Muisca Confederation
Settlement bold is founded Department Date Year
Engativá Cundinamarca 22 May 1537
Suba Cundinamarca May 1537
Chía Cundinamarca May 1537
Cajicá Cundinamarca May 1537
Tocancipá Cundinamarca May-June 1537
Gachancipá Cundinamarca May-June 1537
Guatavita Cundinamarca May-June 1537
Sesquilé Lake Guatavita El Dorado Cundinamarca May-June 1537
Chocontá Cundinamarca 9 June 1537
Machetá Cundinamarca June 1537
Tibiritá Cundinamarca June 1537
Guateque Boyacá June 1537
Sutatenza Boyacá June 1537
Tenza Boyacá 24 June 1537
La Capilla Boyacá June-July 1537
Chivor Boyacá July 1537
Úmbita Boyacá July 1537
Turmequé Boyacá 20 July 1537
Boyacá Boyacá 8 August 1537
Ciénega Boyacá August 1537
Spanish conquests -- Conquest and early colonial period
Quemuenchatocha ( † 1537 ) Aquiminzaque ( † 1539 ) Túpac Amaru ( † 1572 ) Aquiminzaque , as successor of Quemuenchatocha , defeated in his home in Hunza , on August 20 , 1537 , was the last souvereign ruler of the Muisca and was decapitated by the Spanish , as would happen to Túpac Amaru of the Inca , 34 years later The conquest of the Muisca was the heaviest of all four Spanish expeditions to the great American civilisations . [ 39 ] More than 80 percent of the soldiers and horses that started the journey of a year to the northern Muisca Confederation did n't make it . [ 40 ] [ 41 ] [ 42 ] Various settlements were founded by the Spanish between 1537 and 1539 . [ 43 ] [ 44 ] [ 45 ] [ 46 ] [ 47 ] [ 48 ] [ 49 ] [ 50 ] [ 51 ] [ 52 ] A delegation of more than 900 men left the tropical city of Santa Marta and went on a harsh expedition through the heartlands of Colombia in search of El Dorado and the civilisation that produced all this precious gold . The leader of the first and main expedition under Spanish flag was Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada , with his brother Hernán second in command . [ 42 ] Several other soldiers were participating in the journey , who would later become encomenderos and taking part in the conquest of other parts of Colombia . Other contemporaneous expeditions into the unknown interior of the Andes , all searching for the mythical land of gold , were starting from later Venezuela , led by Bavarian and other German conquistadors and from the south , starting in the previously founded Kingdom of Quito in later Ecuador . The first phase of the conquest was ended by the victory of the few conquistadors left over Tisquesusa , the last zipa of Bacatá , who fell and died `` bathing in his own blood '' after the battle at Funza , on the Bogotá savanna , April 20 , 1537 . The arrival of the Spanish conquerors was revealed to Tisquesusa by the mohan Popón , from the village of Ubaque . He told the Muisca ruler that foreigners were coming and Tisquesusa would die `` bathing in his own blood '' . [ 53 ] When Tisquesusa was informed of the advancing invasion of the Spanish soldiers , he sent a spy to Suesca to find out more about their army strength , weapons and with how many warriors they could be beaten . The zipa left the capital Bacatá and took shelter in Nemocón which directed the Spanish troops to there , during this march attacked by more than 600 Muisca warriors . [ 54 ] When Tisquesusa retreated in his fort in Cajicá he allegedly told his men he would not be able to combat against the strong Spanish army in possession of weapons that produced `` thunder and lightning '' . He chose to return to Bacatá and ordered the capital to be evacuated , resulting in an abandoned site when the Spanish arrived . In search for the Muisca ruler the conquistadores went north to find Tisquesusa in the surroundings of Facatativá where they attacked him at night . Tisquesusa was thrusted by the sword of one of De Quesada 's soldiers but without knowing he was the zipa he let him go , after taking the expensive mantle of the ruler . Tisquesusa fled hurt into the mountains and died of his wounds there . His body was only discovered a year later because of the black vultures circling over it . When Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada found out the caciques were conspiring against him , he sent out several expeditions of soldiers . His captain Juan de Céspedes went south to found Pasca on July 15 , 1537 . [ 55 ] Hernán was sent north and Gonzalo himself went northeast , to search for the mythical Land of Gold El Dorado . There he did n't find golden cities , but emeralds , the Muisca were extracting in Chivor and Somondoco . First foundation was Engativá , presently a locality of Bogotá , on May 22 , 1537 . [ 48 ] Passing through Suba , Chía , Cajicá , Tocancipá , Gachancipá , Guatavita and Sesquilé , he arrived in Chocontá , founding the modern town on June 9 . [ 49 ] The journey went eastward into the Tenza Valley through Machetá , Tibiritá , Guateque , Sutatenza and Tenza , founded on San Juan ; June 24 . [ 50 ] On the same day , Hernán founded Sutatausa . [ 51 ] Gonzalo continued northwest through La Capilla and Úmbita . He arrived in Turmequé that he founded on July 20 . [ 52 ] In August 1537 Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada entered the territories of the zaque , who ruled from Hunza . When the Spanish conquerors entered the outskirts of Hunza and found a hill with poles were bodies were dangling , they named it Cerro de la Horca ( `` Gallow Hill '' ) . [ 56 ] At the time of the conquest Quemuenchatocha was the zaque and he ordered his men to not submit to the European invaders or show them the way to his bohío . He sent messengers to the Spanish conquistadors with valuable peace offers . While this was happening , Quemuenchatocha had hidden his treasures from the Spanish . Hunza was located in a valley not as green as the Bogotá savanna . The advantage of the Spanish weaponry and the use of the horses quickly beat the Muisca warriors . [ 42 ] When Gonzalo arrived at the main bohío of Quemuenchatocha , he found the Muisca ruler sitting in his throne and surrounded by his closest companions . All men were dressed in expensive mantles and adorned with golden crowns . On August 20 , 1537 , the Spanish beat the zaque and the big and strong Muisca ruler was taken captive to Suesca . There he was tortured and the Spanish soldiers hoped he would reveal where he hid his precious properties . The absence of Quemuenchatocha paved the route for his nephew Aquiminzaque to succeed him as ruler of the northern Muisca , a practice common in Muisca traditions . When Quemuenchatocha was finally released from captivity in Suesca , he fled to Ramiriquí , where he died shortly after . The Spanish soldiers found gold , emeralds , silver , mantles and other valuables in Tunja . They were not able to take all the precious pieces and many were secretly taken away by the Muisca , using folded deer skins . They hid the valuables in nearby hills . [ 42 ] Feb 1537 First contact @ Chipatá Mar–Apr 1537 Expedition into Muisca Confederation 20 Apr 1537 Conquest of Funza upon zipa Tisquesusa May–Aug 1537 Expedition & conquest in Tenza Valley 20 Aug 1537 Conquest Hunza , zaque Quemuenchatocha Early Sep 1537 Conquest Sugamuxi , iraca Sugamuxi Oct 1537 – Feb 1538 Other foundations on Altiplano & valleys 6 Aug 1538 Foundation Santafé de Bogotá , by Gonzalo 20 Aug 1538 B. of Tocarema ; Spanish & zipa beat Panche 6 Aug 1539 Foundation Tunja , by Gonzalo Suárez 15 Dec 1539 Conquest Tundama , by Baltasar Maldonado Early 1540 Decapitation last zaque Aquiminzaque , Hernán I – Soldiers of the main expedition – Santa Marta-Funza and on – February – April 20 , 1537 II & III – Soldiers of the expeditions De Belalcázar & Federmann ( 1535–1539 ) I – 1 – Main expedition – inland and up from Chipatá to Funza – March – April 1537 I – 2 – Gonzalo – Tenza Valley – Conquest of Hunza & Sugamuxi – May – August 20 & September , 1537
The Muisca Confederation was a loose confederation of different Muisca rulers (zaques, zipas, iraca and tundama) in the central Andean highlands of present-day Colombia before the Spanish conquest of northern South America. The area, presently called Altiplano Cundiboyacense, comprised the current departments of Boyacá, Cundinamarca and minor parts of Santander with a total surface area of approximately . According to some Muisca scholars the Muisca Confederation was one of the best-organized confederations of tribes on the South American continent. Modern anthropologists, such as Jorge Gamboa Mendoza, attribute the present-day knowledge about the confederation and its organization more to a reflection by Spanish chroniclers who predominantly wrote about it a century or more after the Muisca were conquered and proposed the idea of a loose collection of different people with slightly different languages and backgrounds.