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Author Topic: Muisca  (Read 211 times)
Description: Source of the legend of 'El Dorado' in the 16th century
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« on: September 16, 2007, 04:44:03 PM »


The Zipa used to cover his body in gold and, from his raft, he offered treasures to the Guatavita goddess in the middle of the sacred lake. This old Muisca tradition became the origin of El Dorado legend

Muisca refers to a nation of the Chibchan Culture that formed the Muisca Confederation encountered by the Spanish at the time of the conquest of what is now part of central Colombia in 1537. In fact the Muisca comprised two confederations: that of Hunza, whose sovereign was the Zaque and that of Bacat�, whose sovereign was the Zipa. Both confederations were located in the Highlands of modern-day Cundinamarca and Boyac� (Altiplano Cundiboyacense) of the central area of the Andinian Easter Colombian Range. It occupied an area of 46.972 km� (slightly larger than Switzerland with 41.285 km�) from the North of Boyac� to the Sumapaz P�ramo and from the summits of the Easter Range to its skirts to the Magdalena Valley bordering the territories of the Panches and Pijaos tribes. It had a large population at the time of the Spanish Conquest, but nobody know the actual number of inhabitants. The influence of the Chibcha Culture extended to regions as far as Central America. The language of the Muisca is the Chibchan, Muysca or Mosca to the Chibchan-Paezan linguistic family.[1] They farmed maize, potato, quinoa and cotton, among others. Skilled in goldsmiths, bartered emeralds, blankets, ceramic handicrafts, coca and salt they had an active trade with neighbouring nations.

Political and administrative organization

The Muisca people were organized in a Confederation that was the union of states, which kept their own sovereignty within the greater political body. In this case it is not exact to say the Confederation was either a kingdom, as there was no absolute monarch, nor was it an Empire because it did not dominate other ethnic groups or peoples. Accordingly, the Muisca Confederation cannot be compared with other American civilizations such as the Aztec Empire or the Inca Empire. The importance of the Muisca Confederation is that it was the biggest and best organized confederation of tribes on the continent.

Every tribe was ruled by its chief or cacique. The tribe had its autonomy and it was a cell of the confederation. The bulk of the tribes belonged to the same Muisca ethnia, sharing the same language and culture and relating through trade. They united in the face of a common enemy and for this reason the army was the full responsibility of the Zipa or Zaque. The army was made by the g�eches, the honoured traditional ancient warriors of the Muisca people.

The Muisca people were in fact organized into two confederations. The southern confederation, headed by the Zipa, had its capital at Bacat� (today Bogot�). This southern polity included the majority of the Muisca population and held greater economic power. The northern confederation was ruled by the Zaque, and had its capital at Hunza, known today asTunja. Although both confederations had common political relations and affinities and belonged to the same nation, there were stitll rivalries between them. Among the confederations there were four chiefdoms: Bacat�, Hunza, Duitama and Sogamoso. The chiefdom was composed by localities.[2] The tribes were divided in Capitan�as (ruled by a Capitan and there were two kinds: Great Capitania (sybyn) and Minor Capitania (uta). The status of Capitan was inherited by maternal lineage.[3]

Confederation (Zipa or Zaque)
               --> Priests (Iraca)
                     --> Chiefdoms (Cacique)
                                  --> Capitan�a (Capitan)
                                               --> Sybyn
                                                     --> Uta

Economy

To an administrative organization as the one of the Muisca people belongs a solid economy that was considered one of the most powerful of the American Post-Classic stage. When the Spaniards conquerors came into the territory of the Confederation, they found a rich state that stimulated their ambitions. The Muisca Confederation was mining the following products:

    * Emeralds: Even today Colombia is the first producer of emeralds of the world. Those Colombian emeralds that go on to further international markets come from the ancient territory of the Muisca Confederation.
    * The mines of copper.
    * Coal: Mineral and vegetal. Nowadays the coal mines still at their top level, for example that of Zipaquir�. Again Colombia is one of the main coal reserves of the planet.[4]
    * Salt: The mines of Nemoc�n, Zipaquir� and Tausa.
    * Gold: Gold was imported, but it was so abundant that it became one of the preferred material for the Muisca handicraft. The many handicraft works in gold and the Zipa tradition of offering gold to the Guatavita goddess contributed to create the legend of El Dorado.

The market was a very meaninful place for the economy of the confederation due to barter. In that place they used to exchange all they needed, from products of first necessity to luxury. The abundance of salt, emeralds and coal converted those minerals into a de facto currency. As an agrarian society they had a complete system of irrigation. Other economic activity was weaving. To this regard Paul Bahn said that "the Andean cultures mastered almost every method of textile weaving or decoration now known, and their products were often finer tha those of today".[5]

Chibcha language

Muisca or Mosca, is officially an extinct Chibchan language of Colombia, formerly spoken by the Muisca people. Actually the name of the Chibcha language is "muysca kubun". The word "Chibcha" comes from "Chib" (staff) and "Cha" (man), meaning the "Chief of the Community". Chibchacum, for example, was the god of the agriculture and he was punished by Bochica to hold the earth on his shoulders.

Religion

The priests were educated since their childhood and were responsible to lead the main religious ceremonies. No other than the priests could come inside the temples. The Muisca religion contemplated the human sacrifices, but it is possible that at the time of the Spaniards conquerors those ceremonies were already extinct since there are not real Spaniard witnesses at the time of such practices. The stories of human sacrifices came through oral tradition from the same Muisca people of the time. They said things like every family had to offer a child to the priests. They care for him until 15 years old, growing him as a sacred person and then offered to Sue, the Sun-god. The fact was an honor for the family and the same victim. Besides the religious activities, the priests were also personalities with much influence in the life of the people, giving council in matters as the farm and wars.

Solar cult

Although they did not have a precise calendar, the Muisca people knew exactly the Solstice (June 21). It was then the Day of Sue, the Sun-god. The Sue temple was in Sogamoso, the sacred city of the Sun-god and the seat of the Iraca (priest). The name of the city, Suamox or Sugamuxi means "The City of the Sun". Then the Zaque came that day to the sacred city of Sue and it became a carnival for the nation. Offerings were made and it was the only day of the year that the people could see the face of the Zaque, who was considered a descendant of the Sun-god.

Mythology

The Muisca Mythology is well documented. It is due to some factors: the most important is that the Muisca territory became also the seat of the Colonial administration for the Nuevo Reino de Granada. Therefore, it allowed to have many of the Cronists of Western Indias in Bogot� and they got interests for the traditions and culture of the conquered people.

    * Xu� or Sue (The Sun-god): He was the father of the Muisca Olympus. His temple was in Sogamoso, the sacred city of the Sun. He was the most venerated god, especially by the Confederation of the Zaque, considered descendentant of Sue.
    * Ch�a (The Moon-goddess): Her temple was in what is today the municipality of Ch�a. She was widely adored by the Confederation of the Zipa, who was considered her son.
    * Bochica: This mysterious character was not properly a god, but he enjoyed the status of one. As many other mythological figures of other peoples, he could be a chief or hero eternized in the oral tradition. They said that the land was every time flood by Huitaca, a beautiful and mean woman or by Chibchacum, protector of the farmers. Then it came a rainbow and from it came out a white man, white bear and a gown. Bochica listened the complains of the Muisca people about the floods. The paternal Bochica, with his stick, broke two rocks at the edge of the Tequendama and all the water came out forming the Tequendama waterfall. Bochica punished Huitaca and Chibchacum. To Huitaca he made her an owl and put her to hold the sky. To Chibchacum he put him to hold the earth.
    * Bachu�: The mother of the Muisca people. They said about Bachu� that once a time it came out the Iguaque lagoon a beautiful woman with a baby. She, Bachu�, sat down at the bank of the lagoon and waited to have her son grown. When he was older enough, they got married and had many children. They were the Muisca people. Bachu� taught them to hunt, to farm, to respect the laws and to adore the gods. Bachu� was so good and loved that the Muisca people referred to her as Furachoque (Good woman in Chibcha). When they became old, Bachu� and her Son-Husband decided to go back to the deep of the lagoon. That day the Muisca people were so sad, but at the same time very happy because they knew their mother was very happy. Other versions of the legend say for example that after immersing into the lagoon of Iguaque, Bachu� ascended to the sky and became Ch�a, while in other versions Chia and Bachu� are two different persons.

History of the Muisca people

Until 1450 events are said in a mythologic context, but it is thanks to the Cronists of the Western Indias that it is possible to know the last periods of the Muisca history before the Spaniard conqueros came.

Background


Excavations in the Altiplano Cundiboyacense (the highlands of Cundinamarca and Boyac� departments) show evidences of a great human activity in those territories since the Archaic stage that is the same at the beginning of the Holocene era. It ended a theory that was stated during the 19th Century that the Altiplano Cundiboyacense was inhabited before the Muisca people arrived. Colombia has also one of the most ancient archaeological sites of America: El Abra, which age can be calculated to even 13 thousand years ago. Other archaeological traces in the region of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense have conducted the scholars to talk about an El Abra Culture: In Tibit�, tools and other litic artifacts dated since BC 9740; in the Bogot� Plain, especially the Tequendama Falls other litic tools dated since a millennium later belonging to specialized hunters. Among other findings the most precious are entire human skeletons dated 5000 BC. The analysis demonstrated that those persons of the El Abra Culture were other etnia different to that of the Muisca people and for this reason it is possible to say that the Muisca tribes did not occupy an empty land.

Muisca era

Scholars coincide that the huma group identify as "Muisca" migrated to the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in a time comprised between 5500 BC and BC 1000, it means during the Formative stage due to numberless evidences in places like Aguazuque and Soacha. Like the other Pre-Classic cultures of America, the Muiscas were in a transition among hunters and agrarians. Since BC 1500 came to the region groups of agrarians with ceramic traditions from the lowlands. They had permanent housing and stationary camps and worked the founts of salty water. In Zipac�n there are pleny of evidences of agriculture and ceramic of the most ancient settlement of the highlands dated to the BC 1270. Among the years BC 500 and BC 800 a second wave of migrants came to the highlands, which presence is identified by multicolor ceramic and works of housing and farm. Those were the groups that lasted until the coming of the Spaniard Conquerors and they let abundant traces of their occupation that became object of studies since the 16th Century and allow to reconstruct their way of life. It is possible that the Muisca people integrated the ancient inhabitants, but it was the role of the Muisca people to mold the cultural profile and the social and political organization. Their language, the Chibcha, was very similar to those peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Kogui, Ijka, Wiwa and Kankuamo) and the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy (U'wa).

Wars

Zipa Saguamanchica was in a constant war against aggressive tribes of the surroundings like the sutagos, fusagasugaes and, especially, the panches that would make difficulties also for the successors Nemequene and Tisquesusa. The Caribbeans were also a permanent threat and the rivalries with the Zaque of Hunza, especially for the possession of the salt mines, a precious for the Muisca economy.

The Spanish Conquest

The rivalries among the Zaque and the Zipa became a good opportunity for the Spaniards to conquer the heart of what would be Colombia. Some of them as Sebasti�n de Belalc�zar, Gonzalo Jim�nez de Quesada and Nicol�s de Federmann, interested for the route to El Dorado, discovered the rich plains of Cundinamarca and Boyac�. The presence of the newcomers gave hope to both sovereigns that, were they to prevail in a war against the Spaniards,could make one Confederation. But the Spaniards prevailed.

The Spaniards killed the last Muisca sovereigns Sagipa and Aquiminzaque. The reaction of the chief leaders and the people did a little to change the destiny of the Confederations. In 1542 Gonzalo Suar�z Rend�n finally put down the resistance and the territories of the Confederations were shared by Belalcazar, Federmann and Quesada. Later the Spaniard Crown would elect Quesada as the only man in charge with the title adelantado de los cabildos de Santa Fe y Tunja.
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« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2007, 04:48:34 PM »

Museum of Gold
Bogota, Columbia

Muisca


Figura votiva
Oro
600 d.C. -
6,8 x 2,3 cm


Figura votiva
Tumbaga
600 d.C. � 1600 d.C.
Guatavita, Cundinamarca
8 x 4,20 cm


Figura votiva
Oro
600 d.C. - 1600 d.C.
Pasca, Cundinamarca
8,3 x 22,6 cm


Nariguera
Oro
600 d.C. - 1600 d.C.
14,6 x 18,9 cm


Figura votiva
Oro
600 d.C. � 1600 d.C.
8,4 x 4 cm
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« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2007, 04:51:57 PM »


Female Figure (Tunjo), 10th�16th century
Colombia; Muisca
Gold; H. 7 3/4 in. (19.7 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979 (1979.206.1050)
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« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2007, 04:53:40 PM »


PECTORAL MUISCA
C�digo: 38-I-817
Nombre geogr�fico: Machet�, Departamento de Cundinamarca
Cronolog�a relativa:
Material: Oro de 18 kilates
Dimensiones: 19.5 x 18.5 x ? cm. 400 gr.

�Museo Nacional de Colombia
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« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2007, 08:37:06 PM »

Bases of Social Hierarchy in a Muisca Central Village of the Northeastern Highland of Columbia
Ana Maria Boada Rivas

PhD Thesis. 1998

This study made it possible to reconstruct patterns of social organization and the basis of social hierarchy within El Venado, a Muisca central village located in the Valle de Samaca (Colombian Andes) between AD 900 ad 1600. The aim was to examine the interplay between two particular bases of social hierarchy: 1) prestige acquired through mechanisms such as ceremonial exchanges, feasting, performance of ritual ceremonies, manipulation of symbols, prestige goods, etc. and 2) control over resources and wealth. This interplay was studied, through three periods of occupation identified in El Venado's cultural sequence.

Four different lines of archaeological evidence were examined to compare the extent of wealth and activities performed at different residential units from each period. These lines of evidence were ceramics (for which decoration, vessel shapes and imported pottery were examined), faunal remains (which provided different measures of differential distribution of genera between residential units), spindle whorls (whose abundance and shapes likely related to quantity and quality of cotton thread produced across the settlement), and finally, burials (which made it possible to examine differences in wealth and energy expenditure between individuals and the settlement).

Examining these lines of evidence provided information about how the basis of social hierarchy changed through time. The archaeological and ethnohistorical data analyzed indicated that the elite did not rely on a single economic or ideological strategy for building social hierarchy, but instead on an interplay of several different but integrated strategies by which they gained and maintained social prestige and wealth. Strategies more strongly based on feasting and ceremonialism seem to have had more importance during the early period, the Late Herrera, while the creation of wealth through tribute and textile production seem to have been more strongly pursued during the early and late Muisca periods.

This research also contributed to the reconstruction of patterns of social organization. Spatial distribution of residential units delineated barrios separated by vacant zones. Each barrio seems to have functioned as a meaningful social unit, economically independent and self-sufficient.

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

Hope Hendersona, Corresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author and Nicholas Ostlerb
aNational Science Foundation, International Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Transversal 14A No.115-58, Apt. 501, Bogot�, Colombia
bFoundation for Endangered Languages, Batheaston Villa, 172 Bailbrook Lane, Bath BA1 7AA, England, UK
Received 2 October 2003;  revised 24 November 2004.  Available online 23 March 2005.

Abstract

This paper argues that native categories of the house are useful analytic units when coupled with models of complex society that distinguish between individualistic and institutional sources of political authority. This approach strengthens archaeological research by examining objectively the scale of political inequality associated with house societies. We discuss the complex associations between the Muisca sense of place, residential architecture, and political authority and propose hypotheses to evaluate whether ideas about house and place were a source of either individualistic or institutional political authority. By documenting whole settlement patterns at Suta, in the Valley of Leyva between the 11th and 17th centuries, this paper analyzes the degree to which Muisca chiefs at Suta drew on ideas about the house to directly control the internal spatial organization of a whole settlement. Systematic shovel test probes are used to identify residential locations, internal settlement organization, and site boundaries. Spatial analysis of these house locations suggests that the formation this nucleated settlement beginning in the 11th century was a product of inter-house alliances and individualistic patterns of political leadership. The results of this study suggest that political elites at Suta drew upon the Muisca house, a multifaceted symbol, to legitimate their political authority and create a central place with their own residential compounds, but that they had no direct control over other houses.

Keywords: House societies; Complex societies; Political inequality; Settlement patterns; Households; Nearest neighbor analyses; Muisca; Chibcha Corporate Groups; Colombia
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