page_title: Muisca
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Muisca / Economy
caption_attribution_description: Remains of a Muisca temple, nowadays called El Infiernito, nearby Villa de Leyva, Colombia
context_page_description: 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. As one out of four advanced civilizations of the Americas, they were encountered by conquistadors ordered by the Spanish Empire in 1537 at the time of the conquest. Subgroupings of the Muisca were mostly identified by their allegiances to three great rulers: the zaque, centered in Hunza, ruling a territory roughly covering modern southern and northeastern Boyacá and southern Santander; the zipa, centered in Bacatá and encompassing most of modern Cundinamarca, the western Llanos; and the iraca, religious ruler of Suamox and modern northeastern Boyacá and southwestern Santander.
  The territory of the Muisca spanned an area of around 25,000 km² from the north of Boyacá to the Sumapaz Páramo and from the summits to the western portion of the Eastern Ranges.
context_section_description: The Muisca had an economy and society considered to have been one of the most powerful of the American Post-Classic stage, mainly because of the precious resources of the area: gold and emeralds. When the Spaniards arrived in Muisca territory, they found a rich statem, with the Muisca Confederation controlling mining of the following products:
  emeralds: Colombia is the primary producer of emeralds in the world
  copper
  coal: the coal mines still operate today at Zipaquirá and other sites. Colombia has some of the world's most significant coal reserves.
  salt: there were mines in production at Nemocón, Zipaquirá, and Tausa
  gold: gold was imported from other regions, but it was so abundant that it became a preferred material for Muisca handicrafts. The many handicraft works in gold and the zipa tradition of offering gold to the goddess Guatavita contributed to the legend of El Dorado.
  The Muisca traded their goods at local and regional markets with a system of barter. Items traded ranged from those of basic necessity through to luxury goods. The abundance of salt, emeralds, and coal brought these commodities to de facto currency status.
  Having developed an agrarian society, the people used terrace farming and irrigation in the highlands. Main products were fruits, coca, quinoa, yuca and potatoes.
  Another major economic activity was weaving. The people made a wide variety of complex textiles. The scholar Paul Bahn said: "the Andean cultures mastered almost every method of textile weaving or decoration now known, and their products were often finer than those of today."
caption: Ruins of the astronomical Muisca temple at El Infiernito ("the little hell") near Villa de Leyva
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