Total population | |
---|---|
250,000 [1] (1537) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Meta, Colombia | |
Languages | |
Arawakan, Colombian Spanish | |
Religion | |
Traditional religion, Catholicism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Guahibo, Muisca, Sutagao, Tegua, U'wa |
The Guayupe are an Arawak-speaking [2] indigenous group of people in modern-day Colombia. They inhabit the westernmost parts of the department of Meta. [3] At the time of the Spanish conquest, more than 250,000 Guayupe were living in large parts of Meta. [1] [4]
The territories of the Guayupe stretched from the neighbouring Guahibo terrains to the east and north and the Muisca territories to the west over an area of 22,000 square kilometres (8,500 sq mi). [5]
Knowledge of the Guayupe has been provided by Pedro de Aguado and others.
The territory of the Guayupe before the Spanish conquest stretched from the rivers Upía and Guayabero to the peaks of the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. [6] Their area covered around 22,000 square kilometres (8,500 sq mi). [5] The Guayupe lived mostly around the Ariari River. [5]
Name | Department | Altitude (m) urban centre | Map |
---|---|---|---|
Acacías | Meta | 498 | |
Barranca de Upía | Meta | 200 | |
El Calvario | Meta | 1987 | |
Cubarral | Meta | 534 | |
Cumaral | Meta | 452 | |
Fuente de Oro | Meta | 359 | |
Granada | Meta | 372 | |
Guamal | Meta | 525 | |
Restrepo | Meta | 570 | |
San Juan de Arama | Meta | 510 | |
San Juanito | Meta | 1795 | |
Villavicencio | Meta | 467 | |
The first report on the Guayupe nation is from German conquistador Philipp von Hutten, participant of the expedition led by Georg Hohermuth von Speyer from Coro in Venezuela to the borders of the Amazon bassin (1535 - 1538). He describes them as "very good looking people and very able in defending themselves." [7] Indeed, Hohermuths army never was able to make peace with the Guayupe, crossing their entire land from the northern shores of Upía river down to the regions south of the Guaviare river. On their way, the conquistadors were engaged in various skirmishes and even in a big battle with the Guayupe warriors. "They tried their luck on us frequently but although they killed and wounded many of us, we always gave them the rawer deal. This nation fights with bow and arrow and spears and shields made of tapir skin, and they throw gins." [7] The Germans were not the first Europeans to encounter the Guayupe. Near the Guaviare river they found some items of clearly European origin. As they knew later, it were belongings of an expedition led by Alonso de Herrera, who likely came up the Guaviare river with boats. In 1934, the Guayupe "had slaughtered 90 of Herrera's men and the survivors escaped downstream. In Coro, we met some of them." [7]
The Guayupe are a tribe of farmers living in the tropical mountain forests of the Eastern Ranges and the Llanos of Meta, Colombia. In pre-Columbian times they constructed pallisades around their villages consisting of houses around a central square with a ceremonial building in the middle. [8] Because of the sophisticated defence works including palisades, thorn bushes and well-camouflaged pitfalls, the Spanish soldiers in Hohermuth's army nicknamed one of those well fortified villages "Little Salses", [9] referring to the Catalan Fort de Salses, an innovative type of fortress at this time. The Guayupe were an agricultural society with yuca one of their main crops. [8] The Guayupe people went naked, only ornamented with gold, feathers and shells. [8]
The Guayupe society was organised around the caciques ; chiefs of the community. The cacique was regarded as an important person who lived by strict norms in the ceremonial activities; births, marriages and burials. When a cacique of the Guayupe died, the body was cremated and his successor had to drink his ash mixed with chicha. [8] [10] The society of the Guayupe was egalitarian; caciques only had the use of stools and more feathers on their blankets. At every marriage, half of the bride treasure was going to the cacique. [8]
They built canoes of wood and consumed yuca and casabe, fish and meat. They didn't eat bird meat. [8] [11]
According to scholar Pedro de Aguado, the Guayupe defecated in the rivers around and not near their houses. [12]
As in the Muisca religion, the main gods were the Sun and the Moon who were husband and wife. [8] [13] The supreme being of the Guayupe, in the Muisca religion called Chiminigagua, was Inaynagui. [13]
The products the Guayupe used in their rituals were coca and tobacco. [8] Cannibalism is not reported of the Guayupe. [8]
In 1996, fifteen ceramic pots were found, pertaining to the Guayupe culture. [14] In 2011, after the excavation of a Guayupe burial site, the museum of the Guayupe in Fuente de Oro was opened, containing bones, burial urns, artefacts and plates. [15] As of 2009 yearly a Reina de Guayupe, miss contest in Puerto Santander, located at 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from the urban centre of Fuente de Oro, [10] is held among the Guayupe. [16] [17]
Duitama is a city and municipality in the department of Boyacá. It's the capital of the Tundama Province. Duitama is located 195 kilometres (121 mi) northeast of Bogotá, the capital of Colombia and 50 kilometres (31 mi) northeast of Tunja, the capital of Boyacá. In 2023 Duitama had an estimated population of 131,591.
The Altiplano Cundiboyacense is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes covering parts of the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. The altiplano corresponds to the ancient territory of the Muisca. The Altiplano Cundiboyacense comprises three distinctive flat regions; the Bogotá savanna, the valleys of Ubaté and Chiquinquirá, and the valleys of Duitama and Sogamoso. The average altitude of the altiplano is about 2,600 metres (8,500 ft) above sea level but ranges from roughly 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft).
Klein-Venedig or Welserland was the most significant territory of the German colonization of the Americas, from 1528 to 1546, in which the Welser banking and patrician family of the Free Imperial Cities of Augsburg and Nuremberg obtained colonial rights in the Province of Venezuela in return for debts owed by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was also King of Spain. In 1528, Charles V issued a charter by which the House of Welser possessed the rights to explore, rule and colonize the area, also with the motivation of searching for the legendary golden city of El Dorado. The venture was led at first by Ambrosius Ehinger, who founded Maracaibo in 1529. After the deaths of Ehinger (1533) and then his successor Georg von Speyer (1540), Philipp von Hutten continued exploration in the interior, and in his absence from the capital of the province, the crown of Spain claimed the right to appoint the governor. On Hutten's return to the capital, Santa Ana de Coro, in 1546, the Spanish governor Juan de Carvajal had von Hutten and Bartholomeus VI. Welser executed. King Charles V revoked Welser's charter.
Boavita is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Northern Boyacá Province. The urban centre of Boavita is situated in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes at an altitude of 2,114 metres (6,936 ft) and a distance of 184 kilometres (114 mi) from the department capital Tunja. The municipality borders Capitanejo, Santander, and the Nevado River in the north, San Mateo and La Uvita in the east, Tipacoque and Soatá in the west and Susacón in the south.
Covarachía is a town and municipality in the Northern Boyacá Province, part of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The urban centre is located at 208 kilometres (129 mi) from the department capital Tunja at an altitude of 2,320 metres (7,610 ft) in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The municipality borders San José de Miranda and Capitanejo in the north, Tipacoque in the south, Capitanejo in the east and in the west the municipalities Onzaga and San Joaquín (Santander).
The Spanish conquest of New Granada refers to the conquest by the Spanish monarchy of the Chibcha language-speaking nations of modern-day Colombia and Panama, mainly the Muisca and Tairona that inhabited present-day Colombia, beginning the Spanish colonization of the Americas. It is estimated that around 5 to 8 million people died as a result of Spanish Conquest, either by disease or direct conflict, this is roughly around 80-90% of the Pre-Columbian population of Colombia.
Friar Pedro de Aguado was a Spanish Franciscan friar who spent around 15 years in the New Kingdom of Granada, preaching to the indigenous people. During this time he published a work written by Fray Antonio de Medrano on the history of the region and Medrano's manuscript, Recopilación historial, which was almost ready for publication, between 1576 and 1583 but was unable to publish. The manuscript was used by other historians, but was not published until the twentieth century.
The Muisca Confederation was a loose confederation of different Muisca rulers in the central Andean highlands of what is today 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.
The Moon Temple of Chía was a temple constructed by the Muisca as a place of worship for their Moon goddess Chía. The temple was built in Chía, Cundinamarca, Colombia, then part of the Muisca Confederation. It was one of the most important temples in the religion of the Muisca. The temple was destroyed during the Spanish conquest of the Muisca on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense. Little is known about the temple built on the Tíquiza Hill in western Chía bordering Tabio.
This article describes the role of women in the society of the Muisca. The Muisca are the original inhabitants of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca in the first half of the 16th century. Their society was one of the four great civilizations of the Americas.
The Muzo people are a Cariban-speaking indigenous group who inhabited the western slopes of the eastern Colombian Andes. They were a highly war-like tribe who frequently clashed with their neighbouring indigenous groups, especially the Muisca.
The Tegua or Tecua were an Arawak-speaking indigenous people of Colombia who died out in the 19th century.
The Muisca inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the Colombian Andes before the arrival of the Spanish and were an advanced civilisation. They mummified the higher social class members of their society, mainly the zipas, zaques, caciques, priests and their families. The mummies would be placed in caves or in dedicated houses ("mausoleums") and were not buried.
This article describes the economy of the Muisca. The Muisca were the original inhabitants of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, the high plateau in the Eastern Ranges of central present-day Colombia. Their rich economy and advanced merchant abilities were widely known by the indigenous groups of the area and described by the Spanish conquistadores whose primary objective was the acquisition of the mineral resources of Tierra Firme; gold, emeralds, carbon, silver and copper.
Marianne Vere Cardale de Schrimpff is a Colombian anthropologist, archaeologist, academic and writer.
The Tenza Valley is an intermontane valley in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The valley stretches over the southeastern part of the department of Boyacá and the northeastern part of Cundinamarca. It is located east of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense and in the time before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca, as the Altiplano was inhabited by the Muisca in the higher altitudes and the Tegua in the lower areas to the east.
The Spanish conquest of the Muisca took place from 1537 to 1540. The Muisca were the inhabitants of the central Andean highlands of Colombia before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. They were organised in a loose confederation of different rulers; the psihipqua of Muyquytá, with his headquarters in Funza, the hoa of Hunza, the iraca of the sacred City of the Sun Sugamuxi, the Tundama of Tundama, and several other independent caciques. The most important rulers at the time of the conquest were psihipqua Tisquesusa, hoa Eucaneme, iraca Sugamuxi and Tundama in the northernmost portion of their territories. The Muisca were organised in small communities of circular enclosures, with a central square where the bohío of the cacique was located. They were called "Salt People" because of their extraction of salt in various locations throughout their territories, mainly in Zipaquirá, Nemocón, and Tausa. For the main part self-sufficient in their well-organised economy, the Muisca traded with the European conquistadors valuable products as gold, tumbaga, and emeralds with their neighbouring indigenous groups. In the Tenza Valley, to the east of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense where the majority of the Muisca lived, they extracted emeralds in Chivor and Somondoco. The economy of the Muisca was rooted in their agriculture with main products maize, yuca, potatoes, and various other cultivations elaborated on elevated fields. Agriculture had started around 3000 BCE on the Altiplano, following the preceramic Herrera Period and a long epoch of hunter-gatherers since the late Pleistocene. The earliest archaeological evidence of inhabitation in Colombia, and one of the oldest in South America, has been found in El Abra, dating to around 12,500 years BP.
This article describes the art produced by the Muisca. The Muisca established one of the four grand civilisations of the pre-Columbian Americas on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in present-day central Colombia. Their various forms of art have been described in detail and include pottery, textiles, body art, hieroglyphs and rock art. While their architecture was modest compared to the Inca, Aztec and Maya civilisations, the Muisca are best known for their skilled goldworking. The Museo del Oro in the Colombian capital Bogotá houses the biggest collection of golden objects in the world, from various Colombian cultures including the Muisca.
The Battle of Tocarema was fought between an alliance of the troops of Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and zipa of the Muisca Sagipa of the southern Muisca Confederation and the indigenous Panche. The battle took place on the afternoon of August 19 and the morning of August 20, 1538 in the vereda Tocarema of Cachipay, Cundinamarca, Colombia and resulted in a victory for the Spanish and Muisca, when captains Juan de Céspedes and Juan de Sanct Martín commanded two flanks of the conquistadors.
Alonso de Herrera was a Spanish conquistador and temporary governor of the Province of Paria.
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