal or sign, and which they valued for their size, although emeralds, salt, cocaine and cotton blankets were also used as monetary equivalents or to facilitate barter. The metallic tiles were measured by bending the index finger over the base of the thumb, or when they were larger, using certain cotton strings that they had for this purpose to measure their circumference. As for the measures of capacity, they only used the one that was used to measure shelled corn, and which they called aba, the same as this grain. The measures of length were the span and the step.
Language
The muysc cubun (Muisca language) is an extinct language that belongs to the Chibcha linguistic family. It is currently officially considered an extinct language, after April 16, In 1770, by Royal Decree, King Carlos III of Spain prohibited the use of indigenous languages in his domains. However, there are several projects to revitalize it, since several grammars and vocabularies (dictionaries) from the 17th centuries have been preserved that account for the structure of the language.
The Tayrona and Uwa indigenous peoples, who belong to the same linguistic family, speak a related language, which allowed the three peoples to establish strong links of economic and cultural exchange. Despite the imposition of Spanish (sucubun), muysc cubun as a substrate language adapted to the phonology of Spanish and left its mark on the speech of a large part of the inhabitants of the Cundiboyacence Highlands in relation to place names, anthroponyms, verbs, and nouns in general, which are now classified as muisquismos, among which the following can be highlighted:
- Chisa (screech beetle) zisa.
- Cuba (Menor) cuhuba (sister minor).
- Turmequé (Tejo).
- Jute (Power) futynsuca.
- Tote, totear (Object to resell, resell) tohotysuca.
- Soco (Quick, light) supqua.
- Pichar (Copular) bchiscua.
- Toponymy: Quyca means “world”, “people” or “patria”. On the other hand, the letter "r" was not very common in the musca language, where it follows that the suffix "-quira", so frequent in the names of towns and cities of musca origin, should be pronounced primitively "quyca", as in Zetaquira (city of the snake), Zipaquid (ciudad del Zipa), Chiquinquira (ciquid priest) [chuckles]required]. It is also possible that the pronouncement of the "r" was more common to the north of the Muisca Confederation, in the territory of the Zacazgo, and less common in the Zipazgo, but that with time it was imposed on the formation of toponyms.
Many current names in the Altiplano Cundiboyacense have a specific meaning in the Muisca language.
- Natural names: curuba and uchuva, for example, are fruits, uba. The word "chucua" to designate a wetland comes from chuppqua (fishing).
Calendar
The Muiscas counted the days by suns and the months by moons. The years were of twelve lunations, which began in January, with the start of farming, and ended in December, at the end of farming. The Muisca month was divided into three parts of ten days each. During the first ten days, the men separated from the women and chewed hayo; the next ten days they tilled the land, and finally, the last ten days, they rested in the company of their families.
On the summer solstice, "Xué" (the Sun god), whose temple was located in Suamox (Sogamoso), headquarters of Iraca (supreme priest of the Muiscas) and in the large enclosure of the sanctuaries in the sacred city of Hunza Tunja, as well as in the Sanctuary of Zaque, also in present-day Tunja.
The day:
The full 24-hour day was divided as follows:
Sua (day):
- Oz: Madrugada.
- Aica: From sunrise to noon.
- Sua Quychyquysa: Half-day.
- Sua Meca or Sua Mena: From noon to sunset.
Za (night):
- Zina: Shortly before the night.
- Zasca: From sunset to midnight.
- ZachinaHalf night.
- Cagui:[chuckles]required] From midnight to the new exit of the Sun.
The week:
The week had three days. At the end of each day, a market day was held in Turmequé.
The month:
Ten weeks of three days constituted a lunation, equivalent to the month, which they called Chie (same as the Moon), or also Suna ("great trail").
The thirty days were represented by the first ten numbers repeated three times, so that ata was the first day of the month, the eleventh and the twenty-first. The count began with the New Moon.
The year:
The year was called Zocam. The Muiscas had three different types of years:
- Sacred Year, or Priestly: Astronomical cycle composed of 37 moons, and used for the observance of religious ceremonies.
- Rural year: Composed of 12 or 13 moons, it was counted from one rainy season to another.
- Common or civil year: Composed for 20 months or moons.
The "century":
The equivalent of a century among the Muiscas consisted of twenty intercalary years of 37 moons each, which correspond to 60 western years.
Religion
Priesthood
- The chyquy:
Muisca priests were called chyquy. They were always men and were not allowed to marry or have any kind of sexual contact. They lived secluded in the temples, and if it was discovered that someone was not chaste, he was removed from his ministry. They ate and slept very little, and fasted frequently. They spent most of the nights chewing hayo and spoke very rarely. The practice of mambeo was very important among the Chyquy, since it helped them to remain in a constant state of vigilance.
The learning process of the Chyquy was very rigorous. The novice had to remain secluded from his childhood for twelve years in a temple destined for teaching, called Cuca, where he was entrusted to the tutoring of an elderly chyquy. He could not consume salt or chili. Once the twelve years of apprenticeship were completed, his nose and ears were pierced to place gold earrings and nose rings. In the initiation ceremony he was accompanied by the entire community to a source or stream of crystalline water where the body had to be bathed and then dressed in new blankets. Then he went to the house of the local civil ruler, who invested him by giving him a gold poporo, the backpack to carry the hayo and some new blankets. In this way, the new chyquy could exercise his trade within the limits of his territory, since each town had its own chyquy.
- The Mohans:
The mohanes, or mojanes, were free and informal priests, far from temples and religious centers. They settled mainly in caves and on the banks of rivers, among the bushes. They carried backpacks with coca leaves, a brush, and a painted deer bone with which they inhaled the yopo powder. They smeared their hair with ash and covered their heads with animal skins when they danced.
Sacred places
In addition to the temples, the Muiscas considered many natural sites sacred such as mountains, hills, rocks, lagoons, forests, rivers, trees and water sources, among many others, which they venerated, not only because they considered that some divinity lived there, but also because they believed that there were strategic places for the balance of nature. They also considered sacred certain avenues through which they said that Bochica had traveled, and the territory of Suamox, where he had died and delegated his succession. Like the "Cercado Grande de los Santuarios" and the "Cojines del Zaque - Santuario del Zaque", both within the city of Tunja
- Sacred forests:
The Muiscas considered certain forests as sacred, so they did not dare to cut down a tree, not even a branch from those forests, as they said that they were consecrated to the gods.
- Sacred plants and trees:
Some of the plants and trees sacred to the Muiscas are the following:
- Tyhyquy (Blood Brugmansia), popularly known as "borrachero", and whose spelling has been castellanized as "Tijiqui".
- Tobacco
- Arrayán
- Nogal
- Guayacán
- Sacred lagoons:
Although all the lagoons were considered sacred in some sense, the most important are the following:
- Laguna de Iguaque
- Lake Tota
The seven sacred lagoons of the "Running the Earth" ceremony:
- Laguna de Ubaque
- Laguna de Teusacá
- Laguna de Guaiaquiti
- Laguna de Tibatiquica
- Laguna de Siecha
- Laguna de Guasca
- Laguna de Guatavita
- Sacred Land of Suamox:
The Muiscas considered that the territory of Suamox (current Sogamoso) is a sacred land, because Bochica died there, who also instituted that the chyquy of Suamox would be his successor and heir to his teachings. The Chyquy of Suamox spoke a secret language that only they knew, and that Bochica himself had transmitted to them.
- Sacred Avenues:
The Muiscas had certain streets or avenues that they considered sacred, because they said that Bochica had walked there. Nobody could step on those avenues, but only the highest dignitaries. The town was only granted that honor during the days of some religious ceremonies. The chronicler Alonso de Zamora tells that one of those avenues, located in the Sogamoso Valley, was one hundred leagues long.
- Temples:
The Muisca temples were circular constructions with a thatched roof, walls covered with mats, sometimes painted, and the floor covered with dry and soft straw. The constructions were supported by guayacán trunks brought from the Eastern Plains that were driven into large holes into which live slaves were thrown; the part of the trunk that went into the earth was conical in shape. The interior of the temples was very dark, since the only access they had was a low door. On the outside they were surrounded by a wooden fence provided with several doors made of thin reeds held by cabuya cords.
The Muiscas distinguish three types of ceremonial houses: the Qusmhuy, the Tchunsua, and the Cuca.
- Tchunsua: Ceremonial house of solar nature
- Qusmhuy: ceremonial house of lunar nature.
- Cuca: Seminar where instruction was given to the future chyquy, and in some cases also to the civil authorities.
Offerings, libations and sacrifices
- Offers with tunx:
The offerings offered to the gods by the Muiscas consisted mainly of gold, silver and copper tunjos with anthropomorphic shapes or animals such as snakes, frogs, lizards, mosquitoes, ants, worms, ocelots, monkeys, butterflies and birds, among others, in addition to diadems, bracelets, glasses and skullcaps, often adding emeralds.
- Water and sahumerios:
One way of offering to the gods was by pouring water inside the temple, and lighting incense burners. This was done at certain hours, which were considered auspicious, and each hour was sung by the chyquy.
- Animal sacrifices:
The animals used for sacrifices were mainly birds. The blood was spilled on the floor of the temple, tying all the heads of the birds and leaving them hanging.
- Human sacrifices:
Human sacrifices were made under two conditions:
The first was that if in war against an enemy town they captured a boy whose appearance was presumed to be a virgin, he was then taken to a temple where he was sacrificed amid acclamations and songs.
The second condition under which human sacrifices were allowed was that the sacrificed be one of the boys they called moxas, or mojas. Each cacique had a moxa, and some two. These were young people bought thirty leagues from the Muisca territory, in a place called "Casa del Sol". They were always bought at ages 7 to 8, at very high prices, because it was believed that they could talk to the Sun and receive its answers. They were held in great veneration, and were always carried on their shoulders. When they reached puberty, they were sacrificed and their blood offered to the gods, but if they had had sexual relations, they were set free, as their blood was thought to be worthless.
In both cases, the method of sacrifice was as follows:
Before dawn, the young man was led to the top of a mountain facing east. Arrived at the sacrificial post, a ceremony began in which hymns to the gods were sung. The young man was laid out on a blanket on the ground, and there he was beheaded with a cane knife. The blood was collected in a totuma and then smeared on sacred stones where the first rays of the Sun should have struck. The body of the deceased was sometimes buried in caves or tombs, but other times it was left out in the open so that it could be seen. "eat" the Sun.
Funeral rites
The chronicler Pedro Simón recounted how the Muiscas: «They did not abandon their patients as other nations did when they were in the article of death, because before, many would gather to watch him die, until he had expired». On the other hand, "they considered happy the one who died of lightning or by accident or sudden death, because this life had passed without pain." This chronicler also describes different forms of burial. Sometimes the bodies of the deceased were dried over low heat over stoves; others were buried inside temples or huts; and others were buried directly in the fields, wrapped in a blanket, and a tree was planted on their grave. Juan de Castellanos adds that as a sign of mourning, during burials they put on blankets painted red, and many even dyed their hair with red bija.
Mourning continued for six days with family gatherings, amid songs in memory of the deceased, music, coca, chicha and corn buns, as Pedro Simón refers: «The most honest people mourned their deceased another six days after buried, and they even made their anniversaries for them for some times, inviting for them their relatives and relatives who together mourned the deceased to the sound of some sad instruments and voices that sang in dirges the great deeds of the deceased. They rejoiced last with chicha and chewing hayo (...) The ordinary people invited for these cries, and with corn buns that they gave to the guests at the end, the obsequies were finished.
Festivities
Muisca festivities were mainly associated with the agricultural cycle and the cycle of life. Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada recounts in his Epítome de la Conquista del Nuevo Reino de Granada : "They are people very lost for singing and dancing in their own way and that is their pleasures." According to the chronicler Juan Rodríguez Freyle, in the Muisca parties chicha could not be missing: «The best prevention was that there was a lot of chicha to drink for the drunkenness that took place at night».
About their songs, music and dances where laughter and tears were mixed, sad and happy rhythms, says Lucas Fernández de Piedrahíta: «they spent a lot of chicha; they danced and danced to the beat of their snails and fotutos; Together they sang some verses or songs that they do in their language and have a certain measure and consonance, like Christmas carols and Spanish dirges. In this genre of verses they refer to present and past events and in them they reproach or magnify the honor or dishonor of the person who compose them; in the serious subjects they mix many pauses and in the happy ones they keep proportion, but their songs always seem sad and cold, and the same is true of their dances and dances, but so rhythmic that they do not differ a single point in the visages and movements, and ordinarily they use these dances in a circle, holding hands and mixing men and women".
- Feasts of sowing and harvesting:
Lucas Fernández de Piedrahíta, in his General History of the Conquests of the New Kingdom of Granada, left a detailed description of the sowing and harvest festivals that the Muiscas celebrated: «Another of The most ostentatious ceremonies they performed were the processions, attended by their kings or caciques, respectively, at certain times of the year, especially in that of sowing or harvesting, and these were formed in certain wide avenues of more or less half a league. of length. The people who went out in them (without taking into account the innumerable crowd of people who came to see them) would be from ten to twelve thousand, who washed their bodies the night before to go the next day more decently decorated.
Painted red and black and disguised as animals, the carnival began: «They were divided into gangs and parties with different costumes and costumes, herded with gold patens and other different jewels that abounded, although they all agreed to wear the bodies of old women painted and jagua (red and black). Some were representing bears, others as lions (Andean pumas) and others as tigers (that is, covered with their skins), and (...) many other representations of various animals. The priests with gold crowns in the form of mitres went, followed by a long gang of painted men, without any costume or jewelery on themselves, and these crying and asking the Bochica and the Sun to maintain the status of their king or cacique and granted the plea and request that had arranged that procession, for which they wore masks with tears, portrayed so vividly that they were to see ». Piedrahíta is surprised that after those who begged, requested and cried, the procession followed with another troupe of laughter, dances and joy that celebrated the favors granted: "it was the funniest thing of all, that immediately another crowd would enter giving big laughing and jumping for joy, and the others saying that the Sun had already granted them what the forwards were asking for with tears, so that from the laughter, cries and shouts, a hubbub was made up as it can be understood (...) in pursuit of that out of step joy others went with gold masks disguised and with the blankets dragging on the ground (...) because another large crowd of them richly decorated, almost stepping on the blankets, dancing and singing to the sad and phlegmatic beat of their maracas and flutes, and after them others."
The cacique closed the procession, dressed in the best ornaments, power is staged: «The last place was taken by the king or cacique with the most expensive adornment and majesty that was possible, and although the number of people that was very large They followed him and the difference in the clothes they were wearing, denoted that they were different parties (...) and what would not seem credible (...) was the large amount of gold that went on them in such different jewels, such as masks, mitres, patens, crescents, bracelets, anklets and figures of various vermin (...) no matter how early in the morning this party began, it was not long before they returned at night with the procession to the palace, where they spent their chicha ». The chronicler ends his story by noting the difficulty they had in ending this popular Muisca festival: "These processions continued for many years after the kingdom was conquered, and no ceremony was uprooted from its natives with as much difficulty as this one."
- Caciques parties:
In the months corresponding (according to the western calendar) to January, February and part of March, festivities took place in which some caciques alternately invited others. In these festivities, according to Pedro Simón: «Men and women hold hands making a circle and singing songs, already happy and sad, to the sound of flutes and fotutos; they had in the middle the chicha mucuras from which they were making an effort, this lasted until they fell drunk and so excited by the lust of the heat of the wine, that each man and woman got together with the first or first one that was found because for this there was general license in these festivals, even with the wives of the chiefs and nobles (...) so by virtue of the real union of human beings the plantations would grow and bear fruit better".
- Festivals of the construction of fences:
Equally festive was the transport of the stones and the large posts necessary to build the fences, where there was also chicha, songs, ornaments and body paint, as Piedrahita relates: «joining the voice at the same time, feet and hands to the beat of the voice of one who guides them, in the way that sailors sing on ships, and this exercise is so enjoyable for them that they consider it a party, and by then they put on plumes of feathers and crescents; they paint themselves and dress up, and they carry a lot of the chicha they drink."
- Festivals of the opening of fences:
Pedro Simón relates that: «After finishing the fence, the cacique invited the whole town for a great drunkenness that lasted many days, in which there were many games, dances and entertainment». While the festival lasted, and continuing with the mixture of sadness and joy, the celebration of life and death among the Muiscas, two older men remained at the entrance, naked, covered by a net, fasting and playing melancholic music that reminded the joyous revelers of the inevitable reality of death: «there were at the gate of the enclosure, from morning until night, without eating or drinking, two Indians, already of an older age, naked all over, standing, covered with a large net for catching birds, playing flutes and making melancholic and sad music to signify with that more vividly what they represented by being there with that posture, which was death. Because they said that the net was their instrument, since they killed the birds with it; being naked represented how it leaves men when it attacks them, since they are left naked of all their things of this life; and not eating or drinking all day alluded to the same thing, since they also deprive them of that. They remembered what was good in all the games, parties and entertainments, and that is why they were at the door of the party so that before it, they would represent to all those who were in them, that they had to die ». Laughter and crying were always together, alternating in the ceremonies: «And even among the rejoicings inside there were Indians with instruments that played such sad music, that they made everyone cry, from time to time, in the midst of the rejoicings and dances. All the Indians used these festivals whenever they opened new houses». An integral part of these festivities were the races along the avenues that came out of the enclosure: «To further solemnize these festivities for the dedication of their houses, the caciques ordered some well-disposed young men to run a certain distance (...) sometimes more than four leagues (...) The bravest, leaving ahead of the others, returned more quickly to the house from which they had left, where the cacique rewarded their courage as they arrived.
El Dorado Ceremony
The Muisca ceremony of El Dorado, or Eldorado, took place in the Sacred Lagoon of Guatavita. In this ceremony, the Psihipqua (heir to the throne) took possession of the Zipazgo throne, with which he acquired the dignity of Zipa. The description made in 1636 by the chronicler Juan Rodríguez Freyle in his book Conquest and Discovery of the New Kingdom of Granada, better known as The Ram, gathers the testimony of some Muiscas who They had lived before the arrival of the Spanish.
After the previous process that the Psihipqua, heir to the throne of the Zipazgo, had to go through, he had to go to the Sacred Lagoon of Guatavita to offer offerings to the gods. On the shore of the lagoon a raft of reeds was prepared, dressed and adorned in a showy way. On the raft there were four lit braziers in which a lot of moque was burned, which was the incense of the Muiscas, and turpentine, with many other and diverse perfumes. Around the lagoon, all the nobility, the main rulers and many vassals, as well as the güechas (warriors) and the chyquy (priests), each one adorned with their best finery and with many lit torches all around, remained as spectators. When the Psihipqua arrived, they stripped him completely, smeared turpentine oil all over his body and sprinkled him with powdered gold, in such a way that his body was completely golden. Then he got on the raft, in which he was standing, and at his feet they placed a large pile of gold tunjos (figurines representing the gods) and emeralds, as offerings to the gods. The four main Uzaques (pure-blooded nobles) entered the raft, also naked, and each one carried his offering. Once the raft left, many men who were on the shore began to play musical instruments: bugles, fotutos, among others, and all those present cheered the Psihipqua until the raft reached the center of the lagoon. At that moment, a flag was raised, which made the signal for silence. Then the Psihipqua made his offering to the gods, throwing all the gold and emeralds into the lagoon, and the Uzaques who went with him did the same with his offerings. Later, the Psihipqua was submerged in the water so that the gold dust would also come off as an offering to the gods. When they finished, the flag, which had remained raised during the offering, was lowered, and leaving the raft again towards the shore, a shouting with music and dances would be raised around the lagoon, with which the new Zipa was invested.
Spanish conquest
Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada set out from Santa Marta on April 6, 1536, at the head of five hundred infantry, among them Gonzalo Suárez Rendón, founder of the city of Tunja, and with eighty horses, in order to explore the mountains from the banks of the Magdalena River. The first settlement they arrived at was Tora de las Barrancas Bermejas, present-day Barrancabermeja, where they heard about a civilization that caught their attention due to the discovery of vessels with salt and cotton blankets. After a year the conquistadors arrived in lands inhabited by the Muisca people. Only one hundred and sixty-six men and a few horses had crested the summit of the Colombian Andes; the rest of the expedition had perished from disease.
In February 1537 the Spaniards left the vicinity of Vélez, and marched south, passing through the Muisca towns of Ubazá, Turca or Pueblohondo, Sorocotá, Moniquirá, Susa, Tinjacá and Guachetá, where they arrived on March 12, 1537. Then they passed through Lenguazaque, Cucunubá, Suesuca, Nemocón and Busongote, where the first armed encounter between the peninsular troops and the warriors of the Tisquesusa zipa would take place. As a result of it, there were some deaths and panic due to the absolute ignorance of the Muiscas about the nature of firearms and horses, it is also known about the first exchanges of gold and glass beads recorded in the chronicles and confirmed by archeology. On April 5 they arrived in Chía, and camped in the hills of Suba, from where they saw numerous huts and columns of smoke. That savannah that they saw from Suba was called by Quesada the Valley of the Alcázares.
Two commissions were sent to find a place to settle the troops. While the first headed towards the west of Bacatá, initially called "Facatá", royal headquarters of the zipazgo; The second headed east, commanded by Pedro Fernández de Valenzuela, who found a hamlet called Teusaquillo, through which passed a ravine that would later be called San Bruno, a tributary of the Vicachá River, called San Francisco by the Spanish.
Good land, good land! Land that puts an end to our grief! Land of gold, land of destruction, Land to make perpetual house, Land with plenty of food, Land of great peoples, earth torn, Land where people are dressed, And to his times, he doesn't know the braziness. Land of blessing, clear and serene, Land that puts an end to our grief! —John of Castellanos Description of the arrival of the Spaniards in the savannah of Bogotá, in Elegías de Varones Ilustres de Indias. |
There are three moments in the foundation of Santafé de Bogotá. The first happened when the first Spanish settlement was created in the Bacatá region, in the current Carrera Segunda with Calle Trece, not far from Chorro de Quevedo, which was later called Pueblo Viejo, then known as Teusaquillo. The historian fray Pedro Pablo Villamor, wrote in 1723, referring to the origin of Santafé: «Its first foundation was with the name of a town and made in the fortresses where the delightful recreation place of the Kings of Bogotá was founded, called Thybzaquillo.»
For his part, on August 6, 1538, Jiménez de Quesada held a ceremony where he chose the name and place where the city would develop, a process that took place in the Plaza de las Yerbas, now Santander Park. The first mass, according to the version of Juan de Castellanos, was officiated that same day by Fray Domingo de las Casas.
In March 1539, Quesada received news of Spanish troops coming from Venezuela commanded by Nicolás de Federmán and from the south by Sebastián de Belalcázar, who camped in the Alcázares valley. The reception by Quesada was the organization of a celebration for the newcomers. This meeting between conquerors was crucial for the official founding ceremonies to take place. Thus, the "legal foundation" on April 27, 1539 together with Nicolás Federmann and Sebastián de Belalcázar in the current Plaza de Bolívar and the places for the main church, the government house, the jail, as well as the lots for the first residents were designated. This situation implied a strong bipolarity during the first years of the city, which developed around the axis defined by these two extremes. The first expedition members who arrived at the Bogotá savannah were not accompanied by any Spanish woman. Quesada brought the horses, Federmann the chickens and Belalcázar the pigs.
On the other hand, fray Pedro Simón, in the Segunda Noticia Historial, chapter 36, after referring to how the twelve bohíos or cabins were built, says:
"The Spaniards did not forget to point out the sun and place the most principal among the Bohíos to build a church, and it was in the same part as it is now, because they had not moved the city of how it was founded with the twelve Bohíos, but that there has been having its extension and growth until it is now, nor has that church moved to another part of the village of how it was built at the beginning, in the best. »
Although the founding plan has been lost, it is known that the division of the properties was done by assigning plots of different sizes: those with 800 steps in front and 1,600 in the background were called caballerías mayor, those with 600 steps in front and 1,200 in the background were known as minor cavalries, and the smaller units as peonies.
After the last Muisca rulers (Zaquesazipa and Aquiminzaque) died, the caciques and the people rose up late against the new rulers until 1542, when the conquistador Gonzalo Suárez Rendón finally quelled the last resistance movements. Initially the confederation was distributed by Bel-alcázar, Federmann and Quesada until the crown designated the latter as "advanced of the councils of Santa Fe (sic) and Tunja".
New Kingdom of Granada
1772.JPG)
17th century
With the structure of the Muisca Confederation disappeared, the territory was divided by the Spanish into the Provinces of Tunja, Santafé and Vélez, thus becoming part of the Spanish colonies in America. The territory of the Muisca confederation, located in one of the most fertile regions of the Colombian Andes, the Altiplano Cundiboyacense and which had given rise to one of the most advanced civilizations in present-day Colombia, was chosen by the Spanish as the administrative head of a much larger region which they called Nuevo Kingdom of Grenada. This fact caused the upper class, the nobility and the Muisca priestly caste to be eliminated and only the captaincies remained. It also made it possible for the most intellectual Spaniards to take an interest in civilization and record a lot of information. Instead, the best lands went to the conquistadores and indigenous reservations were established to house the surviving Muisca population, which at the same time was subjected to encomiendas, that is, the obligation to work on the appropriate haciendas for Spanish bosses. The colonial era would contribute to give increasing importance to Santafé, the old Bacatá, which would play a fundamental role in the struggles for independence and republican consolidation. The war of independence that implied the unity of political purpose of what would be three nations (Colombia with Panama, Venezuela and Ecuador), was led by the criollos, that is, the descendants of the conquerors. In such a case, the participation of Afro-Americans, Indo-Americans and mestizos was more like a soldiery, no less important because they were the ones who put their chests on the best-prepared powerful royalist armies.
18th century
At the end of the XVIII century, a process of vindication of the indigenous past began that would continue into the XIX. This process began to emerge from the publication, in 1793, of a series of articles in the capital newspaper Papel Periódico de Santafé, directed by Manuel del Socorro Rodríguez, who is considered the father of journalism. Colombian. In Number 86 of the newspaper, corresponding to April 19, 1793, a scientific description of the Tequendama Falls, a sacred place for the Muiscas, was published. In subsequent Issues, various studies on the quina and literary praise of the Tequendama Falls continued. These articles led to some historical reports in Numbers 91, 92 and 93, corresponding to May of the same year, in which Sugamuxi was praised, who was the last Muisca High Priest of Suamox (Sogamoso), of whom the high his moral values.
Months later, in Number 121 of the Papel Periódico de Santafé, corresponding to December 20, 1793, another article in praise of the Muisca past was published, specifically dedicated to the Zipa Nemequene, whose legal code (the Nemequene Code) is compared to that of the great civilizations of Antiquity. Said analysis continues in Numbers 122 and 123 of the newspaper.
In 1795, Father José Domingo Duquesne, priest of the church of Gachancipá, wrote an essay entitled Dissertation on the calendar of the muyscas, addressed to José Celestino Mutis, in which he informed him about the discovery that he had made of an ancient carved stone in which he had managed to decipher, thanks to the help of some indigenous elders, the symbols of the Muisca calendar. To complete his research, Father Duquesne learned muysccubun by studying the ancient grammars of the century XVII and practicing his vocabulary with the few elders who still spoke the language, which led him to write his own Chibcha Grammar , a book that has been lost to this day. Subsequently, José Celestino Mutis communicated to Baron Alexander von Humboldt the results of Father Duquesne's investigation, material that Humboldt used for his own research on the Muiscas. Father Duquesne's work is considered to be of vital importance for the history of Colombia, since it constituted the first attempt at scientific analysis of the historical and archaeological past of the Muiscas. Father Duquesne knew five languages, was initially a royalist, although the Spanish despised him for being a Creole and locked him up in a dungeon during the process of Independence; Later he became an independentist, although he always preached in his sermons in favor of peace and tranquility. Due to his scientific work, he is considered the father of archeology and anthropology in Colombia.
19th century
During the XIX century, after the independence process that led to the constitution of the Republic of New Granada, the intellectual circles in the country began to think about the elements that would consolidate the national identity. One of those elements was the indigenous factor, which began to be considered as equivalent to the struggle that the Creoles waged against the Spanish crown. From that moment there was talk of recovering the indigenous past. However, this type of speech was exclusively rhetorical and intellectual, aimed above all at justifying the new republican State. Thus, although the indigenous past was glorified, paradoxically, the indigenous descendants were not included in the projects of the new Nation. In 1850, the writer Manuel Ancízar postulated that the Spanish conquest had not brought for the Muiscas more What humiliation and brutalization, since he compared the breadth of spirit of the ancient Muiscas, with the deplorable state of their descendants.
Theory of climate influence
In 1808 the publication of the New Granada Weekly began, a newspaper directed by Francisco José de Caldas. In an essay published in the Semanario, titled «Of the influence of the climate on organized beings», Caldas tried to demonstrate that the indigenous peoples who developed between 1,500 and 2,600 m a.s.l. no. m., that is, in cold climates, they reached the threshold of civilization, while the peoples of warm climates, developed below that altitude, were condemned to barbarism and backwardness. Other intellectuals of the time, such as Francisco Antonio Zea and Jorge Tadeo Lozano, presented similar arguments.
Theory about the influence of Tibet
In 1810, the German scientist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt published a book entitled Sites of the mountain ranges and monuments of the indigenous peoples of America, in which he synthesized the results of his research after touring much of Latin America.
Humboldt affirmed that the origin of the white visitors who arrived in America before Columbus, had to be sought more in Eastern Asia than in Northern Europe, despite the fact that he recognized the presence of Viking settlements in America. In addition, for Humboldt, Bochica was the Buddha of the Muiscas, and the teachings he left among this indigenous people had striking similarities with the culture of Tibet. This theory has had some followers, for whom the similarities are as follows:
- Just as Tibetans believe that dalái lama is the reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara on the earth, the muiscas believed that the Iraca (chyquy of Sogamoso) was the living incarnation of Bochica, of whom they inherited their holiness, virtues and powers.
- Just as Lhasa became a sacred city and pilgrimage centre, Sogamoso was also considered a holy land to which the muscas went massively on pilgrimage, and even in the midst of a war it was allowed for anyone to travel along the roads without any impediment whenever he went to Sogamoso.
- Just as the monks of Tibet must enter the monasteries from children, chyquy Muiscas (sacerdotes) had to enter some ceremonial houses separated calls Cucawhere they were under the care of an old man chyquy. Learning, like Tibetan monks, lasted many years, included various levels and specialties, and was marked by strong austerity, abstinence, fasting and celibacy practices.
- Just as in Tibet the first religious authority was the dalái lama and the second the panche lama, in the Muisca Confederation the first authority was the Iraca (chyquy of Sogamoso), and the second, the Tundama (chyquy de Duitama). Even the Zipa and the Zacchae had to obey the Iraca.
- One of the most related aspects of these two cultures is the fact that there were lamas that to meditate were removed nine years into a grotto, as well as the heir to the throne of the Zip should remain six years inside a cave, subject to a rigorous austerity regime.
First historical synthesis
In 1848, the Historical Compendium of the Discovery and Colonization of New Granada in the Sixteenth Century, written by Joaquín Acosta, was published in Paris. This work is the first attempt to synthesize the history of the Muiscas, since the author relied on the compilation and comparison of the different chronicles of the conquest. In this text, the author wanted to fill the gap that existed in the national history about this indigenous people, and sought to place the Muiscas at the level of the civilized peoples of America. Above all, he analyzed the political characteristics of the civil government of the Muiscas, the system of territorial control and its penal code (Code of Nemequene), in addition to studying in depth the pantheon of the Muisca gods. Acosta's work was of fundamental importance for decades, due to the effectiveness of the comparative method he employed. Much of the later work on the history of the Muisca was based on Acosta's work.
20th century
The new state led to the dissolution of indigenous reservations. The Cota reservation was reconstituted with a plot of land purchased by the community in 1916, recognized between 1991 and 1998, when recognition was withdrawn from the community, which recovered it in 2006. The Tenjo reservation, after 1934, was reduced to 54 hectares. In 1940, the Tocancipá council was distributed. The Sesquilé council was cut down by the municipal council, until only 10 percent of its original size remained.
In 1948 the national government prohibited the sale, production and consumption of chicha, the sacred drink of the Muiscas, unless it was pasteurized and bottled in hermetically sealed glass containers. This was a severe cultural blow for the indigenous peoples and for the consumption of the traditional and sacred drink of the Muiscas, which decreased the income of many families of indigenous origin and added to the loss of the lands of the reservations. The ban was in effect until 1991. The Festival of chicha, corn, life and happiness is currently held in the Bogota neighborhood of "La Perseverancia" (main chicha production center in the city) as a vindication of the prohibition that governed for so many years.
In 1968 the Colombian State withdrew the legal recognition of the indigenous reservation of Sesquilé, but in 1999 the community achieved the foundation of the "Cabildo Muisca de Sesquilé" with the aim of recovering ancestral memory.
The Bachué Movement
The "Bachué Movement," also known as "Los Bachués", "Grupo Bachué" or "Los Hijos de Bachué", was a nationalist cultural organization made up of intellectuals and artists between 1922 and 1940. This group opposed the currents of those who tried to establish an idea of a nation founded exclusively on the legacy of Spain. "Los Bachués", on the contrary, defended that the expression of nationality should be based fundamentally on the indigenous past. They questioned land ownership in the countryside by capitalist landowners and argued that ownership should be based on work, and not on economic speculation. They promulgated that true education lay in contact with nature, which is why they organized excursions to forests, mountains, lagoons and sacred places for the Muiscas. Some of its members were the plastic artists Luis Alberto Acuña Tapias and Rómulo Rozo, the photographer Luis Benito Ramos, and the writer Armando Solano, who was the greatest defender of a Colombian nationalism based on the exaltation of the indigenous past and of peasants as maximum representatives of the country. Some Colombian scientists were sympathetic to the "Bachué Movement"; among them, Juan Friede, Guillermo Hernández Rodríguez, Antonio García and Gregorio Hernández de Alba. They also influenced the creation of the National Ethnological Institute, in 1941.
In reaction to the ideals of the "Bachué Movement" the "Grupo Albatroz" arose, with totally opposite ideas, which advocated anti-nationalism, the defense of extreme capitalism and the undervaluation of the indigenous. In 1948, when the national government prohibited the sale, production and consumption of chicha (sacred drink of the Muiscas), the former members of the "Bachué Movement" they raised their voices in protest. The artist Rómulo Rozo made an engraving entitled "The discovery of chicha", in which he exalted the tradition of ritual and recreational drinking by indigenous people, peasants and workers, against the capitalist arguments that excused that drinks had to be introduced "most modern".
Other issues in which the "Bachué Movement" They were peasant music, popular beliefs, the Muisca racial phenotype, photography of the peasant descendants of the Muiscas, and Muisca mythology. Through the photographs, they wanted to capture "the soul of the town"; They defined their artistic proposal as the effort to maintain the link with the land. They produced many paintings, sculptures, photographs and murals, of which the most famous are those found in the Hotel Tequendama, made by Luis Alberto Acuña. They also produced some documents such as the Bachué Monograph (1930), the programmatic notebook entitled Cuaderno Bachué (1930-1931) and a collective publication entitled Los últimos caciques (1934), which was his last written production, since he did not they had institutional support, although they remained active until 1940.
Chigys Mie
In 1930, the German explorer and countess Gertrud von Podewils Dürniz published in the city of Stuttgart, Germany, a book on Muisca mythology entitled Chigys Mie, which in muysccubun means "things past". In 1922, the countess had been to Tutankhamun's tomb, which had just been discovered in Egypt. In 1928 he arrived in Colombia and immediately contacted members of the nationalist organization known as "Los Bachués", and with Gerardo Arrubla, director of the National Museum of Colombia and member of the Colombian Academy of History., who would preface the book product of the countess's investigation. In addition, she was soon named Corresponding Member of the Colombian Academy of History.
The countess was also advised by the famous historian and expert in the Muisca culture, Miguel Triana. For the cover of Chigys Mie a photograph of a tunjo found in Boza was used. Muisca pictograms and petroglyphs were also incorporated with which Triana had illustrated, in 1922, his book Civilización Chibcha. In addition, the Bogotá artist María Antonia Cuervo de Yepes was commissioned to produce drawings that would complement the book's illustrations. In a way, Chigys Mie, by Countess Gertrud, is a continuation of Civilización Chibcha, by Miguel Triana.
The book addresses the Muisca myths of creation, the gods, the priests and the festivals, the myths of snakes and the legend of El Dorado, among others. A differentiation is also made between the myths of the warm lands (Caribbeans) and those of the cold lands (Muiscas). Among the multiple stories that the book tells, it is worth noting that of the maiden with long dark hair from the Zipa court who married a young goldsmith from Guatavita. The countess also made an effort to vindicate the high cultural degree of the Muiscas.
To write the book, the countess not only had the collaboration of "Los Bochicas", the Colombian Academy of History, Gerardo Arrubla and Miguel Triana, but also personally visited all the places mentioned in the legends. She was also interested in the study of pictograms and petroglyphs, topics in which she was advised by Professor Triana, who was an expert on the subject.
21st century
Since 1989 there has been a process of rebuilding the indigenous councils by the surviving Muisca communities. Currently, the Muisca communities of Suba, Bosa, Cota, Chía and Sesquilé have a Cabildo in operation. The different councils met from September 20 to 22, 2002 in Bosa at the "I General Congress of the Muisca People" and they constituted the Cabildo Mayor of the Muisca People, which affiliated with the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia, ONIC. The linguistic and cultural recovery and the defense of the currently occupied territory were proposed, against the territorial ordering that wants to be imposed for urban and tourism plans. It also supports the Muisca communities of Ubaté, Tocancipá, Soacha, Ráquira and Tenjo, so that they can defend their identity and recover their organization and specific rights.
The Muiscas of Suba successfully opposed the drying up of the Tibabuyes Wetland and managed to recover the Juan Amarillo Wetland. They have also defended the natural reserve of La Conejera hill, which the act of dissolution of the reservation considers communal land and therefore inalienable. The magazine Suati ('song of the sun') publishes poetry and other literary and research works by Muisca authors. The Bosa community has managed to successfully develop a project for the recovery and practice of traditional medicine, in conjunction with the Pablo VI Hospital and the Bogotá District Health Department. The Cota community is carrying out a food sovereignty program, has reintroduced the cultivation of quinoa and periodically holds barter events for its agricultural, livestock and handicraft products, and participates in the peasant markets organized in Bogotá by the "Committee of Peasant and Community Dialogue".
Towards the end of 2006, this is the report of the contemporary Muisca population:
- Three Muiscas lobbyists: Cota, Chía and Sesquilé with a population of 2,318 people.
- In the Capital District 5,186 people belonging to the Musca ethnic group are registered, mainly in the towns of Suba and Bosa, with their respective formally recognized lobbyists.
- The report did not take into account the mestizaje, i.e. the people who have musca ancestors.
From some political perspectives, the Muisca culture disappeared with the end of the political-organizational structure of the Hunza and Bacatá confederations during the 19th century XVI. It is even said that the Muisca language died out definitively towards the end of the XVIII century. But such a perception is a historical mistake and a cultural denial. On the contrary, the Muisca culture lives on, it is present in the Colombian national culture and in many peasant communities.
On August 27, 2010, the "Uba Rhua" (Spirit of the Seed), for the children of the Muisca de Bosa Cabildo, among other three kindergartens of the Inga, Pijao and Huitoto peoples. The uses, customs and thought of the indigenous peoples are present in the four gardens, through the teaching of agriculture, weaving, ceramics, goldsmithing, music, dance, traditional medicine and the Muisca language., among other knowledge and arts.
Incoder established by resolution 316 of November 12, 2013 the Muisca de Chía Reservation "Fonquetá and Puente Piedra".
In November 2015, the mayor of Chía, Guillermo Varela, announced that the main square of the municipality would be remodeled to protect the statue of Chie (the Muisca goddess of the Moon). However, the monument, inaugurated on October 12, 1935, and declared a cultural heritage of the Nation, suffered severe damage when it was manipulated by a crane, which mutilated various elements of the statue. The Muisca spiritual leader José Manuel Socha affirmed that the goddess would take revenge on the municipal mayor for these events.
The National Land Agency established the Muisca de Cota Reservation by agreement number 50 of 2018. This had been unknown in 1998 and although in 2006 the community was recognized, but not the reservation, which was only reestablished on April 18, 2018. In addition, by agreement number 247 of December 12, 2022, it established the Mhuysqa Chuta Fa Aba Reservation, from Sesquilé.
Intra-ethnic conflict
Between 2011 and 2012, a group of social researchers from the Santo Tomás University of Colombia was assigned to support the investigation process of the intra-ethnic conflict between two social groups calling themselves Muiscas: On the one hand, the & #34;Pueblo Nación Muisca Chibcha", and on the other, the "Cabildo Muisca de Suba". The two groups have experienced strong friction and confrontations due to the dispute over spaces for participation in public policies in the district of Bogotá. At the same time, both groups differ on substantial points on aspects such as the way of reconstructing Muisca history, uses and customs, forms of organization, among others.
At the time of the investigation, the leader of the "Pueblo Nación Muisca Chibcha" was the grandfather Suaga Gua, and the governor of the "Cabildo Muisca de Suba" It was Miriam Martinez. One of the reasons why the researchers found differences between the two groups in conflict, was the fact that the "Pueblo Nación Muisca Chibcha" argued to preserve ancestral practices such as the conservation of tobacco, hayo and poporos in their ritual practices, as well as the aspiration of monkfish in traditional medicine, while the "Cabildo Muisca de Suba" It allows, according to its opponents, practices that have nothing to do with "lo muisca", as it belonged to urban tribes among its youth. However, the members of the "Cabildo Muisca de Suba" They claimed to be recognized by the Colombian Ministry of the Interior and to have more than 5,000 members. Another of the aspects studied by the research group was the constant attacks that were made through social networks such as Facebook between the groups in conflict, so that what some published was immediately distorted by the others.
At the beginning of 2012, grandfather Suaga Gua was elected governor of the "Pueblo Nación Muisca Chibcha" to advance the process of legal recognition of his Cabildo, while in the & # 34; Cabildo Muisca de Suba & # 34; Claudia Yopasá was elected as the new governor, replacing Miriam Martínez, which implied the resumption of the dialogues that the researchers sought to promote.
According to the results of the investigation, the conflict began in approximately 2006. The "Pueblo Nación Muisca Chibcha de Bacatá", led by Suaga Gua and Xieguazinsa, had emerged in the 1990s. seventies in order to promote the union of the ancestral people. However, the leaders of the "Cabildo Muisca de Suba" affirmed that the members of the "Pueblo Nación Muisca Chibcha" They were not Muiscas, and therefore they were not suitable to be part of the ancestral recomposition process.
On the other hand, Hessen Yopasá, a member of the "Cabildo Muisca de Suba" and member of a metal musical group, affirmed that the people of the "Pueblo Nación Muisca Chibcha" They are nothing more than mestizos who use the Muisca facade to profit financially. This attitude was confirmed by the researchers, who attested to the low acceptance that exists in the "Cabildo Muisca de Suba" towards the mestizos. On the other hand, in an interview conducted by the researchers with Suaga Gua, on September 11, 2012, the leader stated that it is unacceptable for a Muisca to be a Christian, Catholic, Muslim or of any other religion, since a true Muisca cannot and should not assume syncretic beliefs, and he also harshly criticized the fact that the "Cabildo Muisca de Suba" use the legal figure of the & # 34; cabildo & # 34;, since he considers the cabildo to be a Spanish institution that has nothing to do with what is truly Muisca.
Another point of conflict is the fact that in the "Pueblo Nación Muisca Chibcha" the word chyquy is used to designate their spiritual authorities, which the members of the "Cabildo Muisca de Suba" have been criticized as bold and disrespectful. In addition, Miriam Martínez described the "Pueblo Nación Muisca Chibcha" as an indigenist organization that has nothing to do with ancestral peoples. For the "Pueblo Nación Muisca Chibcha", anyone who self-recognises as a Muisca can become one, after prior spiritual work, and regardless of whether he is white or mestizo, a position with which the "Cabildo Muisca de Suba" disagrees, for whom the Muisca is born, not made, and they affirm that their opponents are simply mestizos who they want to be muiscas for fashion.
Finally, Miriam Martínez, of the "Cabildo Muisca de Suba", said she had information (although not proof) that Suaga Gua, leader of the "Pueblo Nación Muisca Chibcha", had been involved in the rape of a minor in the municipality of Soacha.
Coats of arms with Muisca symbols
Some of the coats of arms of various municipalities in the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá have symbols alluding to the Muiscas, such as the following:
Chía (Cundinamarca)
Funza (Cundinamarca)
Facatativá (Cundinamarca)
Guatavita (Cundinamarca)
Sesquilé (Cundinamarca)
Soacha (Cundinamarca)
Sopó (Cundinamarca)
Duitama (Boyacá)
Muisca studies
Studies about the Muisca culture are abundant and have a long tradition. The first historical sources about the existence of this town are in the so-called Chroniclers of the Indies whose work lasted the three centuries of the existence of the Colonia Nuevo Reino de Granada. After the deeds of independence (1810), a phenomenon was presented that was useful for studies on the Muiscas: the Creoles established what was the colonial capital, Santafé, as their capital, and what was in turn the capital of the zipazgo, bacatá There was therefore an interest in documenting the idea that the territory of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense had actually been the cradle of an advanced civilization whose process of splendor was abruptly stopped by the conquest.
This social phenomenon of the search for identity that benefited the Muiscas, meant that the rest of the cultures that inhabited the territory of what is now Colombia were seen as savages. Another problem was the initial belief that the Muiscas had inhabited uninhabited territory, because all the archaeological finds in the area they inhabited were attributed to the Muiscas. President Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera invited in 1849 the Italian cartographer Agustín Codazzi, who directed the Chorographic Commission with Manuel Ancízar. They made descriptive studies of the national territory in which they had archaeological findings. The results of this expedition were published in 1889 in Alpha Pilgrimage. Argüello García points out that the objective of these expeditions, given the recent context of the constitution of the new nation, was to highlight the civilization of the pre-Columbian era and in this sense they focus on the Muysca Culture as a paragon. cultural. This perception had other representatives such as Ezequiel Uricoechea in his work Memoirs on Neogranadin Antiquities.
The answer would come from Vicente Restrepo who took an opposite path: if the first wanted to see in the Muiscas an element of superior civilization, Restrepo in his work The Chibchas before the Spanish conquest shows them instead as barbarians. But Miguel Triana in his work The Chibcha civilization opens the doors to a new interest and once again research is centered around the Muiscas. Triana even went so far as to suggest that the numerous rock art symbols were nothing more than writing, a theory that is quite contested. Another notable author at this time was the Colombian archaeologist Wenceslao Cabrera Ortiz, who proposed in-depth research projects for the interpretation of all existing material, especially that of rock art. Cabrera would reconsider the theory of the migratory origin of the Muiscas. His importance lies in his intention to record and make Colombian archeology a subject of study in schools and in each region. In 1969, Monumentos rupestres de Colombia and reports of the excavations of El Abra were published, which, according to Argüello, opened a true era of scientific research in Colombia.
Historical sources
The Muiscas never developed writing, affecting the conservation of their culture over time, so the primary sources of historical knowledge about the Muiscas are, first of all, the writings of the chroniclers of the Indies who dealt with the New Kingdom of Granada during the 16th and 17th centuries; second, the writings of researchers and compilers during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; third, the official archives from the conquest and the colony, such as baptismal records, marriage certificates, death certificates, wills, among others; and finally, the works produced by the descendants of the Muiscas or by researchers in direct contact during the 20th and 21st centuries. It should be noted that without the records made by Spanish chroniclers, who arrived during the conquest and a large part of the colonial period, we would not know the little about the history, customs, society and culture of the Muiscas, since it must be remembered that their existence goes back thousands of years. years in the past. Thus, the main historical sources for the study of the Muiscas are:
16th century
| Author | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Anonymous (attributed to Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada) and Alonso de Santa Cruz | Epitome of the Conquest of the New Kingdom of Granada | c. 1548 |
| Juan de San Martín y Antonio de Lebrija | Relationship on the Conquest of the New Kingdom of Granada | c. 1539 |
| Anonymous | Relationship of the conquest of Santa Marta and New Kingdom of Granada | c. 1545 |
| Francisco López de Gómara | General History of the Indias (Chapter LXXII) | 1552 |
| Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo | Second part of the General and Natural History of the Indias (Book XXVI, chapters XVIII to XXXI) | 1557 |
| Juan López de Velasco | Geography and Universal Description of the Indias | 1571 |
| Pedro de Aguado y Fray Antonio de Medrano | Recording | 1581 |
| Alonso de Medrano | Description of the New Kingdom of Granada | 1598 |
17th century
| Author | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Juan de Castellanos | History of the New Kingdom of Granada (Fourth part of the Elegías de hombres ilustres de Indias) | 1601 |
| Bernardo de Lugo | Grammar in the general language of the New King, called fly | 1619 |
| Peter Simon | History News of the Conquests of Tierra Firme in the West Indies | 1626 |
| Juan Rodríguez Freyle | Conquest and discovery of the New Kingdom of Granada of the West Indies (known as The ram) | 1636 |
| Juan Flórez de Ocáriz | Genealogy of the New Kingdom of Granada | 1674 |
| Pedro de Mercado | History of the Province of the New Kingdom and Quito of the Society of Jesus | 1683 |
| Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita | General History of the Conquests of the New Kingdom of Granada | 1688 |
18th century
| Author | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Alonso de Zamora | History of the Province of San Antonino del Nuevo Reyno de Granada | 1701 |
| José Domingo Duquesne | Dissertation on the calendar of the very few | 1795 |
19th century
| Author | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Alexander von Humboldt | Sites of the mountain ranges and monuments of the indigenous peoples of the Americas | 1810 |
| Joaquin Acosta | Historic Compendium of the Discovery and Colonization of New Granada in the Sixth Century | 1848 |
| José Antonio de Plaza | Compendium of the history of the New Granada | 1850 |
| Ezekiel Uricoechea | Memory of Neogranadian Antiquities | 1854 |
| José Manuel Groot | Ecclesiastical and Civil History of New Granada (Volume I) | 1869 |
| Ezekiel Uricoechea | Chibcha language grammar (Introduction) | 1871 |
| Liborio Zerda | Indigenous antiquities | 1873 |
| Augusto Le Moyne | Travel and stay in South America (Chapter VII) | 1880 |
| Liborio Zerda | The Dorado | 1882 |
| Eugenio Ortega | General history of chibchas | 1891 |
| Pedro María Ibáñez | Chronicles of Bogotá (Volume I, Chapter II) | 1891 |
| Vicente Restrepo | The chibchas before the Spanish conquest | 1895 |
Lost books about the Muiscas
The following are the books that were written about the Muiscas that are currently lost:
| Author | Title | Year / Century |
|---|---|---|
| Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada | Difference of the World War | CenturyXVI |
| Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada | The time of Suesca | c. 1560-1568 |
| Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada | Compendium history of the conquests of the New Kingdom of Granada | c. 1572-1575 |
| Luis Zapata de Cárdenas | Catechism of religion in the Muslim language | CenturyXVI |
| Alonso Garzón de Tahuste | Ancient history of chibchas | CenturyXVI |
| Juan García de Espinosa | Flowers of Indian events | CenturyXVII |
| Antonio de Medrano | Language art of Indian flies | CenturyXVIII |
| José Domingo Duquesne | Chibcha grammar | XVIII-XIX century |
| Luis Vargas Tejada | Here | CenturyXIX |
| Luis Vargas Tejada | Saquesagipa | CenturyXIX |
| Luis Vargas Tejada | Witikindo | CenturyXIX |
The Muiscas in fiction
Fictional books have been written about the Muisca in the 19th and 21st centuries. However, the first ones, which were a series of plays written by the playwright Luis Vargas Tejada, have disappeared and only the titles remain. It is known that they were French-style neoclassical dramas, according to the literary trends of the time.
| Author | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Luis Vargas Tejada | Sugamuxi. (Tragedy in five acts) | 1829 |
| Prospero Pereira Gamba | Akimen-Zaque, or the conquest of Tunja. (Epic Poem in Twelve Songs) | 1858 |
| Jesus Silvestre Rozo | The last king of the Muscas. (Historical Novel) | 1865 |
| Author | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Susana Henao | The children of the water | 2011 |
| Juan Camilo Rodríguez Martínez | The Preludes of the Muisca Superstition | 2014 |
| Ernesto Zarza González | Moxa: the son of the sun | 2015 |