Muisca warfare

Last updated July 10, 2024

This article describes the warfare of the Muisca. The Muisca inhabited the Tenza and Ubaque valleys and the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, the high plateau of the Colombian Eastern Ranges of the Andes in the time before the Spanish conquest. Their society was mainly egalitarian with little difference between the elite class ( caciques ) and the general people. The Muisca economy was based on agriculture and trading raw materials like cotton, coca, feathers, sea snails and gold with their neighbours. Called "Salt People", they extracted salt from brines in Zipaquirá, Nemocón and Tausa to use for their cuisine and as trading material.

Being mostly traders and farmers, the Muisca also had a structure of combatants, called guecha warriors. Between the northern and southern parts of the Muisca Confederation, battles were fought where the zipa , ruling over the Bogotá savanna in the south and the zaque of Hunza in the north contested for control over terrains. The leaders of the communities fought with their warriors. The main enemy of the Muisca were the Panche people who inhabited the area to the west of the Altiplano in the hills leading to the Magdalena River. Fortifications of guecha warriors, a privileged class in their society, were built in the border region with the Panche. The guecha warriors were armed with blowpipes, spears, clubs, and slings; and defended themselves with long shields and thick multi-layered cotton mantles. Battles in the history of the Muisca are described around Chocontá (~1490) and Pasca around 1470. When the Spanish conquistadors entered the Muisca Confederation in March 1537 after a long, deadly and sterunous expedition from Santa Marta at the Caribbean coast, they found little resistance of the Muisca, except in later battles against the Tundama ruling over the northernmost area around Duitama. The Spanish who already had conquered the Muisca and founded Bogotá, used the guecha warriors to submit the Panche in the Battle of Tocarema on August 20, 1538.

Knowledge about the Muisca warfare has been provided by the conquistadors who made first contact with the Muisca; Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, his brother Hernán, Juan de San Martín and Antonio de Lebrija. Later scholars were Juan de Castellanos, Pedro Simón and Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita. Modern anthropological research has revised some of the accounts of the early chroniclers on the war-like status of the Muisca, who were even by the conquistadors considered more traders and negotiators than fighters.

Background

In the ages before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca, the high central plains of the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes was inhabited by the Muisca. They established a rather egalitarian society of small settlements dotted across the valleys and flatlands in the mountains, based mainly on agriculture, trade and the extraction of salt, which gave them the name "The Salt People". The Altiplano Cundiboyacense and neighbouring Ubaque and Tenza Valleys to the east the inhabited was very much isolated from the coast of later Colombia, but via trade routes and many markets held frequently, they were connected with their neighbouring indigenous groups; to the west and northwest the Panche, Muzo and Yarigui people, to the north the Guane, Lache and U'wa, in the eastern part towards the vast flatlands of the Llanos Orientales the Achagua, Guayupe and Tegua people and to the south in the mountains of Sumapaz the Sutagao.

The Muisca spoke Chibcha, or in their own language called Muysccubun; "language of the people", and traded with their neighbours raw products to establish a self-sufficient economy where surpluses were traded for cotton, gold, emeralds, feathers, bee wax (for the fine goldworking of their tunjo offer pieces) and tropical fruits not growing on the high plains. The people were very religious and honoured their two main deities Sué, the Sun, and Chía, his wife; the Moon in their Sun and Moon temples in Sugamuxi and Chía respectively. Each small settlement of maximum 100 bohíos was headed by a cacique and the major towns of Bacatá and Hunza were ruled by the zipa and zaque . The Sacred City of the Sun Sugamuxi was ruled by a priest, called iraca and the northernmost area headed by the Tundama based in the hills around the former lake of Duitama.

The initiation ritual of the new zipa took place in their sacred Lake Guatavita where he would cover himself in gold dust and jump from a raft in the waters of the circular lake at 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) altitude, a ritual represented in the famous Muisca raft. It was this "Man of Gold" that formed the basis for the myth of El Dorado , known far outside of the Muisca Confederation, as their loose collection of rulers was called. This legend formed the main goal for the Spanish conquest that took the conquistadors more than a year into the Andes, from Santa Marta, where they left in early April 1536.^[1]

Description

Although early descriptions by Spanish chroniclers narrate about warfare, later revision of earlier beliefs has revealed that the Muisca were more a community of traders than warriors.^[2] Still, all researchers agree that the Muisca people had special classes in their society reserved for their warriors and that battles were fought mainly defending their terrain against the Panche in the west and southwest and between each other; the battles between the zipa and zaque.^[3] The Chibcha word for "war" or "enemy" is saba.^[4]

Guecha warriors

Poisoned darts were shot using blowpipes Zarabatana.pdf — Poisoned darts were shot using **blowpipes**

For the etymology of the word güecha various hypotheses have been presented. According to Pedro Simón, guecha meant "brave",^[5] while Ezequiel Uricoechea signals its derivation from zuecha, meaning "uncle"; "brother of the mother".^[5] The lineage of heritage in the Muisca society was maternal. Uricoechea described the term as a combination of gue- ("village") and cha, which means "man" or "male"; "man of the village".^[5] The name guecha has been changed in modern Colombian Spanish as guache, meaning "uncivilised", "brute".^[6]

The guecha warriors enjoyed special privileges and were considered a higher class of the society.^[3] They ranked below the priests, but above the general people.^[7] Both Pedro Simón and Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita describe the guecha warriors as strong and brave men, recruited from the people in the various villages of the Muisca Confederation.^[8]^[9] They went through years of training in combat before being assigned as guecha warrior. Their appearance was different from the other people, of which the men had long hair. To be more efficient and safer in battle, the guecha warriors cut their hair short.^[8] While jewellery was not common among the general people, and after installation of the Code of Nemequene even prohibited, the guecha warriors wore jewels such as golden or tumbaga nose pieces, pectorals, earrings and crowns with coloured feathers. The amount of earrings would indicate the number of enemies beaten. Their bodies were painted using inks from the Genipa americana tree.^[10]

Weapons and defense

For their battles, and for hunting, the warriors used clubs, poisoned darts with blowpipes, spears and slings, similar to the atlatl of Mesoamerica.^[11] The bows and arrows were not produced by the Muisca themselves, but taken from conquered Panche slaves.^[10] To defend themselves from the poisoned arrows the Panche used, the guecha warriors covered themselves with multiple layers of cotton mantles.^[12] To protect themselves, they use long shields.^[11]

Fortifications

At the borders of the Muisca territories, the leaders organised fortifications of guecha warriors to defend their terrain. Although on the presence of a stone fortress in Cajicá there is serious doubt if it existed in pre-conquest times,^[13] fortifications around the Confederation have been described.^[14]

Settlement	Department	Neighbour(s)	Altitude (m) urban centre
San Francisco	Cundinamarca	Panche	1520
Anolaima	Cundinamarca	Panche	1657
San Antonio del Tequendama	Cundinamarca	Panche	1540
Tena	Cundinamarca	Panche	1384
Tibacuy	Cundinamarca	Panche, Sutagao	1647
Silvania	Cundinamarca	Sutagao	1470
Fosca	Cundinamarca	Guayupe	2080
Chocontá	Cundinamarca	between zipa and zaque	2655
Turmequé	Boyacá	between zipa and zaque	2389

Battles

Chocontá
~1490

Pasca
~1470

Tocarema
1538

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Battle locations around the Bogotá savanna

While some later scholars have described the Muisca as battling people, the conquistadors who made first contact with them tell a different story. Conquistadors Juan de San Martín, Antonio de Lebrija and leader and writer Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada have said they were:^[15]

...gente que quiere paz y no guerra, porque aunque son muchos, son de pocas armas y no ofensivas

...people who want peace and not war, because although they are many, their arms are few and not offensive

The battles that were fought, were mostly against the Panche to the west, who have been described by the first conquistadors as belligerent and cannibalistic. Pedro Simón interpreted their name, the word panche as meaning "cruel" and "murderer".^[16] Between the two main parts of the Muisca Confederation; the zipa and the zaque two main battles have been described, the first happening around 1470 in Pasca. During battles, the warriors wore the mummies of ancestors on their backs to impress their enemies. Battles were fought according to the Muisca calendar, a complex luni-solar calendar the people used to indicate different types of years and months.^[17]

Muisca Confederation

Two main battles, one between the northern and southern Muisca and one with the southern neighbours, the Sutagao, have been described by the chroniclers, mainly De Piedrahita.^[18] The first battle was around the year 1470 in Pasca between the zipa of Bacatá Saguamanchica, leading an army of around 30,000 guecha warriors, and the cacique of the Sutagao, resulting in a victory of the first and the inclusion of the southern region into the Muisca Confederation.^[19]

The second battle, some twenty years later, took place around Chocontá in the north of the Bogotá savanna between the zipa and the zaque. Here again, Saguamanchica defeated his stronger enemy Michuá of around 60,000 warriors in a three-hour fight. Both leaders died because of the bloody battle.^[19]^[20]

Spanish conquest

When the Spanish conquistadors entered the terrains of the Muisca in March 1537, when they founded Chipatá, they first found little resistance in the northern parts. Crossing Boyacá in the narrow part, they entered the Bogotá savanna where in Nemocón, an important salt-producing settlement, they encountered the first resistance.^[21] The narratives of the exhausted conquerors talk about attacks of hundreds of warriors against the greatly reduced troops of De Quesada, which the Spanish fought off. Most of the time, the Muisca, excellent traders, tried to negotiate with the Spanish invasors to stop them from using their "thunder sticks"; weaponry unknown among and feared by the Muisca. Shortly after the Muisca Confederation was conquered and the capital of the New Kingdom of Granada, Santafé de Bogotá was founded in August 1538, the conquistadors used the eternal conflicts of the Muisca with the Panche to ally with zipa Sagipa and fight the Panche with only 50 Spanish soldiers and 12,000 to 20,000 guecha warriors in the Battle of Tocarema on August 20, 1538.^[22]^[23]

Related Research Articles

The Muisca are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan language family, also called Muysca and Mosca. They were encountered by conquistadors dispatched by the Spanish Empire in 1537 at the time of the conquest.

The Sutagao are the Chibcha-speaking indigenous people from the region of Fusagasugá, Bogotá savanna, Cundinamarca, Colombia. Knowledge about the Sutagao has been provided by scholar Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita.

Zoratama, also spelled as Soratama, was a Muisca woman and the lover of Spanish conquistador Lázaro Fonte. Her story reminds of the North American indigenous Pocahontas who married John Rolfe after saving the life of John Smith.

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).

Guatavita is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Guavio Province of the department of Cundinamarca. Guatavita is located 75 km northeast of the capital Bogotá. It borders Sesquilé and Machetá in the north, Gachetá and Junín in the east, Guasca in the south and in the west are Tocancipá and Gachancipá.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bacatá</span> Area on the Bogotá Savannah

Bacatá is the name given to the main settlement of the Muisca Confederation on the Bogotá savanna. It mostly refers to an area, rather than an individual village, although the name is also found in texts referring to the modern settlement of Funza, in the centre of the savanna. Bacatá was the main seat of the zipa, the ruler of the Bogotá savanna and adjacent areas. The name of the Colombian capital, Bogotá, is derived from Bacatá, but founded as Santafe de Bogotá in the western foothills of the Eastern Hills in a different location than the original settlement Bacatá, west of the Bogotá River, eventually named after Bacatá as well.

Sagipa or Zaquesazipa was the fifth and last ruler (psihipqua) of Muyquytá, currently known as Bogota, as of 1537. He was the brother of his predecessor Bogotá but the traditional faction of the Muisca considered him an usurper as his nephew Chiayzaque, the cacique of Chía, was the legitimate successor of Tisquesusa. His hoa counterpart in the northern part of the Muisca territory was Quiminza, the last surviving ruler of the Muisca. The daughter of Sagipa, named as Magdalena de Guatavita, married conquistador Hernán Venegas Carrillo, one of the first mestizo marriages in the New Kingdom of Granada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michuá</span> Zaque

Michuá or Michica was the second zaque of Hunza, currently known as Tunja, as of 1470. His contemporary enemy zipa of the southern Muisca was Saguamanchica.

Nemequene or Nemeguene was the third ruler (zipa) of Bacatá as of 1490. His zaque counterpart ruling over the northern area of the Muisca territory was Quemuenchatocha.

Saguamanchica was the second ruler (zipa) of Muyquytá, as of 1470. His zaque enemy ruling over the northern area of the Muisca territory was Michuá.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Chocontá</span>

The Battle of Chocontá was one of a series of battles in the ongoing conflict between the northern and southern Muisca of pre-Columbian central Colombia. The battle was fought c. 1490 in the vicinity of Chocontá. An army of 50,000 southern Muisca guecha warriors, led by their ruler, or zipa, Saguamanchica, attacked 60,000 northern Muisca troops commanded by Zaque Michuá, who was supported by the Cacique of Guatavita.

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.

Tundama or Saymoso was a cacique of the Muisca Confederation, a loose confederation of different rulers of the Muisca who inhabited the central highlands of the Colombian Andes. The city of Tundama, currently known as Duitama and part of the Tundama Province, Boyacá, were named after the cacique. Tundama ruled over the northernmost territories of the Muisca, submitted last by the Spanish conquistadores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Pasca</span>

The Battle of Pasca was fought between the southern Muisca Confederation, led by their zipa (ruler), Saguamanchica, and an alliance between the Panche and the Sutagao, led by the Cacique of Fusagasugá. The battle took place c. 1470 in the vicinity of Pasca, in modern-day Cundinamarca, Colombia, and resulted in a victory for Saguamanchica.

Nompanim or Nomparem was the penultimate iraca; cacique of the sacred City of the Sun; Sugamuxi. Sugamuxi, presently called Sogamoso, was an important city in the religion of the Muisca who inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the times before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca conquistadores reached the central highlands of the Colombian Andes. Fellow Muisca rulers of other territories within the Muisca Confederation were Tundama in Tundama, zaque Quemuenchatocha in Hunza and zipas Nemequene and Tisquesusa in Bacatá.

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.

Juan (Francisco) de Céspedes Ruiz was a Spanish conquistador who is known as the founder of the town of Pasca, Cundinamarca, in the south of the Bogotá savanna, Colombia. De Céspedes arrived in the Americas in 1521 and participated in the conquest of the Tairona and the foundation of Santa Marta under Rodrigo de Bastidas. From 1542 to 1543 and in 1546 he served as mayor of Bogotá and after that until 1570 as lieutenant general of the first president of Colombia. Juan de Céspedes married Isabel Romero, one of the first Spanish women who arrived at Colombian territories and had two legitimate sons and one daughter. His date of death is uncertain; in late 1573 or 1576.

Baltasar Maldonado, also written as Baltazar Maldonado, was a Spanish conquistador who first served under Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, and later in the army of Hernán Pérez de Quesada in the Spanish conquest of the Muisca.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Tocarema</span> 1538 battle during the Spanish conquest of 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.

References

↑ (in Spanish) El país de El Dorado y de los muiscas - El Tiempo
↑ Francis, 1993, p.48
1 2 Rodríguez de Montes, 2002, p.1633
↑ (in Spanish) Muysccubun: saba
1 2 3 Rodríguez de Montes, 2002, p.1634
↑ (in Spanish) Palabras muiscas que usamos los bogotanos sin saberlo
↑ (in Spanish) Muisca - Pueblos Originarios
1 2 Rodríguez de Montes, 2002, p.1635
↑ Henderson & Ostler, 2005, p.154
1 2 Rodríguez de Montes, 2002, p.1636
1 2 (in Spanish) El propulsor, arma de los muiscas - Banco de la República
↑ Rodríguez de Montes, 2002, p.1637
↑ Román, 2008, p.298
↑ Rodríguez Montes, 2002, p.1639
↑ Correa, 2005, p.202
↑ (in Spanish) Meaning Panche according to Pedro Simón
↑ Henderson & Ostler, 2005, p.158
↑ De Piedrahita, 1688, p.30-32
1 2 (in Spanish) Biography Saguamanchica - Pueblos Originarios
↑ (in Spanish) History of the Muisca - Banco de la República
↑ (in Spanish) Conquista rápida y saqueo cuantioso de Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada
↑ (in Spanish) Battle of Tocarema - Universidad de los Andes
↑ Groot, José Manuel (1869), Historia eclesiástica y civil de Nueva Granada - Tomo I, Bogotá: Imprenta de Focion Mantilla, p. 43

Bibliography

Correa, François (2005), "El imperio muisca: invención de la historia y colonialidad del poder - The Muisca empire: invention of history and power colonialisation", Muiscas: representaciones, cartografías y etnopolíticas de la memoria (in Spanish), Universidad La Javeriana, pp. 201–226, ISBN 958-683-643-6
Fernández de Piedrahita, Lucas (1688), Historia general de las conquistas del Nuevo Reino de Granada (in Spanish), retrieved 2016-07-08
Francis, John Michael (1993), "Muchas hipas, no minas" The Muiscas, a merchant society: Spanish misconceptions and demographic change (M.A.) (M.A.), University of Alberta, pp. 1–118
Henderson, Hope; Ostler, Nicholas (2005), "Muisca settlement organization and chiefly authority at Suta, Valle de Leyva, Colombia: A critical appraisal of native concepts of house for studies of complex societies", Journal of Anthropological Archaeology , 24 (2), Elsevier: 148–178, doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2005.01.002, ISSN 0278-4165
Rodríguez de Montes, María Luisa (2002), Los güechas o guechas en Cundinamarca - The guecha warriors in Cundinamarca (in Spanish), pp. 1633–1646
Román, Ángel Luís (2008), Necesidades fundacionales e historia indígena imaginada de Cajicá: una revisión de esta mirada a través de fuentes primarias (1593-1638) - Foundational needs and imagined indigenous history of Cajicá: a review of this look using primary sources (1593-1638) (PDF) (in Spanish), Bogotá, Colombia: Universidad de los Andes, pp. 276–313, retrieved 2016-07-08

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[TiempoDoradoMuisca-1] (in Spanish) El país de El Dorado y de los muiscas - El Tiempo

[2] Francis, 1993, p.48

[RodriMontes_p1633-3] 1 2 Rodríguez de Montes, 2002, p.1633

[4] (in Spanish) Muysccubun: saba

[RodriMontes_p1634-5] 1 2 3 Rodríguez de Montes, 2002, p.1634

[6] (in Spanish) Palabras muiscas que usamos los bogotanos sin saberlo

[PueblosMuisca-7] (in Spanish) Muisca - Pueblos Originarios

[RodriMontes_p1635-8] 1 2 Rodríguez de Montes, 2002, p.1635

[9] Henderson & Ostler, 2005, p.154

[RodriMontes_p1636-10] 1 2 Rodríguez de Montes, 2002, p.1636

[BancoPropulsor-11] 1 2 (in Spanish) El propulsor, arma de los muiscas - Banco de la República

[RodriMontes_p1637-12] Rodríguez de Montes, 2002, p.1637

[13] Román, 2008, p.298

[RodriMontes_p1639-14] Rodríguez Montes, 2002, p.1639

[15] Correa, 2005, p.202

[16] (in Spanish) Meaning Panche according to Pedro Simón

[17] Henderson & Ostler, 2005, p.158

[18] De Piedrahita, 1688, p.30-32

[PueblosZipa-19] 1 2 (in Spanish) Biography Saguamanchica - Pueblos Originarios

[BancodelaRepublica-20] (in Spanish) History of the Muisca - Banco de la República

[ConquistaGonzalo-21] (in Spanish) Conquista rápida y saqueo cuantioso de Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada

[22] (in Spanish) Battle of Tocarema - Universidad de los Andes

[23] Groot, José Manuel (1869), Historia eclesiástica y civil de Nueva Granada - Tomo I, Bogotá: Imprenta de Focion Mantilla, p. 43

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